This Is Ivy League

This Is Ivy League is an indie band formed in 2005 by friends Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez (of Cobra Starship).

Formation

Alex and Ryland met in 1997 in high school. Both were avid guitar players and both played in local bands with varying degrees of accolade. Alex got Ryland a job waiting tables at "Mr. Deli's Jewish Delicatessan," in Boca Raton, Florida. A few years later, Alex went off to pursue a degree in the culinary arts while Ryland procured his BFA in Acting. The two lost touch for seven years. This Is Ivy League formed in August 2005 when Ryland discovered that his old friend Alex was not only still playing music but living just ten minutes away from him in Brooklyn, NY. The duo quickly began writing songs together which would later become the indie/pop/folk sound that we know as This Is Ivy League.^[1]

Cobra Starship

Blackinton and Suarez were approached to join Gabe Saporta's newly formed band Cobra Starship after he found fast success with the hit song, "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)". The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Snakes on a Plane and the band was offered a record deal from Pete Wentz's Fueled By Ramen Records imprint, Decaydance. Ryland and Alex accepted and have contributed to all four full-length albums and completed several international tours with Cobra Starship since. Blackington and Suarez left the band in November 2014.

Keeping the band alive

Although they spent most of their time touring with Cobra Starship, Alex and Ryland continued to write songs for This Is Ivy League, vowing to record an album once Cobra settled down. The album was released on April 1, 2008 on TwentySeven Records. The album, like the London Bridges EP, was recorded entirely between the duo's Brooklyn apartments.

The accompanying video for the song "London Bridges" has already been singled out by Pitchfork which said, "...the clip creates and sustains a soft-focus weirdness, borrowing all the elements you’d expect from a postmillennial Chad & Jeremy—blazers, bicycles, merry-go-rounds, a park in autumn—while adding a few new flourishes—women in animal costumes, gently evocative use of color and pattern. Alex Suarez and Ryland Blackinton croon their crisp harmonies, finishing each other’s sentences and riffs, nearly symmetrical as they perform atop their pedestals for the animal woman".

Ryland and Alex have commitments with Cobra Starship, but manage to make time for fans of This Is Ivy League, whether it be on Myspace, Livejournal or just in conversation outside of a show.

Discography

• London Bridges EP
• This Is Ivy League

References

External links

• Twenty Seven Records official website
• Rehearsal Space featuring Alex Suarez - a 2008 featurette about the writing of This is Ivy League's debut album, as well as the difficulties of being in two bands at once