The members of The Iry take their posts behind their respective instruments. The stage lights illuminate the sweat droplets collecting at their hairlines and on their faces. The audience cheers and the members of band smile appreciatively through the blinding hot lights. With a nod of his head, Stefan Schwartz, The Iry’s frontman, begins to pound on the piano with all the energy of an atom bomb, his hands crashing down upon the keys with the force of Nagasaki.

The group plows through the hour-long set, sweating and breathing heavily all the while. But they leave as happily as they came: the members smile through every song and thank the audience at each break, as though in disbelief of the crowd’s overwhelming approval – of course, they could still be riding the wave of their seemingly effortless success.

Their story began simple enough – four Columbus-area high school students looking for something to occupy their time came together to form a band. They divvied up instruments and embarked on a mission to beat “Chronic Souls” at their school’s Battle of the Bands. Schwartz, who began playing the piano at the tender age of 6, took on the role of keyboardist and lead singer. His cousin and close friend, Jordan Lothes, picked up the drums and childhood friends Greg Hewes and Chris Williams played guitar and bass, respectively.

Thus, The Iry – whose name is loosely based on the Jamaican word “irie,” meaning “good times” – was formed, but none of its members could have predicted the whirlwind success and praise that followed.

Schwartz, as lead singer, took on the role of songwriter and composer and the others pitched in where they could. After compiling 15 songs, the band hunkered down in a small recording studio and recorded what would be its first full-length album.

“It was super low-budget,” Schwartz said. “We basically mixed the album in a basement.”

They released “Beladona” with small Columbus label KavaBlu Records in June 2005 and it quickly garnered critical praise.

“The Iry’s sound was just so mature for their young ages,” said local music critic Dave Schaefer, who runs the online music Web site, “Life on the C-Bus.” “The lyrical content of that album had both depth and complexity.”

“It was a bit unexpected,” Schwartz said in regards to the album’s critical success. “We were just having fun and doing what we loved to do.”

The band’s rise was fast and unrelenting. During 2005, The Iry was named Budweiser True Music’s Band of the Year, earned comparisons to established bands such as Coldplay and Cold War Kids and had their music featured on MTV. They even went on tour and opened for acts such as Foreigner and The Shout out Louds.

Also during this time, the members of The Iry decided to take a route not many successful bands dare to risk: they put their music career on temporary hiatus to attend college.

School posed certain problems for the band: no practice time, ‘jam sessions,’ or weekday shows, but The Iry learned to adapt.

“We just had to modify our time into intense several-hour writing sessions whenever we could, where we put all the pieces of the songs together,” Schwartz said.

The band packed its shows into small weekend excursions, traveling the Midwest between weeks filled with classes.

In the end, the group’s unconventional career move paid off. While the bank was on hiatus, the band members had more time to write songs and plan the direction of the follow-up to “Beladona.”

When the time came to record its second album in June 2007, The Iry had the opportunity to work with renowned producer, Jeff Juliano, who produced records for bands such as the Dave Matthews Band and O.A.R.

The group loaded up its “white mom minivan with the smallest trailer known to man” and headed to Raleigh, N.C., for the two-month recording session.

“It was an amazing experience,” Hewes said, “We learned a lot about our music and ourselves.”

The result of the intense recording session is The Iry’s second album, “Dinner for Two on the Moon.” The inspiration for the offbeat title came from Schwartz’s imagination.

“I was sitting there thinking one day, what would be the coolest place to have dinner?” Schwartz said. “And ultimately, the answer was the moon, but you wouldn’t want to be lonely up there, so it had to be dinner for two.”

Although it has only been a few weeks since the release of “Dinner,” local music critics have again praised the young band’s efforts.

“If you believe that the Columbus local music scene lacks the kind of talent that’s good enough to hit it on the national level, The Iry will prove to you that you’re sadly misinformed,” wrote Schaefer in his Life on the C-Bus review of “Dinner for Two on the Moon.” “Bottom line, ‘Dinner for Two on the Moon’ is not only an impressive CD, The Iry have an impressive sound as well…these guys will be very successful in the future.”

Again, this summer and fall, The Iry – now famous for its energetic and engaging live shows – will take to the road to promote “Dinner.” Already a bona fide success, gaining experience and fans with every show, the members of The Iry remain humble and genuinely awestruck at their good fortune – still smiling relentlessly and thanking the audience between every song they play.

Jennifer Farmer can be reached at [email protected].