Photo Courtesy of Building an Empire

It’s in the Genes

By Michael Weiler
Contributing Writer

There are people who truly believe that music and musical ability is genetic—that music and its ability to understand and create is somehow passed down from one person to the next. They believe it is nature rather than nurture. To prove this is difficult, and most studies show little evidence of this actually occurring. Darwin and many others tried to equate music to a form of higher communication between the sexes, but again it is difficult to prove.

If there were living proof of this, it would be Nolan Vanyo, singer for the local group Building an Empire.

“My grandpa is a huge influence in my music,” Vanyo notes. “He gave us a lot of his gear… a lot of his wisdom, too.”

You see—Vanyo is a Navarro by blood. To some, that might not mean much, but to those in the know about local music and its roots, that’s huge.

Thomas Victorino Navarro is the grandfather Nolan is talking about. He was and still is lead singer, guitarist, and founder of the band The Coachmen. Again, this may not mean much to a lot of people nowadays, but they were pretty cool stuff in their day.

“He [Thomas Navarro] started mostly as a hobby,” Vanyo said. “He started by playing electric guitar in high school and started The Coachmen in the 70s. That has been his band ever since.”

In the late 60s, Thomas had a son, Michael, and a new Navarro musician was born. This time, it was a drummer. Mike was one of those drummers musicians dreamed of playing with—solid, consistent, and tight. Mike went on to form two bands in the 80s and 90s that had a very large following, capturing the attention of both fans and critics alike.

What came next, naturally, was another generation of musician in the Navarro bloodline—Nolan Vanyo. Vanyo’s music is not his grandpa’s or his uncle’s music. It is what some term to be post-hardcore, often seen as an offshoot of hardcore punk (Black Flag, Minor Threat). Today, it has even been referred to as a knee-jerk reaction to emo-type bands.

“Everything is going really well for us,” Vanyo said. “We are happy playing the music we want, and the shows we want to play. I think the only thing holding us back is us.”

Vanyo is referring to the age of his band and its members working on finishing school.

But in Vanyo’s case, odds are he won’t be held back for long. It’s in his genes—literally—to be doing this. To be making music his way, on his terms, with no one else getting in the way.

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IF YOU GO:
What: Building an Empire
Where: Gio’s Event Center, 123 21st St. S., Moorhead
When: Fri. March 25 at 7 p.m.
All Ages, $7 admission