IKE is the brainchild of singer-songwriter-guitarist John Faye, formerly of the Caulfields. Working with guitarist Cliff Hillis, bassist Joann Schmidt and drummer Dave Anthony, The John Faye Power Trip was released in 1999. The collaboration eventually lead to the quartet adopting a unified band name, IKE, and the first full-length under this moniker, Parallel Universe, was self-released in 2003. With the quarter firmly planted in the Philadelphia scene, the album sold nearly 5000 copies, largely on the strength of "Deathbed (Na, Na, Na)", a minor radio hit in the area. During and after a period of what the band described as the members creeping into adulthood, it took nearly a year to record the follow-up, In Real Life. Finally released in the summer of 2005, the band scored a hit on local station WMMR with "Into Philadelphia", now used as the entrance song for several of the city's sports teams.

The band members are also involved elsewhere. Cliff Hillis has a noted solo project, and Anthony, Faye and Schmidt play in another band, The Jane Anchor. Faye teaches songwriting at Drexel University and several of the members teach musical performance at the Bluebond School in Philadelphia.