Meet Rust_vision | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rust_vision and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi RUST_VISION, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
My imagination has always been a place of comfort for me, and it’s where my energy focuses most naturally. And I was always like that, even as a kid. I was sent to a private grade school that focused on building avenues of creativity–creative writing classes, theater, dance, choir, band, fine art… so I kind of got a good sample of all the ways I could express myself. I especially loved writing–my dad was a writer too, so I had an extra appreciation for storytelling–and playing music. I was very into grunge music and early 90’s hip hop in middle school, along with some harder bands like White Zombie and Korn. I did a lot of “jamming” with friends, which mainly consisted of taking our instruments to each other’s houses, being too shy to play them for more than like 30 minutes at a time, then just hanging out and talking about girls instead. But I remember going over to a friend’s house who was a drummer, and he had an electric drum set, and I was playing a riff I wrote on bass, and his dad walks in and says, “That’s really cool. Sounds like something Trent Reznor would write.” At the time, I had no idea who that was. Once I realized, that was the Nine Inch Nails guy, I was confused, because I’d only heard “Down In It,” “Head Like a Hole” and the Weird Al polka version of “Closer.” Anyway, I eventually got into Trent’s music and being in bands is hard for me because it’s like being in a polycule so I decided maybe Trent had the right idea just making music on your own. So I’ve slowly amassed the tools and skills to make the things–whether that be music, or fiction, or visual art, or videos–that I feel SHOULD exist in the world, but for some reason don’t yet. And that’s what creation is all about for me–making the world a little bit cooler than it was before the thing you made existed.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Right now, the thing I’m most excited about is my forthcoming album. It’s a huge, massive concept album with an extremely integrated storyline and complex worldbuilding… I’ve wanted to do something like this since I first listened to “Melon Collie & the Infinite Sadness” by Smashing Pumpkins or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. Something heady, but with a lot of personal blood, sweat, tears, and hope. This is something where I really acknowledge the fact that I deal with some chronic physical and emotional pain, and that, while those are perhaps symptoms of the crumbling world around us, I sometimes get a little too zoomed out. It’s okay to focus inward and try to heal. The world may be terrible in one way now, or for the next several decades, but the monkey’s paw will swing the other way. And really the whole idea for this piece sprang from discussing that with my therapist. I just feel so helpless and a complete lack of control over the disintegration of the world around me, and my therapist asked, “Well what would it take for you to feel less anxiety over the state of the world?” And that conversation really became the basis for maybe a better future that could take the place of this one. It’s pretty magickal. Spiritual, even. And more than that, it SOUNDS fantastic. The whole album just feels electric, with drums that morph and bend and glitch in so many unique and unexpected ways. I’ve been using less in-the-box sounds and utilizing a lot more semi-modular synths as well, so everything feels alive. This feels more like my own voice, I think, than anything I’ve really done before and I’m immensely proud of how it’s shaping up. I can’t wait for people to hear it.
I’m also super excited about getting more involved with scoring work and composing for film. I had my first excursion into scoring for the 48 Hour Film Festival LA just this past year and I really loved the structure and focus of creating music for a particular mood or emotional beat. Sometimes, when I’m just making music for me, my mind goes in a thousand different directions and there’s all these possible things I could do and I get a little bit of decision fatigue from that. I’m in talks right now to take on another short film and it’s a project I feel passionately about, and the producer is someone whose energy I really vibe with, so I’m very much looking forward to working on that.
Getting to this place professionally took a long time, at least from my perspective. In my twenties, I made pretty much everything with samples, terrible software, a drum machine with a few synth-voice capabilities, a guitar, and a piano. I was ambitious in those days, and impatient, and didn’t hesitate to release music that sounded clumsy and unprofessional. Then, in my early thirties, I made a lot of music on my phone. I was taking a bus everywhere and there were apps that made coming up with beats and synth parts an easy, brain-stormable thing. I eventually used a lot of that music in a scripted sci-fi audiodrama I released in 2017-2018 called “Dream State,” then a few more of those carried over into my “Guillotine” EPs. But now that I’m a bit more knowledgeable about production, sound design, and synthesis, I feel like the sounds in my toolbox are just better overall. And that commitment to continuing education is super important! I’m always on forums and watching YouTube tutorials and on people’s Discord servers, combing through people’s experiences with gear, with music theory and its relation to evoking emotion, with mixing and mastering technique, with changing software settings… There’s always more to learn! Which can be hard for me, as a neurodivergent person, but I love music more than almost anything, so I stick with it.
In getting to where I am, I’ve definitely learned a few important lessons: 1) don’t force it; take a break, sleep, watch some TV, do something else for awhile, come back with fresh ears and a fresh perspective. 2) it’s okay to suck; you’ll never be a master of something new right away, so give yourself some grace and accept that sucking for a while is part of the journey toward being amazing. 3) be excited about your work; no one is going to be excited about what you’re doing if you’re not excited about it yourself. 4) mix in mono; okay this is a nerdy, technical one, but if you want your music to sound good in stereo, do all your mixing in mono or else the problems you sweep under the rug will come back to bite you in the ass, haha.
I guess if I wanted the world to know one thing about me and my music, it’s that while my music may be dark and dissonant and cynical and angry, I’m really trying to make the world a better place with what I do. Sometimes that means calling attention to corrupt systems and oppressive norms and lack of equality and the reality that those in power cause the rest of us a tremendous amount of pain and suffering. My hope is that one day that pain and suffering won’t be there anymore and those corrupt societal structures will have collapsed in on themselves and something far better and more equitable will take their place. I’ve had periods of time in my life where I have felt completely alone and helpless in the face of the world around me, and just hopeless; so I’d like the music I make to reach people and help make them feel less alone and less powerless and more hopeful.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There’s a couple goth and industrial clubs/venues that usually have something cool going on. Bar Sin or Wendesdayz at Boardner’s in Hollywood is a great central location. Club Fallout is a cool, sexy kind of underground event that happens in downtown. Das Bunker is a great venue, even though the parking in that area is maddening. The Moroccan Lounge is a delightful bar/venue and puts on some great shows. Risky Business, which is a little more local to me, puts on an awesome goth night called Obelisk, which happens every second Thursday. And I believe LA Industrial recently took over some programming at the Grayson/Slipper Clutch in downtown–I will be playing my first show of the new year there on Friday, January 10th.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents, Kathy and Mike MacCarthy, definitely deserve recognition for fostering my creativity and independent thought, even when they don’t agree with it the things I think or believe or create. I also received a late-in-life autism diagnosis, and they’ve been beyond supportive while I figure out how to rebalance my life’s directionality with my honest need for self-care. I’m so grateful for them.

Website: https://rustvisionmusic.com

Instagram: @rust_vision

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rustvisionmusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rust_vision

Image Credits
Images by L Faunt & RUST_VISION.