Biography
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Years Active
2004 – present (20 years)
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Members
- Ben Gaffin
- Louie Schultz
Army Navy is an American indie rock group from Los Angeles, CA, consisting of Justin Kennedy, Louie Schultz and Douglas Randall.
The band began in the bedroom of Justin Kennedy who, in his early days, played with Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) in the Seattle band Pinwheel. Having relocated to Los Angeles after Pinwheel broke up, Kennedy began focusing on his new project and started assembling members for Army Navy. Multi-instrumentalist Louie Schultz joined swiftly after hearing Kennedy’s home demos. Without a permanent sticks man at the time of recording the first album, Army Navy’s album boasted drumming by the legendary Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello and The Attractions, who had been a longtime fan of the band. Army Navy soon found their permanent drummer Douglas Randall.
Army Navy released their first (Lasus produced) album on their own Fever Zone Label in 2008. CMJ called it “..some of the brightest pop released this year”. The quartet’s first single “My Thin Sides” was paired with a video featuring Paul Scheer of Human Giant. The second single “Saints” which Blender Magazine called “a lovely indie-rock swoon” was the Single Of the Week on iTunes Australia and was released on the UK’s Fierce Panda’s Club Fandango Label. Stateside, it gained radio rotation on tastemaker stations like KEXP and KNRK and satellite radio’s indie-leaning XMU station.
The band featured on Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. They also featured in the Shrek Forever After theatrical trailer, Beastly Film and Soundtrack, The Bachelor ABC TV commercial, and shows like: Weeds, The OC, Numbers, Greek, and many more.
On tour the band has supported such groups as: The Lemonheads, Arctic Monkeys, The Dodos, The Soft Pack, The Like, and Cut Copy; as well as explosive shows at SXSW and CMJ and the UK’s Truck festivals. The band was asked to be musical guests on the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
In 2010 the band self-financed the recording of their second album. They once again called upon producer and engineer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo, Helium). The album is The Last Place.
Their third full-length album, The Wilderness Inside, was released on July 15, 2014.
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