Hello Friends,

It’s been a few months, but I just wanted to check in and give you some updates that I’m personally very excited about!

ALBUM UPDATE:

Recording for the upcoming album, HYDRA’S RUIN, is done! After having to take a month off to recover from the flu from Hell, I was nervous for last weekend’s recording session because my voice didn’t feel 100%. But I am ecstatic and relieved that everything turned out great! Now for some final mixing and polish over the coming weeks and it should hopefully be completely done!

Once finished, I won’t be releasing the album via traditional methods—not right away, anyway. I hate being a slave to the streaming algorithm, Spotify is garbage, and I don’t want my work scraped for AI slop. Instead, I will be releasing the album here, on my website, as well as on a few select other spots like Bandcamp. I am currently looking into the logistics of a physical release—CD is likely, vinyl maybe, if enough people want it. It will stay out in these select spots exclusively for ONE FULL YEAR before going out to streamers. As soon as I have dates for any of this confirmed, you’ll be the first to know.

LIVE NEWS:

Last year after the show at The Mint, the live lineup fell apart a little bit. Eric, who played bass, decided to pack up his family and move to Costa Rica; considering the fast-deteriorating techno-fascist dystopian hellscape we’re living in now, I don’t blame him at all.

There were multiple other scheduling conflicts as well and soon much of my energy was being spent on a new 9-5, MMIX Art vending, and then, beginning in February, recording. But now that recording is finished, things are looking up!

I’ve beens able to recruit some very talented individuals—one to step in for Eric on bass, and another to play live synths. More details to come. Rehearsals will be starting later this month to hopefully play some shows this fall/winter around the album's non-streaming release.

That’s all for now. Updates will hopefully be much more frequent from here on out. Keep your eyes peeled for some BTS footage coming your way soon!

Love,
Rust

Hey kiddos,

I have added a few new music downloads for Subscribers! Be sure to check those out and let me know if you're enjoying these!

Next: in case you missed the Temple broadcast, you can find the video below. 

A lot of the texturized glitchy details got lost at the hiccupy low resolution of the stream, so I definitely recommend viewing at 1080p.

Lastly: I am very excited to be performing what I am calling a MR. VISION set on 9/7 at the Witchy Ways Market at Boomtown Brewery in DTLA. 

This is gonna be super experimental, as I will not be preparing a setlist--hell, I won't even be performing any of my proper songs. This is just gonna be me jamming on and off as the event unfolds. Come check out the vendors, immerse yourself in the ritual, and grab a beer while you’re there!

That's all for now. More updates as they come!

XOXO,
Rust

Hey kiddos!

Just wanted to let you know that we got some video of The Mint performance and has been edited into something bigger than just a performance video, which is this:

Temple is a several-day-long streaming event comprised of goth/industrial musicians of all calibers. The event happens every year and is a fundraiser for a new cause/charity every year--this year we will be raising money for cancer research. RUST_VISION will be livestreaming a 30 minute video comprised of footage from our show, as well as footage from rehearsal and in-studio. Said footage has also had its audio sweetened up a little so that it doesn't just sound like audio from a phone. Looking forward to sharing that with everyone. Additionally, an extra song will be tacked on to the performance video, a version which will only be available to Subscribers.

Additionally, The Mint seemed to like us! However, we are sadly unable to get the people we need to put a band together in time for another Mint show. Hopefully, another opportunity will open up in the future, but as of right now, we are putting shows on hold until other parts of our lives level out :)

XOXOXO
Rust

Hey kiddos,

Happy June, Pride, & Wrath! Just wanted to reach out and give you a couple updates. There’s a lot going on, so I’m gonna try to keep this quick:

OUR FIRST SHOW AS A FULL BAND IS FAST APPROACHING! 

Thursday night, 6/26, at The Mint LA! Tickets are available now! and they're at least a few bucks cheaper online than at the door, so get yours now :)

We’ve been practicing our little butts off and things are sounding really badass! Check out this clip I recorded of us playing through a new song(!!!) called “Propain,” and come sing along on the 26th!

I made it glitchy and purple to keep with the aesthetic, but lmk if you want more bts stuff without the glitchiness. I know it makes some people in my family a little woozy to watch for too long, so let me know if toning that down is something you might appreciate.

New apparel is here! I designed these with some of the in-contention conceptual artwork for the upcoming album. 

They also share names with some of the new songs the band will be playing. Check out the artwork for each one, then let me know if you think they're a good match for the songs once you hear them live! 🙃

We are looking to book out MORE live performances! If you know of a venue or show that might be a good fit for us, HMU! 

I think that’s it for now. We do have another Thing we're excited to tell you about, but for now we want the focus to be on The Mint show. Have a great Pride/Wrath, and we hope to see you at our show!

Love,
Rust

P.S. Friendly reminder that Subscribers get new music every week, for as little as a cup of coffee a month!

Hey kiddos!

I have some a very exciting news! RUST_VISION is fleshing out to be a full live band! One of my goals this year was to play more live shows, as last year I didn’t play live at all. I played the LA Industrial fire benefit show in January at Slipper Clutch but was down for a few months due to my foot surgery. By the time I was ready to stand for any length of time, I had already booked a set for Queer Mercado in East LA, but was still too weak to really rehearse a full set requiring vocals and guitar-playing, so I opted for an instrumental set, which was a fun challenge and not something I’d ever done before. After that performance, I was asked by my friend Carolyn of the band Pickpocket if I wanted to play their next show at The Mint on Thursday 6/26 and I said “Hell yes!” 

Carolyn put me in touch with the booker at The Mint and he said he’d be happy to put me on bill for the night, but only if I had a band. No solo performance with a laptop and guitar and synth allowed! I thought for a second before replying, then took a gamble and said GO AHEAD AND BOOK IT. 

I had a few people who had expressed interest in joining before, but those conversations had taken place prior to my surgery. I quickly contacted those individuals and they were, very fortunately, still interested! Then, out of nowhere, a mutual on Bluesky messaged me about a video L had posted of my Queer Mercado performance and asked about getting together to “jam”. I told them I was putting together a band to play RUST_VISION material live, would they like to join? Apparently L’s post, featuring my RUST_VISION performance, was casting a net for LA musicians for a non-RUST_VISION  jam session; I had not seen the post, so I was unaware of this specific detail. This resulted in some crossed communication, but I sent them some demos to listen to and we did get to meet and jam and we got on well enough that they said yes, they’d be down to join.

So, without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to announce RUST_VISION’s Live lineup!

(left to right)

Paul Morgana - drums
Rust MacCarthy - vox/synths/guitar
Eric Santiestevan - bass
Catton Arthur - guitar

We just had our first band rehearsal this past Tuesday and I’m SO excited about how fresh the sound and energy of this music feels with these amazing people on board! I can’t wait for y’all to hear what we’ve got in store for you!

Early bird tickets to our 6/26 show at The Mint are on sale now! https://dice.fm/event/bbdlqk-the-motorists-pickpocket-kings-of-karma-rustvision-26th-jun-the-mint-los-angeles-tickets?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwKGXEhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp6586Snz6dP7zdBbo_Hi1v5yTacrqpS_b7i50ZGNN8tm4Dj8AhsPxCRXe0dB_aem_NcEcIpaZ6o0bMs4J6el9lQ

Another fun thing that happened this past week is GUILLOTINE, Pt. 4 turned two years old! Hard to believe it's been that long!

This release, two years ago, marked the completion of my first Concept Album, GUILLOTINE, broken up as 4 EPs, the story climaxing with a full rebellion against the 1%. IRL, that revolt did not happen, but I still daydream that it will. Ironically, we as a band will not be playing anything from Pt. 4 of GUILLOTINE when we play at The Mint on 6/26—it will all be songs from Pt. 1-3, plus new material from the upcoming album. While this is somewhat disappointing for me (some of my favorite GUILLOTINE songs are from Part 4), this decision was made from a practical standpoint, as I really had to decide which songs could potentially benefit from a full live band versus simply being too electronic for that to make sense. But don’t worry, there will still be plenty of “burn it down” energy 😎

Looking forward to seeing you all soon in person!

All my love,
Rust