Will Work For Drink Tickets: How Musicians and Photographers Are Cut From The Same Cloth
Plus: a look into some memorable (for better or worse) live gigs from Committeemen’s DJ Gilmore-Innis
Howdy! Welcome to the debut of the Rue Defense Tape Club newsletter. Just last week, we also launched our podcast, The J-Card (more on that in a bit). We’re excited to kick this thing off, so let’s get to it!
In today’s newsletter:
The Relationship Between Musicians and Photographers 📸
Some Stuff You May Have Missed 📝
Showdown: Committeemen 🎫
📸 The Relationship Between Musicians and Photographers
On the latest episode of The J-Card, we kept it in-house. Our first guest was Graham W. Bell (co-founder of this Tape Club, I’ll have you know), and one big thing we talked about was the mutual respect between musicians and photographers. Graham created Focus Group Photo, which is a nationwide photography collective doing some really cool stuff (seriously, go look).
Musicians and photographers are often cut from the very same DIY cloth, and they will often go years doing unpaid work and passion projects before breaking in. Both crafts require loads of dedication, and both face endless competition that ultimately ends up driving pricing to rock bottom.
Bands will rehearse multiple times a week, haul all their gear across town, wait around for hours, play for a couple people, and then split 20 bucks four ways. Photographers will invest paychecks into lenses and laptops, shoot hundreds of frames at a poorly lit dive, dig through everything, edit some gems, and get a handful of “likes”. These artists are two sides of the same coin.
If you haven’t already go check out the full conversation with Graham on The J-Card Podcast, and enjoy this little snippet below.
Tell us a bit about how you started Focus Group, and how you got into concert photography.
I had come back from Treefort Music Fest, where I was photographing for the festival, and I was like, “Man, I want to do more of this.” It was so fun to take photos of the bands, and do that kind of stuff.
I had actually reached out to some publications and I was like, “Hey, I'd love to shoot for you,” but people wouldn't get back to me or they were already full. So I figured there have to be other people that are in my same shoes that want to do this thing, but just don't have an “in” because we were new to the scene or whatever.
That's why I started Focus Group. It’s really just about getting opportunities for photographers. And we're like a “publication”, but it's really more like a community showcase. It's only photographs; there's no reviews or anything. It's just focusing on the photographer.
So that said, when I got back from Treefort that year, I had already kind of just been going to shows in Houston and just taking my camera. I knew a couple people that were in bands, just through going to the same coffee shop all the time. I was like, “Oh, I'll come out and shoot,” and they're like, “Oh, these are great photos” or whatever. And so it just kind of went from there.
Musicians and photographers both often practice their craft for the love of it. Tell us about the musician-photographer relationship, from your perspective.
The musician-photographer connection is… it's interesting because a lot of artists want photos, and they appreciate the photographers… and a lot of photographers want to take photos and get like “that shot” of whatever band (it doesn't necessarily have to be a big band). They’re happy to be like, “look at this amazing shot that I got of this tiny band no one's ever heard of, but I love!” I think that's really the powerful thing.
I think a lot of present-day music journalism is centered around getting the famous person, but that's not really a part of what Focus Group is about. It's more about the photographer getting a shot of something that really is important and exciting to them. It's about the experience. We're trying to show the experience of the artists, and portray what a show feels like. And I think that artists really appreciate that.
Sometimes there are artists who might not quite understand how much work goes into the photographing, the editing, the culling, all that stuff. Sometimes people are just like, “Hey, can you send me those photos?”, and it's like, that was how many hours of work? And you just want me to send you them for free? I always tell my photographers, if you want to do that, that's fine… but if they ask you to cover something, you need to get paid. Like: once they ask, they pay.
It's a fine line, and a lot of artists don't have money… but a lot of photographers don't have money either. It's definitely a symbiotic relationship. It’s a “I see you and you see me” kind of thing. It's a mutual respect.
Follow Focus Group on IG, and see more at their site.
📝 Some Stuff You May Have Missed
Yes, this is technically the first edition of the Tape Club newsletter, however we’ve been “in beta” so to speak, since February. Here are a few highlights you may have missed:
Even if you’re not a direct consumer of public media, the media you do consume is likely somehow just a degree or two removed from the influence of public media.
We talked about no-talent tech bros bringing their “move fast & break things” ideology to music, even though no one asked them to. And now with the whole Velvet Sundown ordeal, it’s an even more relevant discussion.
We talked about the importance of digital media preservation and how much work gets scrubbed from the internet every year.
📈 Help Out By Sponsoring The Tape Club
If you want to help out a small-time art project, support DIY creatives, and shine a small spotlight on physical media, get in touch!
🎫 Showdown: Committeemen
On our Showdown segment, we dig into artists’ experiences playing live.
Today we’ve got DJ Gilmore-Innis, vocalist and guitarist of the Houston, TX-based Committeemen. Their latest single “Chew” is out now. You can find the video at the bottom of this section.
First show you played
Where: On the lawn of Sound Attitude in Yuba City, CA.
When: Must have been summer of 2002.
We were called The Vagabonds. We were in high school, and we showed up with all our equipment in the trunk of our lead singer's 60’s Cadillac. There was an older band we were playing with, and they were sorta sarcastically cheering us on.
Favorite show you’ve played
Where: In The Vagabonds, we had a pretty great run of shows at a youth center that would rent us one of their halls on Saturday nights. The gigs got so big that bands from Sacramento and the Bay Area were coming to play, and things started getting out of hand. We couldn’t really contain a bunch of 20-something punks from the big city.
When: 2004 was probably the pinnacle of the Marysville youth center, as a punk venue.
We played with a band from Sacramento called The Broke. We had been following them around at their gigs and finally convinced them to play with us. We just tore the roof off the place, and they were so impressed. I still access the pride from that sometimes when I need it.
Worst show you’ve played
Where: With my punk band in Portland, we played a Dr. Who-themed fish and chips restaurant, where it seems like none of the staff knew there was going to be a punk show in their establishment. (Editor’s note: I believe this may have been The Tardis Room.)
When: 2016 or 2017 I think.
There was no crowd, and the staff weren’t really having it. The PA sucked, our guitar player got so high he just turned and played to the wall our entire set. It just felt like rock bottom.
Most surprising show you’ve played
Where: Man, with my current band Committeemen just last week. We were supporting our friends The Midnight Papers for their record release. We knew it was gonna be a fun show, and that our friends would come and have a good time. But through The Midnight Papers’ killer promo for the show, we nearly sold out the upstairs of The White Oak Music Hall.
When: June 26th, 2025
What made it so surprising? Just the amount of people that showed up and how engaged and ready to party the crowd was on a Thursday for 3 local bands.
Most impactful show you’ve played
Where: Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho
When: March 2025
As a musician, this was just the type of thing you kinda envision yourself doing. That festival really treats the artists well, even really small bands get some money, free tickets to the whole festival. Then it was just spending a week watching really really good up and coming bands, all together as a band. Comparing notes, learning from more experienced groups.
How’s that for a little slice of life from a touring musician? I wish I could’ve been at that Tardis Room show. As promised, here’s a look at “Chew” – enjoy!
🫶 Your Support…
We sincerely thank you for being a part of the Tape Club. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed, especially in these early stages.
We’re currently seeking music submissions for the second tape (December 2025). If you’re interested in submitting or know anyone who might be, here’s the submission form: https://forms.gle/Mc7En6K8Tb2BbgxJA
We’re also happy to hear your general thoughts and ideas. There’s a form for those, too: https://forms.gle/nTgxrqL6oLfVKms27
Thanks again, and talk to you soon!
-RDTC