November 8,2025
Event: Substance Day 1
Location: The Belasco Theater
The night is staggering toward its end, wobbling like a drunk saint. TRUST is getting ready to close out day one of the 2025 Substance Festival in LA. My feet feel like bags of shattered bones, and my camera battery is on its final death rattle, begging for one last fix of electricity to keep the night alive.
I walk out to the smoking patio, where Pedro aka Prime Reflections materializes out of the haze like a character written into the scene. We us look cooked, but we’re still grinning like hyenas, riding the high of survival and anticipation. TRUST is minutes from taking the stage.
We slip through the side door that leads into the narrow side stage corridor, a tunnel of cables, shadows, and quiet panic. We drift along behind the stage, peeking out like smug ghosts over the ocean of bodies waiting for the headliner. Someone hands us beers or maybe we manifested them and the house lights collapse into darkness.
From across the stage, TRUST climbs the staircase and steps into the void. He floats more than he walks, gliding across the stage like something half-human, half-hologram. The crowd locks into his movements, hypnotized, as he leans into the mic and whispers like he’s speaking directly to each bloodstream in the room. Time loses structure. Everything feels endless. My camera snaps its last shoots of this flowless creature.
And then after some time a tap on my shoulder.
“Hey, can I see your wristband?”
I freeze. “Ahhh… I’m taking photos, I said nervously. Pulling my camera up eye level as if it was my shield”
Wrong answer, wrong timeline. The three-song rule swings the axe, and my photo stage privileges evaporate. I’m gently, politely expelled back into the smoking patio. I laugh; what else can you do? and inhale the night.
I walk out again, the cold air mixing with the static of TRUST still rumbling inside, the synths vibrating through the walls like the building itself is humming along. That’s when I see him, Brian Tarney. Guitarist. Synth player. Sacred Skin. Architect of Substance. He’s standing under the yellow patio light like a scene waiting for dialogue. A moment.
I take a few steps toward him, the music becoming my personal soundtrack. I breathe in, pull out my phone, and hit record.
The Interview
(Through the entire interview: Brian smokes a cigarette. TRUST plays inside vocals drifting into the patio, synths rumbling. The yellow patio light casts a soft glow over the smoking area. Other musicians come and go, listening for a moment, taking drags, talking about the bands they enjoyed. The night is a little cold, but everyone seems warm and energized.)
Favorite Food
What’s your favorite food?
“Xôi Gấc.”
Can you describe it to me?
“Xôi Gấc, it’s Vietnamese rice porridge. I love it, because it’s just, it’s like rice, it’s the broth, and it’s just always healing and very healthy.”
When was the first time you ate it?
“About 15 years ago, I discovered it. It’s very hard to find. You can always find pho, but it’s very hard to find. It’s called congee in China, so it’s delicious, yeah.”
Songs That Help You Relax or Recharge
What song do you turn to when you want to relax or just recharge?
“Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds.
Always brings me back to that era of 1985, Ferris Bueller, you know, that whole energy.”
Early Inspirations
Who in your childhood first sparked your artistic flame?
“My Mom, my Mom. She bought me my first guitar, she took me to my first concerts, and biggest inspiration, absolutely.”
Do you remember the brand of your first guitar?
“It was the Fender Jaguar, yeah, 1963 Fender Jaguar that my mom bought for me.”
Do you remember the first song you played with it?
“Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.”
Why did you play that one?
“I was just, I was so vibing on them at the time, and yeah.”
People Who Inspire You
Can you share three people who have inspired you along the way?
“Oh, yeah. William Friedkin, one of my favorite film directors. I’m just endlessly inspired by his filmmaking and incredible movies. He made The Exorcist, To Live and Die in LA, Cruising, just obsessed with his work.”
Could describe it in a sentence?
“I just appreciate his aesthetic, the way he just had an eye for all the beauty of life and culture.”
“Tears for Fears. I love their aesthetic. They were just gorgeous young men who made incredible fucking music.
And then as an artist, Dennis Mukai. I just love his art, his beautiful illustration. All very in the 80s realm, so yeah.”
What Drives His Art
What drives the purpose of your art?
“Well, I’ve always been driven by community and love for community and bringing people together and the energy that we can create through music and through art and all this stuff. And we’re getting to a weird place where people are into politics and sports and all that, but music, even fucking Donald Trump says, years ago in an interview, he said, what is the universal thing that connects everyone? Music!”
The Feeling of Creating
Can you describe the feeling while you’re creating art?
“The finished product is always the beauty, but when you’re working, working, working, and it is work, there’s always those moments where you just have that inspiration, you hit a little note on the synthesizer, the guitar, whatever.
It’s so exciting to make something that you hope can connect with humanity.”
What’s the instrument that connects with you through your heart?
“The synthesizer, yeah. I just love that people have engineered these things that ended up making something new and fresh and timeless and classic, and I just love playing on the keyboard and just doing it.”
Do you remember a moment that you were like, whoa, this is a synthesizer?
“Yeah, I think my dad bought me a Casio keyboard when I was a little kid and I just started playing around on it and it had a little beat and just kept hitting the notes and it was, before you knew it, it was awesome.”
A Memory of Art Bringing Happiness
What’s a memory of your art making you feel deeply happy about?
“I mean, it’s always exciting to make art. It’s always exciting to help facilitate art.
Just all those moments, all these moments right here, this is a fucking moment, we’re all here together. I love it, I love it.”
(TRUST’s synths bleed through the wall as he speaks, lighting his face as he inhales from his cigarette.)
Legacy
When you’re gone, how would you like people to remember you?
“Oh, I don’t care about ever being remembered. All I care about is having a great time in the moment, never fucking worrying, relax, have a good time, enjoy the fucking moment.”
Advice for New Artists
What guidance would you share with someone just starting in art or music?
“Just follow your fucking muse, just follow your heart, do what you got to do, throw it down, don’t compromise, make great art, make great music, don’t ever worry about the algorithms, don’t worry about all the noise and bullshit, just make your music and hope for the best.”
Childhood Hero
Who was your childhood hero?
“Neil Young. I grew up listening to him, he’s such a beautiful musician and just made all everything he did was like, one album would be a fucking synth-pop record, the next one was a rockabilly record, the next one was a grunge record, it was just, it was so interesting in the 80s, growing up listening to his music and he just followed his muse till the end and it was so cool.”
Is he still your hero or do you have a new hero now?
“Yeah, he still is, man, he’s 80 years old and he’s still the fucking coolest guy in the world and still, well, he’s still politically in the right zone, he’s still like about freedom and love and energy. I don’t love his music as much as I used to when I was a kid. But he’s still the man, you know.”
Feelings in the Moment
Would you like to share anything that you’re feeling right now?
“I’m just feeling all the love from Substance, it’s so good to have everyone here and have this energy and all of these people coming together like we have to more than ever fight all this fucking nonsense, all this bad energy to get rid of all the fucking sports and fucking MAGA and all that shit. It’s about love and music and art and film and all these things.”
What Substance Means
What does Substance mean to you?
“Substance is Substance, so I named it after a New Order record, right? New Order’s one of the best bands of all time and what they always did was Substance. It was about music, art, record label. They had a whole thing that they had going on through Factory Records. To me, it was so inspirational when you could just have every point going and I built this festival to model of their energy and the fact that they were a part of a label, a club, their music, their art, film, everything, that’s it!”
The Future of Substance
What is the future of Substance?
“We’re going to keep going, we’re going to do more shows next year and maybe more smaller shows, more bigger shows but we’re going to keep doing it, we’re going to keep making music. I mean, Substance is honestly, the biggest thing about Substance is it’s about local talent. LA is a huge fucking market for music and people don’t get it but we’re going to help keep pushing that out.”
Final Words
One last sentence to tell your audience, what would you want to say?
“We love you, we’ll see you next year, let’s keep it going. Thank you so much!”
I hit stop on the recorder, and the next step is determined by the organ sitting just below my heart, diaphragm and liver. Instinct takes over. We walk back into the venue. The show has ended, and people drift toward the exit in slow waves, smiling, buzzing, their bodies still moving to the phantom rhythm of darkwave echoing inside their bones.
Outside, the cold hits harder and so do my feet they feel like they’ve aged ten years in one night. But it was a good night, a great night, the kind that leaves a hum under your skin.
My nose finds our next destination before my eyes do: a taco stand glowing across the street like a salvation beacon. We cross together Pedro and our new recruit James. Reservoir Dogs song little green bag playing in my head as we walk in sloppy unison, a mismatched gang of tired night creatures chasing the last joy of the evening.
The night ends right:
Dos de al pastor y uno de asada, carnal. Muchas gracias.
A perfect closing ritual for a perfect Substance night.
Special thanks to Bryan Tarney for taking the time to do this interview while the festival headliner was on stage. And a big shoutout to Substance Festival for the opportunity to photograph so many incredible bands this year.
-Zer Ghoul
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