Videographer Nathan Dunphy, known professionally as GNDN Media, documents practically every local punk show as a method of archiving the vibrant alternative music scene in St. John’s — what he calls “proof we exist.”
Dunphy’s interest in film started in childhood, and went on to refine his talent at film school in Toronto. Upon his return to Newfoundland, he identified a need for documentation of the ever-changing community.
His creative career has since exploded into the role of resident scene videographer, valiantly recording almost every band, show, and lively mosh pit.
Introduction to music scene
Dunphy described a lifelong love for punk and hardcore music, but surprisingly, his introduction to the local scene was relatively late. After moving back to Newfoundland post graduation, he attended a summer show at the Bowring Park Amphitheatre and found himself immediately hooked.
“It was like a big boom and like a revelation to me that all this was kind of happening under my nose while I was here this whole time. Yeah. I was missing out,” he joked.
Like other folks attending their first show, Dunphy admired how welcoming the environment felt. This eventually led him to become the singer of the hardcore band Doberman.
Following his completion of film school, Dunphy had trouble finding a job within the industry and had the idea to film bands to maintain his skills. “I wasn’t finding much work… to feel like I’m doing something with photography or videography or whatever, I started filming my friends’ bands that I was already going to see every weekend.”
“It was just something to do, like an experiment. And then kind of steamrolled from there… I just started filming every show and every band that played, and here we are.”
Archiving local music
Similar efforts to archive the music community here have been made – Mike Heffernan’s comprehensive oral history memoir Let It All Fall: Underground Music and the Culture of Rebellion in Newfoundland 1977-1995 and various photographers come to mind. But GNDN Media takes a fully digital, accessible approach.
Dunphy spoke about the importance of archiving, saying that, “if you look back, there’s not much record of most of the scene post 2019 or even after that, a little bit. So when I started going to shows, there was like, I think at a max…three people that were taking photos, like, consistently.”
“When I started going, I was like, jeez, like, all this is happening all the time. There’s not really much record of it,” he said.
“There’s all these bands that will play, you know, one show and then never play again. And they don’t have music recorded. So they’re just kind of lost to time. It’s kind of sad to think about… so I wanted to… keep a record of it and prove that it, you know, it happens.”
Making time to attend this many shows while still working a job is unequivocally a difficult feat, especially considering most of them have a cover charge as well.
Barring the occasional free show entry, courtesy of band members excited to see their set online later on, GNDN Media does not charge for filming. Dunphy simply started this project out of the love of the game, recognizing the importance of documenting art and music.
Future endeavours?
The GNDN Media YouTube channel is home to enough footage for entire film anthologies of Newfoundland punk/alternative music, as well as playlists Dunphy has curated of others’ video work here. Dunphy told the Muse that he’s toyed with the idea of creating a documentary, but pinpointing what angle to take has proven to be difficult.
“I’ve kind of gone back and forth on this idea and…how that would be executed,” the filmmaker explained. “…if it would be like the whole history of the scene… or just a brief little point in the scene or…just what’s happening right now.”
“[The scene] is kind of like an ever-growing organism,” he said. “Every week there’s a new phase or people are, you know, leaving bands or someone moves away or a band stops playing or whatever…it just keeps changing. So it’s hard to kind of pinpoint where to start, where to end, where to, or you know, kind of just shoot it all.”
For now, GNDN Media routinely uploads videos to YouTube and Instagram, complete with the date, location, and show lineup.
