Sean from Ivypaint Talks: Their Collaboration with Kellin Quinn, Emo National Anthems and Kurt Cobain

 

Sean from Ivypaint Talks: Their Collaboration with Kellin Quinn, Emo National Anthems and Kurt Cobain

Ivypaint are a pop punk band from Orlando, consisting of Sean Duong (vocals, rhythm guitar), Adam Chenkus (bass), Christian Wheeler (lead guitar) and Jason Flanders (drums).

 I first found them when they came up on my For You Page on TikTok with a brilliant cover of 'Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance. I then went to investigate them on Spotify and found some amazing tracks that I've been listening to ever since. My particular favourites are 'Head Rush', 'Melatonin' and 'Lake Bessie'. They have said that they are influenced by Neck Deep, Waterparks and Blink-182 - all brilliant bands, and I would add that fans of Fall Out Boy and All Time Low would love their music too! 

They have a new single '50/50' out on March 5th featuring Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens. I took this opportunity to ask Sean some questions about the band and their upcoming single.

Grace: How did you get together as a band?

Sean: Initially, Ivypaint started as a solo project during my senior year of high school in 2018. I was going through a rough break-up and I ended up writing all of the songs on our debut EP 'Quiet Compassion' to cope with the split. It was an introspective self-therapy in a way, being able to express my feelings and really reflect on the situation. For a good year or so, I just had good friends fill in on the other instruments during the recording process and whenever we played live. But eventually, I decided it was time to get a concrete lineup because I’ve always preferred bands and groups over solo artists. I met Adam Chenkus at a Knuckle Puck concert, and we realized we both like the same music and conveniently enough, he happened to play bass. I met Christian Wheeler through a friend at a Chinese Buffet, and I found out he absolutely shreds at guitar. And last but not least, I met Jason Flanders in the most inorganic way through a 'Find Band Member' type of website, but thankfully, he turned out to be an awesome drummer and not an axe murderer. Even though they’ve all only been in the band for a little over a year, they’re already my best friends and Ivypaint wouldn’t be what it is without them.

Grace: You have a new single coming out on March 5th - '50/50' featuring Kellin Quinn. How did this collaboration come about?

Sean: Our collaboration with Kellin Quinn is something I'm still shocked by. Kellin featured on a song called 'Love Me' with our local Orlando friends in the band Magnolia Park. So Jason and I wondered if it would be obnoxious or not to get into contact with him through those guys, and clearly, we ended up sending an email out to him explaining how we have a song that we'd love to have him feature on. And within a few days, he told us he'd be down. We were ecstatic. And it was really interesting to be collaborating on the song primarily through emails with audio files attached, and explaining the time codes that he'd sing at. We're all still baffled by this opportunity considering that we've listened to Sleeping With Sirens for almost a decade now. 

Grace: Can you tell me what the song is about? 

Sean: Like most of my songwriting, this song explores the impact that mental illness can have on relationships. I wrote it from a place of feeling like my previous relationships switched back and forth between who was putting in more effort and commitment, and that depending on the week, one of us would often put aside our own issues. It's completely unhealthy, but we would pretend that our own needs just didn't exist and never open up in order to maintain the integrity of the relationship, and just deal with our emotions in our own time. It's a difficult situation to be put in because you always feel a sense of guilt putting the weight of your problems on the other person. 



Grace: What was the first album you bought as a child?

Sean: The first album I bought with my own money was 5 Seconds of Summer’s debut self-titled album. That band essentially got me into pop-punk/pop-rock, and is the reason I started learning guitar. If I had to guess, Adam’s first album was probably an older band, like Queen, Metallica, or Led Zeppelin, and Jason’s was either All Time Low or Green Day. I’m pretty sure I’m the one who bought Christian’s first record this last Christmas. I got him 'New Levels New Devils' by Polyphia because he likes that crazy technical instrumental music by guitar gods.



Grace: If you were a superhero, what would your superpower and superhero name be?

Sean: If I were a superhero, my superpower would have to be freezing time at my will, because I'm notoriously late to everything, but especially band rehearsals. I think I'd want my name to be "The Hour". It's simple. It's badass. 
Adam would probably want something like super strength because he's the biggest gym rat I know and he wants to look like Jason Mamoa. We can call him "The Coach" because he always wears basketball shorts and lugs around a big gallon of water everywhere. 
Christian is a huge car enthusiast so I think it'd be fitting if he had super speed. We can call him "RPM" because that's a car thing or something. 
Since Jason is always the one talking with promoters and venues and labels and whatnot, he should have psychic powers so he can know what industry people want to hear. Let's call him "The Prophet" if that's not taken already. 

Grace: There has been a debate on TikTok about what the emo national anthem should be. What song would you choose?

Sean: Yikes, there are so many people who argue about what is and isn't considered emo. Then you have to consider a song that most of the emo kids know. I'd say 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' by My Chemical Romance has to be the emo national anthem because that song perfectly captures teenage angst and feeling misunderstood. I mean, it's literally in the title. 



Grace: If you were hosting a dinner party and you could invite anybody, dead or alive, who would you invite and why? 

Sean: If I could invite anyone as a dinner guest, it would be Kurt Cobain. I can only guess that not many people got to know the actual Kurt even if you were close to him, and it would be super interesting to actually get a glimpse into his character beyond a superficial level. Looking back on his lyricism, he leaves a lot to interpretation and getting to understand what HE truly meant when he wrote the things he did would be incredible. 

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Thank you so much to Sean for taking the time to answer my questions. I am looking forward to hearing '50/50' next Friday!

I would strongly suggest you follow Ivypaint on     TikTok     and     Instagram.

You can find their music on    Spotify,    Apple Music     and    YouTube.