New York City indie-rock band, Nautics, are officially on the road to support hip-hop/indie-rock band, Dogma Society, on their southwest tour. Nautics are a four-piece consisting of New York natives Kenzo Repola (vocals/guitar), Van Cameron (bass), Kitt Flamer-Calder (guitar), and Levitt Yaffe (drums). Nautics will be playing a total of nine shows with Dogma Society across the Southwest from Texas to California. I speak for all of us indie-rock fans within the Phoenix music scene when I say that we are so stoked for Nautics to be stopping in town to play a gig with Dogma Society. The band will be playing at the iconic Nile Underground next Saturday, August 15th and trust me, you won’t want to miss this. 

The Nile Theatre originally opened in 1924 as one of the largest movie theatres in the valley. Since then the venue has lived many lives, most notably opening as the music venue that we now know and love in 1990. The Nile initially housed more “underground” artists and genres such as goth, punk, and ska and has since expanded to more “alternative” shows, including indie-rock and hip-hop. Not only is the Nile Theatre still going strong, but has grown to feature both a second venue underground and a local coffee shop. The Nile carries rich history for the city of Mesa and continues to serve as a foundational place of community for music enthusiasts within the Phoenix area. 

Nautics formed back in 2015 when the four friends met in their high school music class. They initially connected over a passion for music and have kept consistently making music together ever since. Bands such as The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, and The 1975 played an influential role in the process of Nautics cultivating their own original sound. Since then, the band has developed a unique community within the NYC indie-rock scene. Kenzo, Van, Kitt, and Levitt were all born-and-raised in New York, which makes   the New York energy all the more prominent within their music. The NYC music scene is one of the country’s most iconic, especially for indie/alternative artists. A key part of New York culture lies within the intersection of different art forms and their communities. Nautics strives to celebrate and engage with different art forms as much as possible.

Photo by Calvin Stark

Nautics carry the duality of their sassy-whilst-serious individual personalities with them in all aspects of the band, seen within their musics’ lyricism, sonics, and live show energy. This balance is seen within their newest single, “knee/touch”, which tackles themes related to intimacy and vulnerability, leaving listeners feeling seen and understood.

Not only are Nautics about to put on a killer show in Mesa this month, but their debut album, people only like me when i’m leaving, is set to release in September. Similar to the pre-released single, “knee/touch”, this record is both honest and vulnerable, highlighting challenges associated with loneliness, and the attempt to form genuine and intimate connections with others. In my humble opinion, Nautics does a great job of balancing rather serious themes while highlighting the tongue-in-cheekness that makes their sound and vibe unique.  

Nautics are particularly excited to be on the road, exploring new cities and meeting new people. With touring new cities comes the opportunity to experience all of what their unique live music scenes have to offer. The Phoenix local music community is diverse, welcoming, and intimate. We are so excited for Nautics to experience the culture and even more stoked to enjoy their live energy this weekend at their show at the Nile. Saturday, August 15th. The Nile in Mesa. Be there or be square! 

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Q&A With Kenzo Repola of Nautics

By: Norah Jerinic-Brodeur 

UNCUT COLLECTIVE: What is the origin story of Nautics?

KENZO: We met in high school, I think it was 2015. Levitt and Van knew each other since primary school and were friends and did music together on the side. I knew Van was interested in music, Kitt was also interested in music, and was sort of aware of the musical world happening in the background for all of them. I was not hesitant towards it but just had no interest, even though I was friends with Van for a few years. One day I saw this guy that I was friends with growing up perform at Webster Hall and I was able to see him transform into this new character on stage and I was super mesmerized by it. I was so blown away that literally the next day I came back to school and I asked Van, ‘Hey can we please start a band because I would love to do that.’ We’ve just been friends for like eleven years so we’ve been consistently doing this. 

What is the most New York thing about Nautics?

KENZO: Oh yeah. I think a big part of New York culture is the intersection between different artforms and how a lot of communities intertwine (people who do dance are hanging out with people who do indie-rock and photography). I think that our band likes to celebrate all those art forms as much as possible and also engage with it, even if it's not super active in every single thing we do. I think it permeates us as a band. I think that we all enjoy engaging with all different types of art form and culture and that is evident in how we process music and that world of music. 

How is your music sonically unique within the nyc indie-rock scene?

KENZO: I think that there is a lot of good music out there and I probably haven’t seen all of it because there’s so much here at our level even. There is sort of a big culture of super monotone/sad/90’s grungy/depressed rock I think that we aim to be, just as people, a little more sassy and fun. There is an air of seriousness of what we do and we still engage in those serious feelings and emotions with how we sonically approach songs and lyrics of our songwriting. There’s a bit of tongue-in-cheekness and fun we like to have with it; we like to be dynamic in how we write songs. A song doesn’t have to feel like one note  and we never try to do that with anything we approach in writing. Also, we write as a band, and we’re all from such different backgrounds, it creates a sound that other people have identified to me as ‘very unique to us.’ I think it’s because we all disagree with each other and can’t agree on anything, which creates a new thing. 

Have you been to any shows recently that have particularly sparked creativity/inspiration?

KENZO: I saw Wunderhorse recently and that was really good. I really like their energy. Some people, I don’t know them super well, but they’re another New York band called Been Stellar opened for them. They’re really good and it’s really cool to see a New York band opening and traveling for people. It’s always good to see on my end. We got to see a lot of stuff at Gov Ball. We were working with some friends of ours, Evening Elephants, we were opening for them and they played Gov Ball. We got to see Slayyyter live. Her energy was nuts. It rained super crazy and Slayyyter kept getting pushed back. Van and I sort of waited right outside the perimeter of her stage so we kept waiting for her to go on. When she went on it was so cool and so heavy. It was a full band too. That’s really cool to see in pop that there’s a lot of rock elements happening. Her production was sick. I think that the second we get a budget I would love explosions and fire. The second I can afford a projector, I’m getting that. A lot of the production elements of her set were really cool. 

You have been teasing a new song dropping tomorrow (“knee/touch” out now!) What can you share about the new track? 

KENZO: It was a super collaborative song between Van and I. We often write together as a band or a duo. Van actually wrote a lot of it and I sort of reworked it to have a little bit more form in terms of the lyrics. He did a lot with the melody and it kept sticking with me. We’ve been writing a lot of stuff as demos together and sort of bedroom-pop vibes initially. This was a thing that really spoke to keeping it that way. We wanted this real sense of intimacy and then that intimacy and vibe and us sharing a moment together talking about vulnerable things with each other kind of echoed through the lyricism later. That became a lot more subconscious. It’s a bedroom-pop song two boys made together. 

Your debut record, “People Only Like Me When I’m Leaving" releases next month. What does this album mean to you? What are some common themes throughout the tracks?

KENZO: Intimacy, relatability, and connection are a big part of that. I think there’s a super big party scene in New York that sort of ‘indie-sleeze’ thing and I think everyone was trying to get off of themselves. Every club had like 20 night life photographers in it and everyone was fake to everyone. No one knew each other's names but everyone just kept asking each other for a cigarette. This album is a good answer for us as a band, who have existed before that nature of community and went through it/saw it from an outsider’s perspective. The name of the album and vibe of the album is sort of ‘the person who can’t leave the party because they think they’re going to miss out on something that isn’t even real for them. You know, you’re waiting around for nobody to say ‘bye’ to you and that’s the most kind of empty feeling you could have. That feeling of loneliness and elements of fakeness and attempting to have vulnerability with people is something that I wanted to explore throughout all the songs. Whilst also trying to be genuine and that harkins back to us being tongue-in-cheek while also being sincere and kind of bouncing between those worlds. I’m really really proud of it. It also will take you on a journey if you listen to it all the way through. Also if you just want to listen to it as little individual baby pop songs that’s also doable. 

You are gearing up to support Dogma Society on tour later this week. What are you most excited for about this tour? 

KENZO: We’ve been mostly on our side of things. We’ve gone to LA before and traveled around a little bit but this is the first big leg where we’ve gone south and through the west coast. I’m super excited to see everybody. I know that there’s people who listen to our music out in the rest of America and the world. I’m really excited to just meet everyone who is out there, and you! It’s fun to get comments online but it’s even better to have a conversation with someone. I’m also really excited to keep touring, keep playing, travel to new places, and meet all sorts of people. Dogma Society is great by the way. They’re really good and they’re very nice people. I’m super excited to go to Phoenix, a lot of my family has been out there for different reasons but I have not yet. I’m mostly excited to see the band and music culture of each city.

Nautics - knee/touch (Official Music Video)