Austin, Texas
Rock-And-Roll High-School Grads

“It’s so surreal, it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Residual Kid’s Deven Ivy says with a sense of amazement. Ivy isn’t talking about leading his Austin, Texas-based trio to standout gigs at South by Southwest, CMJ or festivals all across the world. He’s talking about graduating from high school, which Ivy did just prior to speaking to Relix this spring. Ivy, along with brother-duo Ben and Max Redman, are the next phenomenon from one of rock-and-roll’s most fertile breeding grounds. Ivy says he met Ben while at a “rock camp type thing” when Ivy was 11. “They paired us together because we both liked Nirvana,” the guitarist recalls. “The fir t few gigs were rough, obviously,” Ivy recalls of eventually teaming up with Max and previous member Grace London, who departed the band shortly after the release of their 2011 EP, Box. But Ivy and the Redmans found their stride, overpowering the Austin music scene thanks to their latest EP, Salsa. “I’d say a level of weird angst,” Ivy says when asked to describe what people love about Residual Kid’s infectious rock-and-roll sound. “I’ve jammed with a lot of people,” he adds. “But there’s chemistry between us and it’s really cool. I like it.”