Post Sex Nachos

Post Sex Nachos is a Midwest indie-rock band built around friendship, chemistry, and the belief that life’s heavier emotions can still become something people want to dance to. The group began at the University of Missouri after Sammy Elfanbaum and Chase Mueller started writing together, eventually bringing Hunter Pendleton and Mitch Broddon into the band. What started among college friends grew through Columbia’s house-show scene into a distinctive sound shaped by indie rock, funk, pop, soul, humor, and emotional honesty.

Their chemistry has always been central to the music. Post Sex Nachos can be playful without losing sincerity, pairing memorable hooks and energetic performances with songs about relationships, uncertainty, growth, and everything people often try to hide beneath the surface. They make music that can fill a dance floor while still giving an audience something real to carry home.

Since those early Columbia years, the band has grown into a nationally touring act, building audiences far beyond Missouri and establishing a new home base in Nashville. Their journey has carried them from house shows and college-town venues to sold-out headline performances and major festival stages, including Lollapalooza, Summerfest, and Mile of Music. As their sound and audience continue to expand, they have remained connected to the friendship, live energy, and collaborative spirit that made the band special from the beginning.

My connection to Post Sex Nachos began long before the band existed. I have known Sammy since middle school, and we attended Parkway North together. During high school, he was already making music with one of my best friends, Drew Brodsky. I continued following Sammy’s work as we grew older, seeing his posts about the new band he was helping build in Columbia.

After I moved to Columbia, I finally experienced Post Sex Nachos in person during a rehearsal inside a garage on East Campus. I had heard of the band, but nothing prepared me for how tight they already sounded. Even in that informal space, the chemistry was undeniable. Every member understood how to leave room for the others while bringing a distinct personality to the music.

That rehearsal introduced me to the rest of the band and began a much longer chapter of documenting their growth. I watched them become essential to Columbia’s music scene—the kind of college-town band people felt they had discovered for themselves. They could fill a house, transform a venue, and make an audience feel like part of the performance rather than simply spectators.

Over the years, I photographed Post Sex Nachos at venues throughout Columbia and St. Louis, preserving the movement, humor, connection, and unpredictability that make their live performances so memorable. My archive followed them from garages and college houses into increasingly polished productions, larger rooms, recording environments, and experiences created entirely around the band.

One especially meaningful chapter was Nacho Feast, a full weekend of performances at Rose Music Hall in Columbia. Photographing the band across multiple nights allowed me to preserve more than a single concert. I documented the anticipation, supporting artists, backstage moments, changing crowds, and the way the energy evolved throughout an entire weekend. It felt like both a hometown celebration and proof of how important the band had become to the community where it began.

I also photographed Post Sex Nachos during a live-stream recording session at Shock City Studios in St. Louis. The controlled studio environment revealed another side of the group: the concentration behind the performance, the communication between members, and the precision required to make something feel effortless. It offered a quieter contrast to the crowded rooms and high-energy stages where I had photographed them before.

My work with the band also extended into filmmaking when I joined the production of their official video for “Holdin’ on to You,” directed by Zoë Calsyn. Alongside Toby Young, I documented the production through behind-the-scenes photography, preserving the band, cast, crew, locations, and collaborative work surrounding the finished film. The production brought together a large group of Columbia creatives and transformed familiar local spaces into part of the band’s visual world.

Together, these photographs trace Post Sex Nachos through several distinct environments: rehearsing in an East Campus garage, recording inside Shock City Studios, performing across St. Louis and Columbia, building a music video with their creative community, and commanding an entire weekend at Rose Music Hall. They also preserve the foundation beneath the band’s present success—the friendships, local venues, college houses, and audiences that helped them become who they are.

I had the privilege of hearing the potential before the stages became larger and of continuing to photograph them as audiences across the country began discovering what Columbia already knew.