The way they move, subtle cues to the sound booth, banter—live music reveals who musicians are as people. We go to shows for music, and to witness the real moments on stage that often turn into our best memories. 

During a time without live music and as we search for ways to experience the things we love, an exhibit I attended in New York back in November (2019) deeply resonates. Talking to artists and audience members reveals this undeniable community aspect to concerts. With the closing of Great Scott recalling memories, we collectively look back to former times, perhaps the only way to experience that community right now. Identifying what’s missing from the “new normal” of virtual shows will help highlight what our generation’s scene needs to work towards when we can move forward. 

I recognized Shaun Couture of The Nude Party riding in the same train car on the J heading into Manhattan. I knew we shared the same destination: band member Alec Castillo’s photography exhibit “One More Mile.” Shaun and Alec are two of the six members that constitute The Nude Party, a psych-rock band formed by friends in college dorms of Boone, NC. The Nude Party played in Boston last November at The Sinclair alongside Wombo in support of White Reaper (covered here!). The band stood out with their syncopated choreography, sepia-tinged color palate, vintage haircuts and pant cuts. 

After I ungracefully called out to Shaun that we were heading to the same destination, thoroughly confusing him with my lack of context, we got to chatting. He talked about the band’s move to the Catskills where they share a house in isolation and work for a beer distributing company, driving around the colony region of New York when they aren’t on tour. He mentioned a few bands to look up—Liver Ideas, Pups and Trouble, Kikaganu Moyo—and noted that Mark Ruffalo lives in their neighborhood. I asked how the beer was and he said it would be funny if they drove around delivering shitty beer, but it’s actually good stuff. That’s the kind of wit and humor that defines this group. 

Behind a windowed storefront in a minimally adorned space, similarly clad friends and countless mullets filled the exhibit with laughs and embraces, as onlookers pointed to photos of themselves and their friends displayed on white walls. Getting a glimpse into life off stage through another artistic medium brought a new dimension to the band’s story and identity—all through the perspective and camera lens of their bassist, Alec Castillo. “One More Mile” was an emotive photography vignette revealing lives of love, intimacy, and raw human connection through a photo chronicle of the band’s never-ending tour life.

I abandoned any self-constructed barriers as I chatted more with band members who were dispersed around the room hanging with friends and drinking beers. With ambient music and PBR, I was able to be myself and take part in this group setting. Everyone else was doing the same, and I realized that’s what The Nude Party is all about. I learned that the band’s representation stems from self-expression and a complete embrace of vulnerability. It was interesting to see how the musicians and their friends assumed both roles of viewer and art subject, creating an interesting mirror effect as they saw Alec’s personal representation of their own moments and lives. 

To capture this raw, expressive energy, I gave Austin Brose (percussion, vox) and Alec each a set of questions. In our interviews below, the two independently shared their thoughts on experiencing “One More Mile.” Austin shares his visceral perspective on viewing moments in retrospect, while Alec shares his artistic lens from behind the camera. Both members touch on themes of passing time, vulnerability, memory, and documentation. These dual narratives explore the overlapping role of visionary, object, and subject, conversing on the value of perspective—how one person’s view into a shared lived experience offers a new way to look at the past. Moments that may have been lost or forgotten are remembered and re-lived through their music, life on tour, and the photographs that capture those times. Reliving old times through photography can bring us back to the things we’re missing, offering us a very real way to reconnect with the temporality of live music. 

Check out some photos from the exhibit, and read their respective interviews below. 

Allston Pudding: What do you think makes you comfortable with vulnerability both “in the nude” and through these photos on public display? Is there ever any level/feeling of discomfort? 

Austin Brose: I find comfort in vulnerability because all us humans have it. We all gotta wake up and be us, so just existing presents a certain amount of vulnerability. The methods by which we control it is all up to us so the photos are just a presentation of the way we have chosen to showcase our human condition. 

AP: What were the most visceral memories that resurfaced for you from seeing the photos at the exhibit?

AB: Of course every photo has got its own special memories to each of us, but in general I think what stuck out to me about the exhibit is how much our career has changed since most of the photos were taken. So much of the exhibition photos were from some of our very first tours. We weren’t signed or represented in any way. We weren’t advancing shows or making sure we had places to stay every night. We were consistently late and prowling for floors to sleep on. Playing shows to no one in a town we’d never been to. That whole thing of just starting to be romanced by the tour lifestyle is what I see in every photo. The viscerality of progress made, lessons learned, and good times had. 

AP: What are a couple words that come to mind when seeing the following photos? 

AB: Aubustus Gibbons immediately comes to mind. That was the name of our first touring vehicle that myself and Connor are pictured snoozing in. The name was inspired by Augustus Gibbons, Samuel L. Jackson’s character in the cinematic masterpiece “XXX”. It had two rows of seats and a DIY loft we installed in the back out of plywood. All the gear was under where Connor is sleeping and we would swap out sleeping on the thin little mattress up top. The second photo was taken in Don’s room at our house in Boone “the nude ranch.” I don’t remember this exact shindig, but the scene is excessively familiar. 

AP: How would you describe your relationship to nostalgia as demonstrated through this photo retrospective (from the beginning until the present) and in your music? 

AB: The nostalgic factor is huge for me when looking at the photos. I’d like to think that they could inspire a bit of nostalgia for anyone that was around at the time and even those that weren’t. We, as a group, definitely thrive off the nostalgia. We’re proud and thankful of where we came from. North Carolina raise up, take your shirt off, swing it around your head like a helicopter. 

AP: Do you think there’s anything the photos didn’t capture from your touring experience? 

AB: there’s a story behind every photo and I dig the idea that people can speculate about what that story is and what was being felt at the time. So it’s not really that the photos didn’t capture something but more that there’s layers to it. Like an onion, like an ogre. 

AP: What does “One More Mile” mean to you both in terms of this exhibit and the track/lyrics? 

AB: I think “One More Mile” is the duality of being close to something and also the never ending journey towards something else. Keeping the hustle alive. 

Allston Pudding: You’re in the band, partaking in these experiences and memories portrayed but also a degree away through the role of photographer—what have you learned about the band/your friends from being behind the camera? 

Alec Castillo: Shooting on tour is very in the moment thing. I’m never contriving my pictures and I don’t really have time to think about the images until I get home and look through them all. I think it’s better to let the pictures breathe that way, too, instead of thinking about them as “content” or something like that. I don’t see myself distanced as a photographer in relation to my role in the band, but it’s something that’s creatively independent to me, my own thoughts and feelings. I’ve had the opportunity to see my best friends grow and myself as a photographer because of the longevity of the project and getting to expand it to more tangible platforms like books and shows. 

AP: There’s a clear color palette and composition that evokes a certain nostalgia. How would you describe your relationship to nostalgia—through chronicling the band over time (from beginning to present)  and in relation to your music? 

AC: I have a strong relationship to images that can exist in any time. I’m not longing to escape to a different decade in my work or anything like that. I want my images to be relevant in feeling to any time and resonate with people and human connection. It’s cool to see the band grow from the beginning of the project to present and to see how my work matures with it. It’s cool to see stamps of time and think about how times have changed. The images are definitely different in the beginning from our first tours and making no money and much younger. 

AP: Can you talk about your process of curation?

AC: When I get home from tour I like to sit down for a couple days and archive everything, looking through my images and editing down what I like. It’s then where I get to think about the images and my role as a photographer. My process of curation is different for whatever I’m doing. Like, making a book is different than making a photography show. At my exhibit in NY, it was the first time I’ve displayed my work in collage format or “images clouds.” It’s much different than what I’ve done in the past for displaying this work or putting it into a book. What they do all share is it starts with printing all the work I think may be usable in small print proofs and physically editing down images. It’s easier for me to visualize this way instead of a computer, where I’m also terribly organized. From there I like to see what images can pair with each other and the relationships that images share with each other. The other 50% is just gut feeling and winging it. 

AP: Where does your phrase “Love your mate with all your might” come from?

AC: I like making shirts with themes of love, happiness, friendship, laughter. Things that make me feel good and come through in my photography as well. I start a shirt with a phrase I came up with and see how it evolves from there. I have a notes file in my phone full of fun phrases I write on the bus when I’m bored and I like thinking about images that can pair with it. I was holding onto these words until I had the right picture.

AP: What do you shoot on? How do you feel this method is different than the experience of carrying around a digital camera (smartphone) where anyone can capture any moment at any time? 

AC: I shoot this project on a Nikon DSLR and a Nikon 35mm SLR. I don’t see anything wrong with shooting on a digital, film, phones, whatever. Cameras are just tools. If you can slow yourself down (the way you shoot film) and be thoughtful about what you shoot, doesn’t really matter to me. I shoot both digital and film. I do like having my phone accessible to take pictures with it all the time, but it’s not what I’d shoot “One More Mile” with. 

AP: What are a few words (association/impression/response) that come to mind in response to these photos, they offer a real behind the scenes window into tour life / your world, what are yours? 

AC: 

Hangover, Hot, “I feel you dude.”, precious, valuable time.

Solitude in a loud moment.