Lovingly referred to as the mayor of the LA goth community, Darrick Walker welcomes us off of the dance floor and to his kitchen table. He opens up about his decades long commitment to dance, how it can take years to talk to people even when you go out every night, growing up in Florida dancing to hip hop, and coming to LA at 18 to pursue fashion. He tells us about growing up in the South with a Reverend Grandfather and parents from the Bahamas, how his relationship to religion and family has evolved over time, the experience of being one of few African Americans in the goth scene at the time he entered it, and the experience of being a gay man with overwhelmingly straight male friends - and dating outside the goth community. He dispenses wisdom around avoiding club drama and treating each other with respect, and ensuring the longevity of our community as we all get older. Find his smiling face on the dance floor any night of the week - but costume changes only on Sundays.

We are joined by self-proclaimed Elder Goth Pollyanne Hornbeck, as she tells us about getting into old-school LA clubs underage and hearing Bauhaus for the first time, working for the LAWeekly right out of college and interviewing Nick Cave, living in the Hollywood Hills with Courtney Love, and how motorcycles can be cooler than boyfriends. Her passion for community is palpable not only due to her commitment to the goth community and those in it, but also in her transition from full-time artist to mental healthcare worker - without ever sacrificing her authentic aesthetics or allowing others to pathologize gothness. We also get a drop in from her lovely husband and a tour of her haunted dollhouse! This episode is dedicated to Cody Shute. 

After a truly crazy week, we have a pun-intended post-mortem download about the opening of Obelisk for Vesta’s birthday and Heather’s DJ debuts both there and at Chamber. Guess what, it is overwhelmingly and sincerely positive! We both experience an outpouring of support over competition in both settings, and the potential for this to be more prevalent in our community over the stereotype of drama. Thanks also to Tenebrae, Jak Syn, Steve Gheist, and Ray Baron for all your skill and support. Also featuring a surprise phone call guest appearance from Ray! Obelisk is every third Thursday at Risky Business, and Chamber is every Sunday at Bravo. Also catch Heather at The Alternative at the Gudgeon on March 17th!

Over homemade vegan queso and wine, we chat with Jak Syn about his DJ career and love of synthwave, starting a band and finding his way to the goth scene in high school, having to grow up quickly with mental illness in the family, how when clubbing became an escape that enabled destructive behavior, this lead to a growth and accountability within the community, and how the community supported him through the unique pain of losing his wife to cancer this year. Yet in the midst of the darkness, you can look forward to a rendition of 90s sitcom theme songs that no one asked for, a glimpse into his Jackie Daytona style yacht rock alter ego, and a guest appearance from Amy playing with legos.

We’re on zoom today to lure you out to our first club night, Obelisk at Risky Business on Thursday, March 9th, which also happens to be Vesta’s birthday party and Heather’s DJ debut. Obelisk will be every 2nd Thursday, no cover. We also want to cross-promote within the community, and plug Nihil at The North End on Saturday, March 4th, which also might include a little birthday celebration. Additionally, Heather will be guest DJing at Chamber on Sunday, March 12th. If you're in Los Angeles, party with us in person!

We are joined on the “rough couch” by Heather’s dancefloor girlfriend, Natasha Boyer. She shares her experience of growing up as an anxious kid in a strict Catholic home, finding goth by way of 80s clubs, and how the importance of getting out of her comfort zone led to becoming a gogo dancer. She speaks about parental growth and mending that relationship as a tattooed adult and non-believer, growing up keeping bugs as pets to becoming a vet-tech and full time cat lady, and how dancing in our subculture is a little bit like being a cat. Old club reminiscences come out, but it takes a turn for the religious, because Vesta can’t help it. Hey, is that stingray alive?

Zooming in from Long Beach is the other half of the Release the Bats duo, Jenn Bats! Jenn shares with us a bit about her pre-Bats life going back to separating from her off-grid parents and moving in with her metalhead boyfriend at 16, how hippies and goths can relate to each other despite their differences, being a goth mom and pregnant at Helter Skelter, and a seemingly out of character candy raver phase (yes there are photos). We also talk about the political stances she has been able to take through running RtB and how the Trump years effected the goth and deathrock communities, working at a Hot Topic for 20 years and the divisive subject of mall goths, and the luck it took to start Release the Bats with husband Dave Bats at Que Sera in 1998. We are also regaled with the recent tale of breaking her wrist in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery this winter, and an older tale of sharing a ride with a hairier than expected Rozz Williams.

We are joined tonight by the soft and soothing voice of Jolie, a breathtaking staple of the LA dance floors. She shares her experience of cathartic expression through dance, a palm reader directing her from the rock scene to the hip hop scene before finding her way to goth, and the support and acceptance she found in our community. As someone who stays away from social media, she elaborates on how Twitch DJs kept the music community alive through the pandemic without the use of social media, and how we connect with each other while also allowing for introversion and independence. And when it comes to dance floor etiquette and life in general, kindness is not overrated.

As more studies come out about chronotypes and the variables in circadian rhythm, we have a deep desire to express our unprofessional medical opinions about how late-phase chronotypes might be disproportionately more common in the goth scene, how hard it can be to fit into a world designed for early birds, and how this has affected our relationships with school, work, and self-worth. There are value judgements around night people being lazy and frivolous vs. early risers as ambitious and goal oriented, and Vesta is bitter about it. Also, possibly our most controversial statement: breakfast foods are overrated.