1. Hiya, what's your preferred name and pronouns, and whose country do you live on?
Taco, he/him/Des/Troy, I live on land of the Wurundjeri people.
2. What's your rig rundown?
I mostly use an Olympus Mju:1 but I’ll use a Canon Zoom XL every now and again, and if I’m filming a set I use a Sony DCR-SC100. I’ll bring different film in the bag just in case I need something specific and ear buds.
3. How did you get in to shooting live music?
Been going to shows forever, at one time I was going to a lot of grind shows and there was either one person shooting, which was bad teeth zine or no one (that I was aware of), so I took it upon myself to fill that void. I had a mju 1 and a red Konica pop and started snapping.
4. What/who are some of your influences in photography?
Jerry Guzman from the Bay Area has a huge influence on me, I did get to meet him at the Powerviolence Project show in 2017, great dude. It’s how intimate his shots are, being close and in the firing line to achieve those shots; I love that feeling.
Larry Chen inspires me a lot. The way he captures car culture and tells its story, I love it. I’ve hit up drift and car shows and tried my hand at capturing the beautiful machines; I want to smell like burnt rubber and smoke.
Chris Colohan (Cursed, The Swarm, Left for dead) put out a small photo book titled Negative space and it think that inspired me a little too.
And In recent years the photographers who release books through 550bc: Ultraviolence, Favela Pets and diary of a hitman are the books I’ve been able to get my hands on but love their work
5. Do you have a favourite show that you've photographed, or a favourite memory from a gig you've shot? Or maybe a particular favourite photograph that you've taken?
Hands down has to be Rort’s last show at the Tote: nunchucks in the pit, heaps of stage dives, I shot flicks from the stage luckily. I heard after the show people were stealing beers, I fell into the glass window just left of stage, guys with paint spraying at the crowd and it ended when the fire extinguisher went off. A couple weeks before that show I was wearing a rort shirt at Wutang and a guy was yelling at me and then he came over and showed me he designed the flier for the last Rort show, it’s still very fresh in my mind.
6. What else do you like to photograph outside of live music?
I mentioned before I like taking photos of drifting / cars, but recently I’m coming full circle and taking photos of my friends with a rangefinder Olympus 35 DC, and any composition of anything I see that scratches the itch.
7. How can folks reach out to you if they'd like to get in touch?
You can find me on Instagram @613photoviolence.
