COLUMBIA — For decades, New Brookland Tavern was home to thrashing rock shows for regional and local musicians. A West Columbia watering hole that felt as permanent as the Palmetto State's humidity.
That is until the building the bar occupied since the late 1970s was sold, forcing owners to pay more rent or abandon their home. Within a few months of announcing the sale, New Brookland moved from West Columbia to Five Points.
Scenes from the bar's last three months in its original location, captured in still images from local photographer Sean Rayford, will be published in an upcoming book. A release party is planned for April 27 at New Brookland Tavern.
Rayford, a freelance photojournalist who has appeared in major outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post, spent over a decade working at the longtime bar — as a bartender and unofficial photographer for the bar, capturing iconic shows throughout the years.
And while it might have been easier to pull together a zine from his catalog of photos throughout the years, Rayford decided to take a different route, capturing the venue's last three months in West Columbia.
"It felt like getting hit with a baseball bat of an idea, and if I didn't do it, I would regret it for the rest of my life," Rayford told Free Times.
The way Rayford saw it, people were about to lose their access to a place that meant something. Freelancing for news outlets for much of his career, he saw a clear pattern — a deadline, an impact and shots he didn't want to miss getting.
It had been a few years since Rayford had routinely photographed musical acts at New Brookland, he said. As his career in freelancing took up more time and the pandemic tossed the city's bars and local musicians into chaos, he lost the pulse of Columbia's music scene.
But when the bar announced its building has been sold in September, he saw an opportunity to return to something he'd once held so dear.
"It allowed me to really get back into the South Carolina music scene like I did when I was working there," Rayford said.
The decision to publish a zine — a type of independent photo publication which, in this case, will feature 60 pages of images — was driven by Rayford's desire to put more of an effort into print publications.
With the ways that journalism and the media landscape have evolved in the last few years, Rayford said he's started to put more of an emphasis on producing work on his own and not relying on a "middleman."
The 60-page photo book is available for pre-order at sodacitizen.com/ftr, and the release party will happen April 27 at New Brookland Tavern in Five Points at 632 Harden St.
