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Stoop Sessions: Getting to know NAVY GANGS

Story & Photos by Jackie Green. Find her online at @thefinestgreen.


Navy Gangs is a Brooklyn based band consisting of Matt Tillwick, Noah Kohll, Gavin Cordaro, and Wilson Keithline. After first seeing them a few months ago at one of the Brooklyn DIYs, I’ve watched them become exponentially more solid. Every show gets better, more tight and makes them one of a few bands that you can see again and again without redundancy. On the brink of a tour and an EP release down the line, I politely asked the boys if I could ask them some intelligently poised questions. I wanted to give you good people an idea about where my favorite pop-rock foursome hails from geographically and artistically.

You three (Matt, Gavin & Noah) are from Omaha, Nebraska – how did all of you end up in New York?

Noah: I moved here in 2014 to go to the New School and then Matt formed Navy Gangs in Omaha. I flew back for a couple of shows and then Matt flew back to NY after those shows in August of 2015. We started playing shows when he was here with a couple of different members, but we were planning on having Gavin play with us when he moved here and that was in October of that same year. Then we kicked out a bandmate and got Wilson. I went to school with Wilson.

Matt: Really? I thought he was just a guy you knew.

Noah: We were in a contemporary film class together. I didn’t really talk to him, I just knew him. Then I saw Larry & The Babes [Wilson’s previous band] play and then I realized he was sick at bass and then I asked him to be in the band and he’s the best person in the world.

Favorite gig you guys have played together so far?

Noah: Sweatfest. It was a festival in Omaha. Also me and Gavin put on a show in New York under an alias “Propane Exchange” and it was our first show with Wilson. We did it on a mini ramp, mini warped tour, with some bands we liked. We played with our friends Beth Israel, PC Worship played, Staffers played – 272 Seigel. There were maybe 200 people there. Gavin and I promoted the whole thing ourselves.

Are there any particular bands specifically you listen to for inspiration?

Noah: Italian disco. Disco music. That really cool guitar music from the 90s and all that Flying Nun stuff.

Gavin: Further… The Bats…

Noah: Pavement, obviously.

Gavin: Homosexuals

Noah: Another huge influence – soft rock. Christopher Cross.

Matt: I didn’t really get into Christopher Cross & Alan Parsons

Noah: Steely Dan

Gavin: Power pop. We like power pop. Where we’re from is more important than on a national level.

Noah: Where we’re from is very important. We grew up from the beginning with Capgun Coup and then David Kenneth Nance all the Unread Records stuff. Stomach. The Dad. Alek Erickson. The Razors. Nathan Ma. All those people. Coaxed (our old band). Sean Pratt & The Sweats. It’s the best music in the world. Shout out to Omaha.

Gavin: Shoutout to Brookes Blalock whose visual art inspires us all @scariest_thug_ever

Are there any books, movies, other visual artists that you think influence your songs?

Matt: Saguaro by Carson Mell

Noah: Bee Movie by Jerry Seinfeld… Face/Off… anything with Bruce Willis

Gavin: Not anything, just the parts that have Bruce Willis in it

Matt: Anime

Noah: Food Wars.. Guy Fieri…

Matt: Basements. Dark spaces.

Noah: Anthony Bourdain… Being in a completely dark space and you can’t hear anything and there’s like AC pumping and you’re down there for like 5 days… that’s a huge influence. Get influenza.

One record everyone should listen to and why?

Noah: Everyone should listen to the Subtropics tape

Matt: There’s like 4 tapes

Noah: The swimteam tape too

Gavin: Everyone should listen to Denim Denim Takes Over

Noah: I think the Subtropics is the best because it’s the perfect mixture of 1970s baroque pop with this like DIY tape culture sound and it gives a good idea of what these certain Omaha musicians are doing and have been doing and will continuously be doing

Matt: Swimteam’s tape everyone should listen to it because it’s super good. You can listen to the whole thing and as one thing – there’s no moment where you’re like ‘I could just skip a little bit’

Noah: It’s really overblown pop. Pop music with a punk aesthetic

Gavin: Have you ever listened to Felt?  Then you’ll love Denim if you like watching Magic Rainbow.

Have you guys been in any other bands that have influenced Navy Gangs?

Noah: Matt & I were in Coaxed together. Even before Coaxed Matt had a band. Gavin was in a sick band in Omaha called Telepathy Problems. My first band was called The Howl. I played drums in it. It was really bad.

Gavin: It was like fucked up riot grrrl doo-wop

Noah: I didn’t know how to play drums

Gavin: It was so sick

Matt: No comment

Gavin: I love when you did your drum solo where you ran all the way around the drum set

Noah: That was fun. We played in a pizza shop then my seat fell down all the way and I was still playing drums. It was so hard

noah drums

So do any of those bands have relevance in your lives now?

Noah: I think just playing in any band will have an influence on yourself.

Matt: I was in a Beatles cover band where we had to read off sheet music and it taught me practice makes perfect

Noah: [Navy Gangs] could always be tighter. I don’t think you could ever be at the most tight. You can always be tighter.

Matt: I feel like when you get to a certain point of tight you can jam live almost

How would you describe the sound of your own band?

Noah: It’s just pop music. It’s rock music, it’s pop music – that’s what it is. It doesn’t need to be more dissected than it is.

Gavin: I feel like at a certain level you over intellectualize it and you’re not even really describing it anymore because you’re trying to describe it

Noah: And then it just turns into this like, mush of bullshit words that you like grabbed out of your ass. So it’s rock music. It’s pop music.

That’s what I was hoping they would say….

Matt: Make sure you put in there ‘it’s good’

It is good…..

Anything in the works soon, an album maybe?

Gavin: We’re gonna get ripped first

Noah: We’re gonna work out a bunch then we’re gonna slather suntan oil on ourselves before we hit the road

Gavin: Then we’re all getting dog walking jobs, then we’re going on tour

Noah: Our tour kick off is 7/9 @ Alphaville with Staffers (which is the band we’re going on the road with) and our friend Sean Henry’s playing and he’s really great at songwriting. Our other friend Larry from Larry & The Babes is opening it up. We’regoing on tour 7/14-7/24 through the Midwest.

We also have a 7” coming out in September on No Roads records. Listen to our label mates Big White.

We’re gonna go to the studio in August and record a full length record and we have a music video coming out soon.

Tour dates below:

7/9 @ Brooklyn, NY – Alphaville

7/14 @ Phildelphia, PA – House Show TBA

7/15 – Detroit, MI – Kelly’s Bar

7/17 – Milwaukee, WI – The High Dive

7/18 – Minneapolis, MN – Memory Lanes

7/19 – Omaha, NE – Milk Run

7/20 – Omaha, NE – Almost Music

7/21 – Kansas City, MO – BA

7/22 – Saint Louis, MO – Bolozone

7/24 – Washington, DC – The Dougout

Find Navy Gangs online at @navygangs



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