Documentarian Nicholas Taplin Releases 6.5 Years Worth of Photos From the Oakland DIY Scene

Oakland DIY documentarian Nicholas Taplin. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin)

If you’re a regular at Oakland house shows, you’ve likely shared a room with Nicholas Taplin. 

In 2015, Taplin began filming DIY shows and sharing footage under the name Post-Consumer. Feeling “unconditioned socially” given his Quaker boarding school education on the East Coast, Taplin discovered this form of documentation both served a purpose, and eased his social anxiety. 

When Taplin pivoted to photography, his work evolved into intimate artifacts and opportunities for connection. More recently, Taplin released these photographs in the form of an extensive photo essay featuring six and half years worth of his photography within the Oakland DIY scene, from 2015 through 2021. The collection is at turns joyful and poignant, including photos of pandemic isolation and friends who were lost in the 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire. 

“As someone who loves taking candid portraits, Oakland has been a better city for me to do this in than any of the other cities I’ve lived in and been photographing in,” states Nicholas, who has previously lived in Santa Cruz, Portland, Los Angeles, Austin, and Olympia. “People in the Oakland DIY scene come across as sincere and happy in my photos of them, and when I look at these photos, they make me happy.” 

Taplin’s work amounts to a beautiful representation of self-sought, creative community. I spoke to him about his passion for documentation, the value of Oakland’s DIY scene, and which local bands are ones to watch. 

Nicholas Taplin and Brontez Purnell, Oakland-based writer and frontman for The Younger Lovers. (Courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2019)

Firstly, I think “Post-Consumer” is a killer title. I’m curious about how you came up with it, and why it resonated with you. 

I came up with the name “Post-Consumer” to call my record label and production company when I was 19 and a UC Santa Cruz sophomore in 1999, (which is how I was able to obtain the www.post-consumer.com URL back then). At the time, I was doing audio recording and photography of every Santa Cruz DIY show I attended, (a lot of which is featured on my website), and I knew that documentation of DIY live music culture was always going to be a major part of my creative life. I thought “Post-Consumer” was a cool name because it was both referencing that I was “recycling” the live music with my documentation I was publishing, but it also suggests there is a future beyond people being forced to be “consumers” in general.

What do you find especially unique or interesting about Oakland’s DIY scene? 

I’ve lived in a lot of cities, and had lots of fun in many places, but Oakland is the first city I’ve lived in that I think I can realistically be happy living in for the rest of my life. I have never felt bored in Oakland, and the DIY scene here is extremely unique to me. The scene here is overtly politically radical, and I think that keeps the music and art being made here from being boring. The community here is also extremely diverse, very queer-centric, and amazingly embracing of openly neuroatypical people. Regardless of if their music is aggressive, the men here don’t have “macho” social personalities.  I appreciate that men with gentle (and ambiguous gender) vibes can thrive here.

Tommy and BG at The Dildo Factory, a DIY venue in Berkeley. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2018)

Can you share a tale or two about your most memorable house show experiences?

The Diesel Dudes show I filmed in 2016 that I mentioned in the KQED article on me was one of the most insane things I’ve ever seen. It was like 40 people in the audience going nuts at a show in someone’s bedroom, and the band was perfect. When I was filming it, I couldn’t believe it was happening. The band Undō gave a performance at a house show that was also incredible for me because BG is a really unique singer. BG’s singing style is kind of anguished screaming, but also with this absurdist component to it. Another cool thing about that show was BG and Zoe were wearing all white, and midway through one of the songs, BG turned off the lights in the room and there was a black light illuminating BG and Zoe’s clothes, so they looked like ghosts. Undō is probably my favorite Oakland band for live music. Also, Zoe’s guitar sound is “bigger than God” because I think she uses an octave splitter. 

From left: Ryanaustin Dennis, Mahawam, and Brontez Purnell at Steamworks. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2019)

In your KQED feature, you mention that your filming eased your social anxiety because it gave you an excuse to avoid socializing. I was immediately reminded of Andy Warhol’s social anxiety, and his use of the camera as a point of contact with those he sought to connect with. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. In your experience, has the camera created distance, or encouraged connection?

With the videography I did for 3.5 years of the shows in Oakland, (which is basically how I got immersed in the scene here), filming the shows was definitely a way to experience the music without having to socialize. The photography I’ve done has been very different for me, because all of my photos are of people in social situations, and I feel more connected to the people when I photograph them. I’m not sure why, but people here seem to feel comfortable around me and I pretty consistently get photographs of people here seeming really happy (or at least at ease). I think a photograph of a person looking genuinely happy is nice to look at even if you are totally disconnected from that person and their culture. It’s also important, of course, that the people in the Oakland DIY scene are generally very interesting people, so in my photos they look both interesting and happy, which makes for a good candid photo.

Ryan and Dany, Dot Vom’s lead singer, at The Dildo Factory. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2018)

How did the Ghost Ship fire shift your perception of DIY documentation and its value, if at all?

I was friends with two people who died in the fire, (Ara Jo and Donna Kellogg), and I went to Ghost Ship while the fire was happening because my friend Anthony lived there, and escaped the fire. I had him sleep at my place that night. While Anthony was sleeping at my place, I looked at the news all through the night, and it was becoming clear a lot of people had died. Many people in the Oakland DIY scene lost many of their friends, best friends, and romantic partners, so the loss was surreal. After the fire, it became normal for people to hug each other, and that was nice because I appreciate hugs.

I don’t think the Ghost Ship fire changed my perception of documentation. Ghost Ship was an unsafe building. I had been in there a month before the fire and left within 5 minutes because the vibe of that building was unsafe. In general, all of the DIY shows I’ve attended have been safe environments in every aspect, both physically and emotionally. People here are generally caring and responsible, and they’re also smart.

My basic thing with documentation is that I really like doing it, and it feels natural to me. I’m also good with organizing large amounts of photos and recordings, so I have archives of basically every photo, audio, and video recording I’ve ever done. I will choose if an environment I put myself into is safe for me, and if it’s not, I will leave, but basically all of the DIY spaces I’ve been in in Oakland (and elsewhere) have been inviting to be in.

Which local bands or artists are you especially excited about right now? 

I have to give a MAJOR shout out to the indie rock band Christina’s Trip, which is lead by Christina Busler, who is 28 years old, and my ex-girlfriend, whom I effortlessly transitioned to being good platonic friends with. I culturally identify with Christina’s music more than any other music being made in Oakland. Christina is completely exotic for someone her age, because she is totally spiritually in touch with Gen X indie rock values and aesthetics. 

Another great band is 2 Lazy Boys, where the leader, Rizzy, has this really amazing gravelly quality to her voice, and the whole band is both punk but also kinda indie rock with some vaguely noise rock thrown in. Another great band is Ötzi, which is basically the only current “post-punk” band I closely follow.  (Ötzi band leader) Akiko Sampson also has an interesting experimental side project called Yama Uba that is pretty provoking to see live. Lastly, I should give a shout out to Denney Joints, who is one of the very few remaining heterosexual male rock musicians who looks perfect wearing black leather pants and has a completely vital and nuanced energy in his music.

Musician Maya Songbird at SGRAFFITO Gallery. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2018)

How has the pandemic influenced your creative practice? 

Ha! Well, for one thing, the Oakland DIY scene has been completely responsible about Covid, like amazingly so, and there have been zero DIY shows since Covid started. It’s really frustrating, but people here know that they need to be responsible. I REALLY miss photographing people at DIY shows. It gives me immense pleasure doing that. During this Covid period I seriously built up my recording studio, so now it’s better than it’s ever been, and I’ve had some really good recording experiences. I recorded a “world music” record for a band my old friend Scott Stobbe—from the band Zdrastvootie—put together to perform his compositions with him, which are basically a combination of Balkan and Latin American styles. That record came out last year, and it’s actually become the most critically acclaimed thing I’ve ever recorded. It’s regarded as one of the best world music records to come out that year.

What are you working on right now? What’s next?

Christina and I are recording her Christina’s Trip record, which I’m really excited about. I’m still working on my Oakland DIY music documentary film, (making use of my 400+ hours of Oakland DIY concert footage), which I’ll hopefully finish. A month ago, I bought the www.MusicShow.tv URL and I’d love to connect with some developers who want to partner to make a new live music-focused social media website. Every musician I know who remembers how good Myspace was 16 years ago is extremely frustrated with Facebook and Instagram, because they simply aren’t designed for music. I’ve also been doing lots of various work for Bay Area tech events, which has been fun in its own way because the people are nice. 

It would be cool if a large company hired me as their in-house photographer to make stories for their company newsletter about their employees. I really, really want to keep photographing while I do my best to pursue an interesting and exciting life. All of my close friends are really amazing people, (and I fundamentally trust all of them). I always like making more friends and I’m pretty good at that, even with my unusual personality.  

One last thing: SOLIDARITY with the seemingly small number of romantically monogamous people in the Bay Area arts scene.  It’s really hard to find a compatible monogamous partner in this scene.

Oakland-based tattoo artist Piña (on left) with friends at SGRAFFITO Gallery. (Photo courtesy Nicholas Taplin, 2018)