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Dusty Gannon of Vision Video talks with Laurie about how the darkness of goth music inspires him and how horror films help him deal with his own fears.
(SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas. You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org.
Credits:
Host, Creator, Producer: Laurie Gallardo
Editing and Mixing: Jack Anderson
Original Music: Rene Chavez
Photo and Video: Michael Minasi
Art: Dave McClinton
The full transcript of this episode of (SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
20240919_Vampire_S01E02_DustyGannon_POD.mp3
Laurie Gallardo I believe that art, music, creativity saves lives. And it’s incredible to speak with the people who prove that to me every day. Welcome to SPF 1000 Vampire Sunscreen. I’m Lori Garrison. Thank you so much for listening. Here we are with episode two. And this one in particular reveals how one might embrace the darkness, the weirdness, the strange, so to speak. Those are all great things, by the way. I believe we all in some way have a fascination with dark things or perhaps have a morbid sense of humor. I think it’s all more common than one might believe. Our guest today connects to all of this through music. His personal tastes in film, his amazing look and his humor.
Dusty Gannon Well, hi there. My name is Dusty Gannon. I am the lead singer and guitarist of the band Vision Video from Athens, Georgia. And you might also know me as your dear old Internet goth dad from social media and all that jazz, so. Well, hi there, baby. Back. There you go. I was going to ask, and I didn’t even have to. Yeah. Got you. Right. Right off the bat bar. Mom. I got jokes.
Laurie Gallardo We can all learn a thing or two from Goth Dad. Don’t you.
Dusty Gannon Know?
Laurie Gallardo Dusty’s wonderful. And one of the most kind, generous and compassionate people you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. His enthusiasm is contagious, and you feel a genuine love radiating from him whenever he discusses anything he’s passionate about. Something else you need to know about Dusty that’s very important. He’s an Army veteran and he worked as a fire medic before quitting to do music full time. His experiences give him a unique perspective on life, and it all fuels his art. Dusty That is why I have you here.
Dusty Gannon And the darkness.
Laurie Gallardo While I have you here, I will ask you the question that I pose all of my guests. Dusty again. And what is the darkness to you? What is dark to you?
Dusty Gannon Just in general terms. Darkness is something that I think traditionally is construed as being negative. It’s traditionally construed as being evil or something to be feared or whatever. And I think that there is validity to that in a lot of ways. But I also think that one of my favorite aspects of Goth and the post-punk music genres is that they sort of unflinchingly look at what are traditionally dark subject matter and do so with curiosity and sort of an explorative aspect. You know, it’s not fear based. And I think that there’s a lot of like beauty that can be found in darker things. I’ve had to find that a lot in my life, having been around a lot of really awful, terrible, tragic things. But you still see moments of beauty within the margins. And so to me, it’s all about like sort of this dualism. And I think that’s what the Goth community and the subculture and music genre really espouse, as well as a sense of like, Yeah, things are terrible and awful and there’s so much ugliness and quote unquote, darkness in the world. But we still have to exist and we have to thrive and we have to love and find our happiness and our meaning and our purpose. And you can do that even within the confines of something really bad.
Laurie Gallardo You can. You can. It says a lot. I think the reason I really wanted you to be here to speak with me about this is because of how open you’ve been about your life. I like to say you’ve been to hell and back several times.
Dusty Gannon Yeah, I think some feels like that’s not.
Laurie Gallardo Not only do I deeply appreciate you talking about your time serving in Afghanistan, but I know firefighters in my hometown of El Paso. And there was one who shared a story. I’m not going to get into too much detail, but he’s one of the inspirations for this very podcast. Wow. When I asked him what the darkness was to him, like yourself, being a firefighter paramedic, he has like seen things that you could probably write several books. Yeah. But he said to him, a lot of the darkness came from anything that involved children. Okay. And then we just went south. Yeah. And I wish I could say who this is, but he’s asked me very kindly not to, and I totally respect that.
Dusty Gannon Absolutely.
Laurie Gallardo So I really think, Dusty, that’s a huge reason why I wanted you. Here is my guest to kind of shed some insight into that. I love to see you performing. See you out there. And I often wonder, is this a catharsis? Is this also part of, you know what, this is the way I am dealing with this because I can and I love the creativity that comes out of it.
Dusty Gannon Yeah, for sure. I’m not sure if you read this book that Rick Rubin made, the creative act. I need to. It’s so good. And a lot of it’s like, not really for me. There’s a lot of chapters and I was like, I don’t know about this, but there’s a lot of really incredible stuff in it. And at one point in the book, he’s like, You know, the artist has to create without intention or design. You just have to sort of be the conduit of the universe. And it has to be honest and it has to be for you first. And you cannot create with the audience in mind. Now, I think that’s one thing that I do really well and that we do as a band really well is that we sort of just make what we want to make and what comes out of the creative process. And absolutely, like for me, very early on when we started this band, it became pretty apparent to me that this was a way of me putting this very destructive energy that was, I mean, quite literally killing me. I mean, I was in a very suicidal state. I was drinking like a huge amount, and I just didn’t care. I didn’t really care about my well-being or whatever. And I went through some therapy and I and I started to identify these really negative patterns in my life. And yeah, the music started. That’s when it really started to flow, you know, And I just started to pour everything into it as honestly as I could. And I think, you know, now that we’re a few years into it, I look back at everything we have written and that we are writing and and it is absolutely cathartic. It’s also like dangerous in a way for me because I have to think about this stuff a lot. Like every single night I think about memories that some of these particular songs are about. But I’ve also learned like Temperance and that stuff. Like there’s a couple of songs that like we don’t play live because I just like I can’t on a broad tour, like maybe a one off show. I could do some, but some of them are. It’s like too much to do every single night for a month. I guess you learn to. You’re it to as cathartic as it can be. And it is for me. I’ve learned to respect my own boundaries with it. And I mean, it’s just like an interesting aspect of touring, too. And when you write this kind of intense stuff about unimaginable stuff, that’s just I mean, you know, I have so again, like your friend, I have so many stories that I don’t shy away from talking about them, but sometimes I know when it’s appropriate to, like, not talk about these things. But it can be interesting because when you write that kind of music, people at the shows want to commiserate and they end up telling you a lot of really awful things that have happened to them too. And I’m happy to, like, listen. And I’m not going to be like, don’t trauma dump on me like. But that being said, like it can be just really emotionally exhausting and intense in and of itself. And which is kind of a paradox because it’s like I’m writing this to help myself and maybe help other people, but then it ends up coming back around when you’re on the road. Yeah. But ultimately, I mean, I am unbelievably grateful that it has helped me and continues to do so. And maybe more importantly, that it has resonated with other people. And I’ve had so many people say like, Hey, this song really helped me get through the death of my father or, you know, whatever. And it’s just like, that’s the most satisfying thing. That means something to an artist, you know, is like to know that what you’ve created is actually received and understood and has made some positive impact on somebody’s life.
Laurie Gallardo So you’re doing what you love? Yeah. And I understand those feelings. I’m happy it’s helped out and it’s touching to have people maybe they may not necessarily tell you their life story, right, But for them to say thank you.
Dusty Gannon Yeah, it’s awesome.
Laurie Gallardo It really is.
Dusty Gannon Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo That stuff gets me high for sure. I was nerding out last night, the night before, and then this morning. I’m all, you know, all listen to some vision video. Again, it’s not a task I was revisiting inked in Read. Because I think I just started hearing singles first. And then, you know, people like the wonderful Maddie Danger. Yeah. Internet superstar. I don’t know if she wants me to say.
Dusty Gannon But I think she would get a chuckle out of that.
Laurie Gallardo Like she drives a Trans Am and hers. Yes. Getting connections like that one by one. Maddie hadn’t really said a lot. She just made the recommendation. Generally, yeah. And there are songs that I got attached to and I don’t know if they’re traumatic experiences, but to me, they are very specific parts in my life. And that’s another thing that I’ve had with Vision video and talk about cathartic. I may not necessarily say, this is about something very serious.
Dusty Gannon Right.
Laurie Gallardo But there’s a mood I obsessed with bands that seem to capture moods, and I don’t know how to describe it.
Dusty Gannon No, I totally agree with that. Like, that’s how I consume a lot of music is like it’s very mood based. I have my specific bands for specific times and they become like almost like good friends, you know, that you have to spend certain times with. You have your friend that you go out dancing with and you have your friend that you go to shows with and you have your friend that you mope around the house with. And yes.
Laurie Gallardo They are dear to me, those mopey friends. Yes. But I do have to do the dance.
Dusty Gannon Exactly.
Laurie Gallardo And I was going to say that about vision video. There may be I’m not going to be pinpointing anything, but just case in point, she said, finally getting her notes. Cruelty, commodity. There I am.
Dusty Gannon Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Around the house and doing my thing. And I’m like, Yeah, but at the back of my mind somewhere, I’m like, I don’t have to ask Dusty what this means. You share anyway. We are going to project whatever we want. Write on our music for sure. Even though I will turn around and perhaps hear you in an interview going, Yes, you know what? Thank you for sharing. My God. I didn’t even know that that was that. Right.
Dusty Gannon Right. Yeah. Well, I think it’s like one of my favorite parts of music and art in general, I guess. But music particularly, because music is such a personal experience, I think, is that we all infer our own meanings of like, lyrics and themes and whatnot. And I really like to write for the most part in very like general terms. Like I don’t like to make things super literal and specific because I want, even though it is very much so about my experience or my processing of the world, I want to allow interpretation because that meaning is just as valid as like my meaning behind the songs, in my opinion. Like one of my favorite bands from the early 2000s was Interpol and Interpol’s masterful act. Creating these songs that you can draw so much meaning. And I don’t I mean, maybe Paul Banks, like, doesn’t even know what the songs are about either. No, no, probably not. You know, there’s there’s a lot of, like moments in their songs of lyrical beauty that I just love. And every time I hear those songs, I’m like, man, that’s just like such a one great little heartbreaking line. But maybe, like, what I’m attaching my meaning and significance to. He’s like, That’s not really what it was, but that’s okay, you know? Right. It’s almost like a collaborative process of the creator putting something out, but then the receiver and the listener puts their own part into it. And I think that in and of itself is like a form of creation, which is a really cool notion to me. Yeah. I remember when I was in high school, my like one of my best friends in high school. She knew I was super into Joy Division and she was like, you need to listen. This new band that’s called Inner Pole, they just put out their first record. And I was like a super elitist, like, just insufferable. Yeah. And she was like, There’s no way nothing could come close to Joy Division. And I took that CD. She, like, burnt me a copy of the CD, and I went home and I listened to it and I was like, damn, this is as good as joy. In my opinion, I think that first record just it’s not trying to copy Joy Division, but it hits that same nerve in a lot of ways. And that was really cool to me. And that was actually one of the cornerstone moments for me getting out of that mentality of being like, this 80 stuff that’s so weird and rare. And you know, this is like before the Internet was really everywhere and and you had to find stuff. It was hard you to go to the record store and like, ask the weird guy in the back. Yeah. You know, it wasn’t easy to know, like who sex, beat and specimen were like nobody person like, people didn’t know that stuff. Now it’s, like, kind of easy, which is good. But anyway, yeah, like finding bands like that really opened this doorway in my mind of like, new modern stuff can be just as good. It’s just there’s more of it now. So we have to like, sift through a lot of things that maybe aren’t the best or whatever, you know? I’m trying to get in the habit of not saying it’s bad now. I just say it’s not for me.
Laurie Gallardo It’s just not for me.
Dusty Gannon Even though there are some things that are and it’s okay.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, I’ll just leave that over here. But I’ll go with this one. No, I really relate on the search because being that kid that grew up in the late 70s, early 80s, especially in high school, because I thought I was like.
Dusty Gannon All right.
Laurie Gallardo There was this thing, if someone had an older sibling, yeah, they would be like, Here’s a cassette. Yeah, They would either have like a mix tape or like someone got me a copy that I just thought I was so cool. I know who Siouxsie is.
Dusty Gannon Exactly.
Laurie Gallardo You’re spelling it wrong, too, you know, like that. Right. We got our music like that, too. Yeah. All these great tapes that just kept circulating, right?
Dusty Gannon Yeah. My sister was that person for me, actually. You know, she was into the Goth scene, and she’s six years older than me, so I grew up sort of seeing her and her, like, super cool. Really just like absolutely beautiful makeup and all the accouterment. And back then, especially in Georgia, you know, and I’m sure for you as well, in Texas, like it was so like, it was almost, like, obscene. Yeah. To meet, like, normal people. And that really excited me because I was like, there’s something precious. But also, it’s not like, you know, as much as I love, like, punk, you know, punk is so, like, in your face and it’s just like a boot to the mouth kind of thing. Yeah. But there was this elegance and this sort of nuance that I loved about all that. So, yeah, my sister, she’s still very much so, like, a very spooky, weird person, but she kind of got out of that world later, whereas like, I just totally adopted that and I’m super grateful that I like, had her as kind of a gateway to that world.
Laurie Gallardo What a great gateway. Thanks, sister.
Dusty Gannon Yes.
Laurie Gallardo When you talk about the look, the makeup in particular, and I would have friends come to the house, but we’d all have to be on the front porch.
Dusty Gannon Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo And I loved the mystery of it. Yeah. I loved. What was the forbidden stuff. Yeah. Like my dad and my mom didn’t really freak out when I would shave the sides of my head. Right. Okay. They’re like. And my dad, he didn’t know that I was listening to, like, the bigger deal you make, the worse she’s going to act or whatever. Yeah. They didn’t have problems like that with me. But, you know, there I was like, this color’s great. And if you don’t have an electric razor, just use one of those conventional ones. Yeah. But it was that mystery. The dark.
Dusty Gannon Sound. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo And I’ve told everyone who’s bothered to ask, Well, you know, when did you know you were goth? Did you just become. I’m like, No. This was since I was a little kid.
Dusty Gannon Right?
Laurie Gallardo Yeah. Does that make sense to you?
Dusty Gannon 100%. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think when you really dig back into my brain and you find those, like, keystone moments of why I’m into this stuff and why I have chosen to do the things that I have done in my life, I mean, it really starts with like, my parents were and are weirdos. I mean, in the best way, they allowed for experimentation and just allowed us to be who we were, even when they were kind of in a weird. I wouldn’t call it a cult, but it was like they were in like a Christian, like nondenominational church for a while, which is hilarious to me now because they’re both like, technically like Pagan, but now, like they were in this church and but they even within the confines of that institution, they would let us like, I like decided to dye my hair blue at one point when I was like 12. And they were like, Yeah, sure, you’re going to look like an idiot, but we’re going to let you do that. But it was that. And then like also just this intersection of horror that really was staggeringly cool to me. There was something so over-the-top and so like, I don’t know, I was just fascinated by this sense of controlled dosages of fear. The big moment when I first got into horror, I was I’ll never forget it. I was eight years old and my sister and my dad were watching the 1989 film Pet Cemetery. My God. And I like Army crawled into the living room because I was not allowed to watch this. No. For good reason. I mean, no eight year old should watch Pet Cemetery ever. But I like it out behind the couch. And I was just super quiet and I watched about three quarters of the movie. And I remember being so scared. So unbelievably scary. And that’s a terrifying movie and book especially. But yeah, but I was totally hooked. I mean, there was you couldn’t have dragged me out of that room if they had discovered me. There was just something about it that was so horrifying, obviously, but but exciting. And it let you glimpse into this other world that I think, again, a lot of people shy away from that kind of thing and they go, like, yeah, this kid gets hit by a semi-truck and then there’s like the Wendigo spirit, like takes control of the bodies of these people that are killed. Like, yeah, this is all like really gruesome, awful stuff. But I just, I mean, I really fell in love with it. I think that there’s absolutely an intersection of like, horror and goth like music. And I mean, you look at like, you know, all those bands like Barrelhouse and all the, you know, they were obsessed with like, old horror movies and, you know, like battle houses. First tour vehicle was a hearse, you know, of course, like, go figure, you know. But yeah, I just I think that that really helped pave the way for me to discover the music stuff later.
Laurie Gallardo That intersection is very important to me. Now I’m a big chicken. Okay. Chicken is the day is long. But very similarly to your experience, I could not tear myself away. Right. And I wanted to know why I have this fascination. And of course, you know what I would also do? Horror. What I would call horror light. Yeah. I am a big devotee of Elvira. Yeah? And then that’s when I learned about vampire before her. Yeah. So it just kind of kept going and going with me and how even if it was hammer horror, right? I do like to hammer. Hammer was so wonderful, and the blood is ridiculous. And. Yeah. Christopher Lee.
Dusty Gannon Christopher Lee. I mean, that’s the best Dracula, I think. I think, yeah, preach. Because it’s just so, like raw and vicious. But there’s like also the control. yeah. I think he really nailed that, like, sense of how calculating Dracula was.
Laurie Gallardo Calculating and how horribly genteel.
Dusty Gannon Yes, yes. But that’s the facade. That’s like the really rehearsed. Yeah. Visage that is revealed. And and when he reveals it in his movie, I mean wow, it’s given me so good.
Laurie Gallardo But I am curious because discussing it with other people like one of my favorite films of all time is Psycho. Yeah. And I would just be like, I love it. Anthony Perkins my gosh. Then I find something new every time and then before I know it, I turn around and either a couple of people have left the room or everyone’s look is just revealing what they’re thinking and they can’t hide it. I often wonder about that because the people that I say appreciate the spooky, the scary, the frightening, right? They tend to be the nicest, most compassionate people that I’ve met.
Dusty Gannon Yeah, yeah. I totally agree with that. I’ve met a lot of, like, horror people in the past, like especially year. We were in Fangoria magazine, October and that was like an unbelievable experience because I do relation bingo, you know? Yes, Yeah. And then to seem like they didn’t tell me that we were going to be featured on the cover as well. And so that like kind of blew me away. And then, you know, we did this. They did a five page article. Phil Nobile Jr is the chief editor. He just like emailed me out of the blue and was like, Hey, I was at your show in Philly and I just love you guys. And I think your story’s interesting and I want to do like, you’re going over old school Rolling Stones type right off of you. He’s like, Are you familiar with Fangoria? And I was like, Really? Let me tell you how I’m familiar. Actually. Have a great story about it. So when I was 13, I was at a Barnes Noble with my my mom and I went over to the magazine rack and I was looking for like video game magazines or whatever, you know? Yeah. And I saw this Fangoria and it was a like, I think it was like 30 or so, so many year retrospective. Look at the, the film the Beyond by Lucky of 40, which is a very it’s one of my favorite horror movies. It’s not for everyone. It’s super graphic and it’s very weird and it’s very Italian giallo like it’s kind of hard to follow, but it’s a beautiful movie and it’s just so creepy and good. But anyway, there is a there’s a very graphic gunshot wound moment, and everybody that’s seen it knows exactly what I’m talking about. But it was on the cover. My. And it’s like the most unbelievably graphic picture. And I saw it and I was like, what is that? And I grabbed it and I you know, I was getting into horror, but I didn’t really I didn’t know a lot. And I was learning about it. So I flipped to this article about the beyond and just all these images of the movie. And I was like, I have to find this. None of the video stores had it. I had to buy it off eBay on VHS, of course. And it was that movie just blew me away. But I remember grabbing that magazine and I was like, I have to buy this. And I was like, Can I buy this? Like, am I allowed to buy this? Because I was like, if I ask my mom, there’s no way, but I have my allowance. Sounds like, all right, I’m just going to try to go up there. So I had like a book and this magazine, I’m sure I could go up all kind of awkward and mousy. And I was a teenager. I was just like super shy and, like, really awkward. So this is like, yeah, here you go. And the guy’s like, scanning it and he scans the book and he’s like, looks at the magazine and he’s like, Looks at me and I’m 13, 12, 13. And he’s like, Are you allowed to have this? And I was like, I yes. And he’s like And he scans it and I think he’s looking for like maybe an age restriction or something. And he’s like, Well, I guess you can have it. And I was like, Cool. So I gave him money. And then my mom was like, Are you ready to go? And I was like, Yeah, I just bought a book and some stuff and I just, like, stuffed it in his bag and like, kept it by my elbow. And, you know, I got away with that. So that was, that was cool. But yeah, so, but, you know, going back to now, like just being in that magazine and talking. Phil and it’s just such a cool coalescing of all these great loves of things in the dark world in my life. Yeah, I’ve just gotten to do some really cool things and actually then premiering our video actually Elvira herself, like saw that at some point, I think. And she like followed us on our socials and I was like, I like, woke up and was like, what? Like what? It I’m effectively never the kind of person that’s like, hey, like it’s cool. You know, like, I’m not going to, like, hit her up or, you know, But it was just such a bizarre moment to wake up and be like, yeah, she knows who I am. And that’s just so strange. Like, what a weird.
Laurie Gallardo World. It is a weird, beautiful world in this case. And shout out Cassandra Peterson because hell yeah. Yes, I would be the same. I would not hit people up. However, I would be screaming. Yeah. And and I’m sure there was some of that.
Dusty Gannon Yeah. My, my partner and I were like. Like literally, like running around the house being like, what is this? My cats were like, What’s going on?
Laurie Gallardo Screams of happy.
Dusty Gannon Yes, it’s good screams, I promise.
Laurie Gallardo Before I wrap this up, I have got an opportunity for you, Dusty. So I always say this. The tables have turned. Okay, I’m doing the figurative.
Dusty Gannon Yes. If this is only like a lazy. No.
Laurie Gallardo But we can’t. So now that the tables have turned. Before you go, cool. You can ask your host a question, so you can ask me a question. But you’ve got to make it count. It can’t be. What’s your favorite color? Yeah, I’m wearing it right now. Hi, Black. But I always give that opportunity to my guest so he can be whatever you want, but make it count.
Dusty Gannon Sure. Yeah, maybe. What’s. What was your first major moment with goth music? Like, what was the first thing that really, like, made you go. Like, this is for me.
Laurie Gallardo I love this because for me it was a beautiful what I call a beautiful slow burn. Yeah. But it hit me so hard in the gut. Everyone in our circle. Anyway, my my boyfriend at the time, he played such a pivotal role in introducing a lot of bands to me. And Goth included. Goth especially. Yeah. And not just the stuff that people knew. You know, Susie’s great, but let me introduce you to Christian Death. Yeah. And, you know. Is Roslyn evil forever? Yeah. Mine, though. Hearing all this stuff, I think of two very specific things. Mostly the one there is this random side project, Car Crash International. And it was a track called Fall. And I get that stuck in my damn head to this day. Yeah. But something that really, really spoke to me. It was Bauhaus, but it was not the track that everyone knows. Yeah, it was the album, The Skies Gone Out. yeah. It is not only one of my favorite Bauhaus albums. It is one of my favorite all time.
Dusty Gannon It’s a very beautiful haunting. A strange record. Yes.
Laurie Gallardo And I adore it. I know it. Front to back. And again, my boyfriend had introduced. He’s like, You know what? And the moment I heard their version of Third Uncle.
Dusty Gannon Yeah. It’s so good.
Laurie Gallardo And I would just play that for anyone who had who had sat down in my car long enough, and I put it in my car. Yeah. Back when we had CD players in the car.
Dusty Gannon Right. That’s awesome. That’s ironically, that’s the band that got me into the world. And it was another intersectional point of horror. And music was I hadn’t really understood what Goth music was, and I just saw my sister, like with the esthetic, and I didn’t really listen to the music. But there was this one day I was in my early teens and I was watching the film Night of the Demons and yeah, so there’s the character Angela. She’s the goth girl, and she, you know, becomes possessed and she does this like sort of almost striptease to this, like, jock character to the song Stigmata Murder by Bell House. And I remember something about the sexuality that wasn’t too overt but married with this raw, brutal presence, this demonic possession. And that song was the perfect choice for that dance sequence that she does because it’s just such a like it’s got this, like, really cool driving beat. But every other aspect of that song is like Peter Murphy screeching in like Latin and like, you know, very heretical lyrics and Daniel Ash just wailing away on the strings and just like just doing weird stuff and everything. All of that came together. And I was just like, Whatever this is, this is for me, this is like so freaking cool. And yeah, I don’t know if it’s going to happen this year or next year, but I’m going to be doing a burlesque performance. Yeah, that like of that scene, I’ll be Angela. It’s like at DragonCon, at the Nerd Burlesque.
Laurie Gallardo Where wherever you do that, I will fly in. I will save up for those plane tickets. I will get a hotel.
Dusty Gannon It’s on.
Laurie Gallardo There to cheer you.
Dusty Gannon On. It’s going to be so good. Yeah. And excited.
Laurie Gallardo I did want to say and I and I’ve been saying this for a while, your makeup. Look.
Dusty Gannon Thank you.
Laurie Gallardo Is just divine. I do not have the skills. I’m very rudimentary. And I tell people, Look, I promise I am goth, but a lot of my community is like, here to remind me, Well, that’s not what defines you. But, you know, you can play around with makeup and do whatever you want. Yeah, but I have such mad respect, and I love your look.
Dusty Gannon I mean, you know, the funny thing is, if you go back and I don’t recommend this because of various myself, but if you go back. Like Tik-tok or Instagram. And you look. Just four years ago during the lockdowns that the makeup stuff that I was doing back then, it’s like laughable, almost like in comparison to what I do now. And that’s all really just goes to show you that it’s all about practice. And like I remind people all the time, like I do this like hundreds of times a year now. Yeah. And if I am capable of doing this stuff like literally anybody is because I don’t have a lot of inclination to like physical are like as far as like esthetic art, it was literally just putting my hands on stuff and experimenting and also like, you know, YouTube university, like there’s so there’s thousands of YouTube videos where like, unbelievable makeup artists are just they’re showing you what they do and it’s totally free and it’s amazing. And this is like my biggest piece of advice for anybody that’s interested in makeup is don’t try to learn stuff on the night you’re going out. Do it on a Monday night in front of a good horror movie and just like, enjoy yourself because you’re going to mess up. And when you mess up on a Monday night, you go, crap, and you just start over. But if you mess up on a Friday night before you’re going out, you’re going to panic and you’re gonna have bad feelings about it and you’re not going to, you’re not going to want to do it. And that’s how we learn, though, is we mess up, we fail, and then we we correct the failure and then we move on and we grow. Yeah, I love doing makeup and everything comes back to horror. You know, I learned makeup before I ended up, you know, joining the military and all that. I wanted to move to California to do special effects makeup. So I taught myself back when I was a teenager, like how to do prosthetics and my gosh, I was building like latex and foam latex prosthetics and just doing all this, like, wild stuff. And I never lost that like, basis of knowledge. So I just built off of that, I think makeup in the Goth scene, it’s so important that people understand, like, you don’t have to do it. There’s no uniform, you know, that would be so boring. Yeah. Anyway, I mean, you know, I love seeing people in, like, Hawaiian shirts and jeans at our shows, like whatever, come as you are. But if you feel interest in it, I think people shouldn’t be afraid to try it no matter your gender or you know. That’s right. Anything like I feel like when I put on makeup, it’s almost like I’m getting into this character and I’m getting into this mindspace and I can sort of externally articulate feelings sometimes. Like I don’t really plan a lot of my makeup. I just sort of like, think about how I feel. And sometimes when I want to feel a little more elegant, I’ll go with some really nice line work that’s just like sharp and really, really refined and well done. And then sometimes when I’m feeling really chaotic and not so great about myself or do these kind of splattering looks where it’s just really, really intense and and asymmetrical and bizarre. So I think makeup is is like clothing. It’s a really cool way that we can sort of externalize the internal and express ourselves without having to be concerned about how good it is. It’s like if it makes you happy, if it makes you feel like a little more authentically yourself in the moment, and that’s all that really matters.
Laurie Gallardo As in life. So with makeup, yes, keep practicing. But you know what? Do it feels great for you?
Dusty Gannon Yes. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Dusty, this has been a joy for me personally. Thank you for letting me in.
Dusty Gannon Absolutely.
Laurie Gallardo I’m so happy to finally meet you. I’m like, this is happening.
Dusty Gannon Yeah. Thanks so much. It’s. I love being in Austin and it’s always a treat. So it’s great to meet you and be here.
Laurie Gallardo An absolute delight. And what did I tell you? You’ll learn a lot from golf, Dad. Thanks again to Dusty Gannon of Vision Video for chatting with me. Your vampire sunscreen host and creator is me. Yours truly, Laurie Gordon. Editing and Mixing by Jack Anderson. Original Music Composed by Rene Chavez. Graphic Design by Dave McClinton. And many thanks to our fearless podcast leader Elizabeth McQueen for all her help. I’m creating a new personal website where I’ll share this podcast. So many thank you’s and other projects I’m working on, and it’s coming soon. SPF 1000 Vampire Sunscreen is a listener supported production of Cut and Cut Studios in Austin, Texas. And if you like what you’re hearing, you can support our work by becoming a sustaining member at Support this podcast, Dawg. Thanks again for listening and thanks for your support. And something I always keep in mind. We search for the light, but behold the darkness. Until next time.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
