Nathan Noyes & Ian DeVoglaer Embrace the Bear Community and the Brutal Beauty of Horror

In the world of queer horror, Nathan Noyes and Ian DeVoglaer are a creative power couple who have carved out a unique space for themselves, often leaning into the “Queer Weirdo camp” of the community. Having spent years as key team leads on the hit drag-reality competition show, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, where their professional chemistry sparked a beautiful romance, this married duo has now fully immersed themselves in their own creative pursuits in Austin, TX.

Nathan, a talented photographer and director, channels his vision into projects like The Living Epitaph Project, while Ian, a live-streaming content creator and producer, has cultivated a horror-focused brand, DEVOGLAER. Their work, deeply influenced by everything from The Descent to the iconic Are You Afraid of the Dark?, balances a love for bleak brutality with unapologetic individuality.

I had the chance to sit down with Nathan and Ian to talk about their shared love for all things horrific, their journey into the bear community, and what’s next for the two talented creators.

Richard Jones: Tell me a little about yourselves, and your background.

Nathan Noyes: Nathan here! I am a photographer, director, and editor – primarily focused on Queer stories and finding a bit of beauty in the horrors of the world. Born and raised in the southwestern desert, I spent my childhood frying eggs on the sidewalk and hanging at the mall with friends, but mostly surviving the oppressive Arizona sunshine combined with the scathing damnation of the community I grew up surrounded by. I got my start directing and editing The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, a drag-reality competition show where I led the team for 6 years. I also met my husband, Ian during this time and we fell in love – our on set chemistry as a team translating into our beautiful marriage now. We recently moved to Austin, TX and are tackling the city’s motto – “Keep Austin Weird” – in full force. Working full time together creatively on our own projects that we individually spearhead has given us the freedom to express ourselves fully and honestly in all parts of our lives and I am eternally grateful for that. Plus, getting to raise our dog, River in a home where he can co-star in photoshoots is an incredible experience. For me, when I think about my life, my work, and my husband, I am always drawn to notion that life is really fucking weird and beautiful.

Ian DeVoglaer: Hi! My name is Ian DeVoglaer and I work as a live-streaming content creator and producer. I have a background in Media Analysis but my heart will always belong to horror… and Nathan. A true scorpio at my core, October is my favorite time of year and my life has always reflected that. I served as the Supervising Producer on the hit drag-reality show The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, for close to a decade before diving full time into my own creative pursuits in 2023. I’ve always found myself to be more in the Queer Weirdo camp of being a gay man, which has pushed me to be a lifelong individualist – I find that I have to be myself at every turn. If I am not uncompromisingly myself, the monster mask begins to slip and something has to get adjusted. When I met my husband, we were co-workers on Dragula – both working as team leads and having a taboo office romance – and now we work full time together on our own projects. I feel like when I fell in love with Nathan, that stubborn individualist nature inside me flared up and I knew I had to pursue my life on my own terms. The fact that I get to do it with my best friend is my greatest achievement!

RJ: You are both involved in horror. What were your horror influences growing up?

NN: When I was a kid, I would watch Are You Afraid of the Dark? and there was this one episode about a haunted swimming pool at a school where this awful thing would drag kids under the water. I literally could not swim alone in a pool for years after seeing that episode. There were also two horror movies that were pretty impactful for me – the original IT with the legendary Tim Curry. Bill Skarsgård does a great job, but Tim Curry’s IT fucked me all the way up. The other is The Descent, which to this day is still my favorite horror movie. It’s an all-female cast of bad asses who go spelunking in this cave where they get trapped after a rock collapse behind them, closing off the entrance. It’s part claustrophobia horror, part creature feature, and it is horrifying and violent and absolutely brutal. Finally, I’d say my favorite scene from a horror movie is from the camp cult classic Death Becomes Her. Undead divas Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep go hard and they just don’t make them like that anymore. Plus, if I were a skinny bitch with fiery red hair, I’d no doubt be Helen Sharp for Halloween.

ID: The Nightmare Before Christmas was released just a few days after I was born and I grew up watching Tarantino classics with my dad before I could talk. My dad hand-painted an anatomically correct skeleton jumpsuit for me to wear for Halloween when I was three. I used to beg my parents to scare me, so for fun, my parents would hide around the house and let me walk around with a flashlight before jumping out and grabbing me – where I would scream and laugh in the way that you can really only do when you’re a little kid or when you’re a grown adult in a haunted house. My love of horror is so deeply entwined with who I am that it’s hard sometimes to cite what my influences were! But when I’m done being an edgelord, I would say that I’m a tried and true millennial – Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of The Dark, and gateway horror cartoons like Courage The Cowardly Dog and Invader Zim gave way to Stephen King and classic horror movies with my mom.

RJ: What are your current horror passions?

NN: I’m obsessed with the Alien franchise. Alien, Aliens, Alien: Covenant, and Alien: Romulus are my favorites in the franchise and yes I think Alien Earth is absolutely terrible. I don’t know whose idea it was to hit the franchise with the Disney-ray but that show is goofy. Fight me. I’m a huge fan of HR Geiger’s vision for the Xenomorph. I find the concept of the “perfect organism” being an almost unkillable death machine with acid for blood to be so damn rad. And of course, terrifying. Also, Alien’s vision of a dark, industrial, analog future is definitely aesthetic goals.

ID: I’ve been diving more into horror video games recently! I got my first gaming PC this year so a lot of indie horror has been in my world. Silent Hill f has me in a chokehold and I am obsessed… But in a general sense, I am always passionate about finding things that truly make me unsettled. My favorite type of horror is the kind that “bites” in a sense. I always find myself in love with horror that feels cruel or challenges an audience – it’s the secret weapon of the genre that no other genre is capable of. My favorite horror films are Martyrs (the original French version – the American remake is trash, avoid at all costs) and The Substance. No one does it like the French! All that bleak brutality aside, I watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show at least twice a year and always cry at the ending.

RJ: Do you both consider yourselves in the bear community?

NN: I do, yes. I suppose I fit the bill in terms of body type! Beyond that, I feel like the bear community has always been welcoming and accepting of me so it’s really wonderful to feel as though I’m a part of that.

ID: In my younger days I would say that the bear community was almost always inside me but as I’ve gotten older I’ve found myself inside the bear community more and more! Life is more fun when you can interchange Daddy and Boy in my opinion.

RJ: What horror projects are coming up for both of you and what NON horror do you have?

NN: Right now I’m working on something new. It’s called The Living Epitaph Project. The project is a portrait series where I ask the subject: “what story from your life best represents your life as a whole, and what did you learn from it? If you died today, what would you want the world to know? I just lost my mom about a month ago, and one day I was thinking that I wish I knew her better. This project is a way to know people, and learn about them in a way that I don’t think I would without the catalyst that is the series. Living Epitaph was born out of loss and grief, but it’s growing into connection and life, and I find it really healing and inspiring. In terms of horror, right now my focus is Ian and continuing to help build his Twitch channel and community. I’ve always appreciated horror, but Ian has really opened the door that’s allowed me to love it. Creating visuals for DEVOGLAER, his brand, has really been my horror fix and it’s been super eye-opening. Before working together with Ian on his project, I was unaware of how beautiful and subversive the genre can be.

ID: Horror is an everyday part of my life – my office is also my Twitch streaming set up so I essentially live and work in a horror set complete with life sized coffin and antique cabinet of curiosities filled with animal skulls and candles. The usual office set up. My Twitch stream is primarily horror focused, with original content produced for the stream visuals created by Nathan with lore and concepts designed by myself. I am producing and co-hosting Twitch’s first Queer horror game show on the platform currently, with 6 content creators playing horror games all month long! On the non-horror side of things, I am also working alongside 4 other streamers for Gayming Magazine’s new Gayming TV rollout. Being able to assist other creatives with their process and creation is always a fun lane to step out into and I love the duality of being a loud gay personality packaged in a norm-core goth presentation.

RJ: What’s in the future for both of you? together and separately

NN: Professionally, we’ve produced and directed The Gayming Awards for the past two years and we are so looking forward to a third time! Here in Austin, I am photographing new drag artists and settling into being creative in a new city. We definitely see a future where we get a modified sprinter van and travel around the country with River before he gets too old. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how beautiful the US is considering the country is in political turmoil. I hope our future isn’t swallowed by the darkness we’re facing right now, but I just try and take each day as it comes.

ID: After October I am going to retreat into my coffin and sleep! But genuinely, I am looking forward to next year as we have a huge production planned with Gayming Magazine for their Gayming Awards 2026 which has been a pleasure to produce for the past two years. On the professional side, I’m focused on Twitch streaming and my community, but on the personal side I know Nathan and I want to get our dog, River, a sibling. Our bed could use another fur baby! Human furballs / bears / cubs may inquire via Instagram DM as well.

Follow Ian & Nathan here:

Nathan: IG: @nathannoyes | @livingepitaph

Ian: All socials: @DEVOGLAER // Twitch.tv/DEVOGLAER