How Tamper Room Café uplifts Fremont artistry
Staff Writer
Tamper Room Café and Gallery hosts about two concerts or community events each week, and since its creation in 2022, has hosted events ranging from concerts to nonprofit events, open mics, and art exchanges. What seems to be just another croffle place transforms into a third place for artists after-hours, as small businesses organize events and musicians, coffee shop concerts.
A third place is defined as a public place that is not home or work, and exists to promote a sense of community. Tamper Room’s Creo Noveno-Najam, the Artist Liaison and Gallery Director, said, “A lot of us started out doing art just going to cafés randomly and seeing and meeting other creatives. I think from that experience, we wanted to build upon those experiences from our own lives and make that accessible to people, especially younger people. In the suburbs, like, there’s not really a lot of other, cool creative spaces out here to do that kind of stuff. So it’s really nice to be able to provide that for younger kids, but also creatives who live out here and who are willing to come out and support.”
On Saturday, March 8th, independent metal band Devil Can’t Cry headlined a Tamper Room show alongside four other bands. They held a sold-out show that began after normal café business hours, and Tamper Room stands out as one of the only venues that could support such an event for small artists in Fremont. Lead vocalist, Kyle McDonald said, “I mean it’s a coffee shop, so we aren’t playing on this huge stage, and usually that means we’ll have lower energy because everyone’s so cramped together. The positive of [performing] here was just that you felt like you were talking to everybody.”
Bass player, Noah Behl, added, “Yeah, there’s that social aspect to it where you’re just socializing with literally everyone [here]. You get to meet so many cool people, and it’s like a warm, nice time where everyone’s friends.”
More than just concerts, the café hosts frequent events for the community, giving a platform to other kinds of artists. Influencer, artist, and model, Kathleen Daiman, hosted an event in support of the College of Adaptive Arts, the Middle East Children’s Alliance, and Filipino American History Month, inviting local businesses. Daiman said, “[Tamper Room] really platforms local creatives, [and] I had people asking me about how they could do an event with them. Everyone’s networking, and Tamper Room was so helpful and accommodating. Being that the space is so intimate and the decor is so perfect, it makes for a great vibe while you’re there too.”
Noveno-Najam added, “The intent within the space is to specifically support artists. Part of our business, of course, is just selling coffee, but the larger part of it is just giving space for newer artists to sell their work. The main group of people who opened Tamper, they’re artists themselves. We realize the importance of knowing that beyond just school or home, you get to find another community to engage with, just working on and appreciating art together.”
Kathleen Daiman’s charity event held an event to platform local creatives. She said, “[ It was possible because] Tamper Room was so helpful and accommodating.” (Photo Credit: Mikee Patterson).
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