When you picture sailors in their pressed, dress-white uniforms, electric guitars and Led Zeppelin probably don’t come to mind.
But that’s because you haven’t met The Destroyers, a U.S. Navy Band Southwest contingent that can seriously rock the house — and get everyone dancing and swaying along.
When the six-member band, all in Navy dress white uniforms, took to the outdoor stage Saturday, May 27, at the second day of LA Fleet Week, parents, kids and a U.S. Marine break dancer were among those who caught the spirit. The energetic, hourlong set spanned hits from the 1970s to today’s teen favorites — with a little bit of country and jazz thrown in.
“We wear our white uniforms and look like sailors,” said singer Taylor Johns, “but we play like a rock band.”
That they do.
With Konrad Malinowski on guitar, Drew Williams on piano, Pete Mattice on bass, Tommie Auger on drums and Jason Stark handling sound, the band has even gained the admiration, Johns said, of at least one member of the U.S. Marine Band, also playing at Fleet Week, who praised them for how they “rock out.”
The Destroyers is the “popular music group” contingent within the overall Navy Band Southwest, performing in high school auditoriums as well as formal military receptions.
The Navy Band isn’t easy to get into, Johns said, adding it took her three tries to be accepted.
Only 600 get accepted into the larger band, which includes jazz and other smaller break-out groups, including The Destroyers. Only nine singers overall are taken into the group as a whole.
Folks actually try out for the band first, then enlist in the Navy when accepted. And that’s their only job.
Most are not only talented but also hold impressive advanced education degrees and play several instruments.
In Johns’s case, she came from a Navy family and, while performing singing gigs here and there as a teen and young adult, the Navy band seemed like a perfect fit.
“I was playing the guitar…
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