Local Band Ivy League Releases Second Album “Interstate Dreams”

High school is full of change for many people, and two years after recording their first album, members of the high school band Ivy League have experienced many changes. Those changes inspired them to write an album.

Ivy League is made up of Severna Park High School students and jazz musicians Cam Blackburn, Keith Ivey and Nick Stohler. The band began writing material for their second album immediately after finishing their first, “Homecoming,” and two years later, it’s finally finished. The new album, “Interstate Dreams,” is made up of 10 songs.

Band members have different opinions about the best track on the album and the experiences that encouraged those songs.

“I went to Subway, and I saw that they renovated it,” said Stohler, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, as he described the inspiration behind “Chill Song (When You Left),” his favorite track on the album. “I was like, ‘Wow, things are changing, so I’ve got to write a song.’ That song is kind of about all the changes I’ve seen living in Severna Park my entire life. A little bit of fear of change, but also acceptance.”

Drummer Blackburn and keyboardist and bassist Ivey enjoy their respective favorite songs mostly for musical reasons. Blackburn appreciates the simplicity of the drums on “Your Friend,” while Ivey enjoys the chord progressions of “Fist Fight” and “Lethality.”

Community support has played a large role in the band’s progression, both within Severna Park High School and the broader local music community. The band was invited to record “Middle Ground” at a Johns Hopkins University Peabody Institute recording studio. They got together during a study hall to create a demo, and the following day, they were recording in a multimillion-dollar studio.

They have also grown closer as friends over the course of recording the album. Writing songs has become a more collaborative experience. “As we get closer to each other, we also play better together, and it’s more fun to play together,” Ivey said.

All three members agree that their favorite recent gig was their Back to School Bash at Parris Underground, where they performed as the band Löded Diper from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” to a crowd of 130 people.

“The Back to School Bash was definitely more personal,” Blackburn said. “We had all of our friends there, a lot of classmates.”

Stohler said, “Our friends brought their friends; their friends brought their friends. We reached a lot of people that night. There were a ton of people I’d never seen before. And they were singing our lyrics! That’s the thing I took away the most.”

Ivy League’s members aren’t sure where the future will take them. Graduation might someday pull them in separate directions, but for now, they’re focusing on the promotion of “Interstate Dreams.” They hope to hold an album release party at some point, and they’re looking forward to creating music videos and their first physical release of CDs.

“I feel like we’ve been getting an equal amount of love into what we’ve been putting in,” Ivey said.

“Interstate Dreams” is available on music streaming services and can be purchased on iTunes.