San Diego rock and roll personality / scenester. Played in several notable San Diego bands:
Struggle
Swing Kids
The Crimson Curse
The Locust (still together)
Holy Molar (still together)
Struggle was a
crusty hardcore band for whom he
played bass. They recorded only a little bit of material, including a
7" or two (note totally sure) and a
full-length on
Ebullition. I believe the
LP is
self-titled because no title appears on it other than the band's name and a
disturbing picture of
corpses being disposed of in a anonymous war-town county.
The Swing Kids were definitely a
change in sound for Pearson. He moved from
bass player to
vocalist, and from
crustcore to
chaotic emo hardcore not far from the
early 90s Gravity records material by bands like
Heroin and
Angel Hair. Note:
Angel Hair singer Sonny Kay would go on to do
Gold Standard Laboratories, a label which would distribute material by all of Pearsons post-Struggle bands.
Three One G is taken from the chorus of the
Joy Division song "
Warsaw".
The Swing Kids recorded only 9 songs during their time together, one in fact being a cover of "Warsaw". They did a
split 7" with
Spanakorzo and a
self-titled 7", and were featured on the
Food Not Bombs benefit compilation on
Inchworm. Despite their limited
body of work, the band's influence was enormous. Their songs were later compiled on a single
discography CD on
Three One G.
The next
Pearson project was
The Crimson Curse. While they retained the Swing Kids' spirit of
loud, chaotic emocore, they added in a large amount of
gothic rock influence. Justin Pearson again did
vocal duties, and this time the band featured a
keyboardist, making their
graveyard rock sound even more pronounced and unique. They released a split 7" with
Festival of Dead Deer and an LP. Their material too was later compiled on a
Three One G discography, which also featured a CD-ROM feature with video of The Crimson Curse live. Live they played wearing various things such as
Mexican Wrestling Masks,
goggles, and
make-up. In the video
the guitarist is not wearing pants.
By now Justin Pearson had made a name for himself in
San Diego, with The Crimson Curse become a
revered and highly popular band amongst the
scenester population. This was the point where he would really become a
figure of discussion: he formed
The Locust. A definite change from his previous work, the Locust began as a
spastic, insane power-violence band and would grow into an
utterly abrasive and terrifying grind unit and
object of great controversy. Pearson
combined his previous talents,
playing bass and doing vocals.
Beginnings were humble enough: the band's
first major release was a
split 10" with
original gangsters of California power-violence Man Is The Bastard. Their artwork was
basic black with nothing but
white letters ominously declaring LOCUST and
disturbing photographs of what looks to be either a
major wound or
the aftermath of an autopsy. The record itself features nine songs:
1.
Ass Gravity
2.
Futile Agreement
3.
Sever The Toe
4.
Emaciation Fuckers
5.
Red
6.
Inbred America
7.
Helios
8.
Personal History
9.
Keep Off the Tracks
The songs were pure
manic power-violence, as was very prevelant at the time in California. The Locust went on to appear on compilation after compilation as they
evolved in sound. They really exploded in popularity after releasing self-titled
full-length on
GSL. By now they'd incorporated keyboards and made them very prevelant in the songs, which were now around 45 second blasts of raging chaos.
As for Pearson himself, he has become quite a
controversial figure. Described as
outspoken,
stand-offish, and simply an
asshole by many, these descriptions seem to fit with The Locust's
live show, which has Pearson
antagonizing the audience severely. The first time I saw them he called our state (
Arizona) a "
Nazi toilet". Also note: Pearson grew up in
Phoenix, somewhat explaining his hatred of Arizona. He also has a
large tattoo going across his back, just above his belt line. It reads, in large block letters, "
VIVA HATE" - if you didn't know, that's the name of the first
Morrissey album. My personal experiences with him, of which there's actually been several, lead me to believe he's somewhat misunderstood but still kind of a dick.
Recently, a friend of mine told me that a friend of his had
married Justin Pearson in Florida. While I am not sure as to the
truth of this rumor, it was certainly an amusing thought.