Army Navy

Army Navy was born 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 was born in the bedroom of Justin Kennedy, who in his early days played with Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) in the [placformed]Seattle[/placeformed] 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. The past few years were very exciting for the independent band. Army Navy released their first (Lasus produced) album on their own Fever Zone Label in 2008 and quickly garnered great admiration from fans and in the press. CMJ called it “..some of the brightest pop released this year”. The quartet’s first single “My Thin Sides,” which was paired with a hilarious video featuring Paul Scheer of Human Giant took the blogosphere by storm.

The second single “Saints” which Blender Magazine called “a lovely indie-rock swoon” was the prestigious 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 found success in the placement world as well. The indie rock date-flick Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist prominently featured two Army Navy songs alongside artists like Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse and The National; one of the songs being an exclusive track for the movies soundtrack.

They have also been 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. Over the past few years the band have taken their dynamic live show on the road supporting 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 even asked to be musical guests on the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! Off the success of Army Navy’s self-released debut album the band entered 2010 with their strongest batch of songs to date and were able to self-finance the recording of their 2nd album. With a strong vision of the album in mind, they once again called upon producer and engineer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo, Helium) to help bring these songs to life.

“We felt like we had all grown individually and as a group and we wanted that to show on this recording. We were more confident in the studio and as a band. I felt more open to write the most personal songs I have ever written” says Justin Kennedy, songwriter and frontman. The band worked for 6 months recording and mixing and pouring their hearts into the process.

Creating an album with intricate arrangements, beautiful sounds, layered melodies, tight harmonies and full of catchy hooks. “We had created a sound that was super unique, and our focus, creativity and inspiration had created something bigger than all of us…a classic pop masterpiece!” says Lasus. The album is The Last Place. The band are currently looking for the right home for this new record that was just mastered by Greg Calbi and are excited to get back out and play these new songs to audiences in 2011! Contact the band: armynavymusic@gmail.com Press inquiries: jim@bighassle.com User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..