The Locust Interview

1. Hi, may I know who's on the line? How are you and the others?
I'm Justin Pearson and I'm okay. Things could be better. You know, i work my ass off every single day. never have enough time to do everything that needs to be done. im always broke. id rather not be in front of a computer. the others, not sure to be exact. hope you are well though.

2. Who's came up with the name? What's the meaning of The Locust and is it have any connection towards the music itself?
Dylan Scharf came up with the name. the name was fitting. i suppose the insect was a metaphor for the sounds that we had started to create. pretty simple explanation i suppose.

3. The Locust simply being called by many as a band that plays hardcore/grind type of music and repeatedly cited as a powerviolence band. But from what I've heard, The Locust more likely experimental thrashy with a lot of loops from synthesizer effects and somehow reminds me of Melt Banana. Is it tech-grind or any particular genre of The Locust that you want readers to know?
no. genre names are not important to us. lets just add the "core" suffix to some word and call it a day.

4. Is wearing costume a must for The Locust members? Any hidden agenda or something to prove by appearing with the costume?
we wear uniforms. no hidden agenda. maybe just hidden acne.

5. Who came up with the whole concept of The Locust; musically and appearance?
the members of the band at the given points and on the given releases that they were on, collectively at those points.

6. The Locust band members including individuals from the other bands like Holy Molar, Cattle Decapitation, Some Girls, Swing Kids, The Crimson Curse, Struggle and Le Shok. Apart from these bands, any bands that I've left mentioned?
you forgot: t cells, henk, farg narg, ground unicorn horn, and head wound city.

7. How did you guys separate your time for those bands and The Locust? Is The Locust a first priority than any other bands that you guys involved?
we work around the clock. very hard. everything is a priority at times. for instance, head wound city, was a week long band. so it was a priority for that week. hope that makes sense.

8. The Locust lyrics quite disturbing (and artistic) with its too twisted and weird comparing to any hc/punk bands existed. Did you find this as one of the reasons The Locust getting more recognizable among others?
huh?

9. I can find similarity between The Locust with Charles Bronson, Melt Banana and Discordance Axis when concerning about its rapidly changing tempo, frantic shrieking vocals, lively showmanship, youthful energetic spirit and except for D. Axis, they're also have long song titles like yours. Is The Locust influenced by them?
we like them.

10. The Locust songwriting amazed me according to its innovative, quite controversial, shocking, loud and all in all I can say, The Locust has come in very refreshing new stylistic. What drives The Locust in making this kind of music? Any particular reasons or goals you guys want to achieved by delivering this form of music?
what drives us is really just the basics of life. you know, the lives we live, create this art. its a product of the world that we live in. as far as goals, im not sure we have pre meditated goals really. for the most part, the locust as an entity came from the subconscious.

11. Tell me about a record deal with Epitaph for 'Plague Soundscapes' (2003). Why The Locust signed with Ipecac Recordings for 'Safety Second, Body Last' (2005)? And why for the upcoming 'New Erections' The Locust turning back again to Epitaph's deal? Can you tell me story behind this?
we signed a two record deal with epitaph, but in the contract gave ourselves the opportunity to work with ipecac in the middle of the two albums. both are great labels and we wanted to work with them.

12. What's actually The Locust want to conveys through "Alas, Here Come the Hypochondriacs to Wait With You in the Lobby"? The title itself sounds like surrealistic, but more psychotic.
its all open for interpretation really. that title was written by bobby bray and he can give you an accurate answer but i will not. sorry.

13. Your concepts are retro alike be it music, video clips and appearances. Do you consider The Locust are revivalist of the oldies?
no, we dont consider these sorts of things.

14. Are you guys fan of henshin hero of Japanese anime/film like Ultraman, Masked Rider etc?
not really.

15. You often cited as a catalyst of your kind of music and were also influencing other bands like An Albatross, Phoenix Bodies, Ed Gein, Holy Molar etc to play this kind of music. Need your view upon this. Do you see this as a good thing or else?
well ive never heard any of the above mentioned bands except for holy molar. so i cant answer this.

16. Tell me about your current and upcoming tour. What and when was the memorable shows so far that you guys involved?
our upcoming tour starts soon and is with daughters and cattle decapitation. at some points, yip yip and bastard noise will be joining us. as far as memorable shows, honestly there were plenty. playing with the yeah yeah yeahs at the london forum and having 4,000 people booing and throwing stuff at us, is memorable. or getting a bottle broken over my head in some shit hole in florida by some stupid hardcore gang was memorable. there are many many more.

17. Tell me about your experience when performed at Hellfest; its acceptance of the audiences etc.
that thing sucked all around.

18. Unlike most bands, which normally have the drums set up behind the other members, the four members of The Locust are all positioned in a line at the front of the stage. Can you elaborate and explain this situation?
sure, we are all equal. so we set up in a line.

19. The Locust has been labelled in one Chicago-based fanzine as "ruining hardcore for fat kids". So, how you react upon this matter?
i wish we did that.

20. You (Justin Pearson) have also owned a label called ThreeOneG... and apart of being in bands, what the other guys do?
they go to school, teach, write music, build things, you know, stuff.

21. The Locust seems opposing Clear Channel Communications so much and eagerly turned down shows which involved some great bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Fantomas. This is quite amazing to hear such thing like this. How is it going and why it's happened? What's wrong with Clear Channel anyway?
how is it going? well ok i suppose. basically we chose to boycott clear channel do to its right wing christian fundamentalist agenda. anything from ejecting atrists our of their venues for speaking out against the war in iraq, to having the bush administration using them for campaining, all signs are pointing one shitty direction.

22. When speaking about The Locust upcoming new release, "New Erections", what you want readers to know more about it? And what's your expectation towards it? Do you satisfied with it as a whole?
as a band we dont really care about the reaction, or the critics "opinions". sure, praise is cool and we appreciate it. but generally its all uneducated for the most part. we do what we do, create what we create, for ourselves really. and we usually are satisfied with the outcome of our releases for a time. then we realize its flaws and we figure out how it could have been better. but we move on and create new art. they we see it in the same light as the previous one and so on.

23. The Locust also has been accused as being elitist by some people. So, what's your opinion towards it?
im sure we have been accused of worse. id rather be accused of ruining hardcore for fat kids though. we make music. elitists or not, we just dont care. id like to know how we do these things to be honest. how are we elitists? and i have tried to become fat, but its so hard for me.

24. Lyrically, The Locust is a scathing satire of popular mainstream US culture, sexuality, and US politics. So this gonna be forever or will be changed in the matters of time?
we cant tell the future. working on that one still.

25. Do you consider singing in decent and proper voices instead of high-pitched screams and shrills? Because it is nearly impossible to discern what is being said.
our newer material is becoming a bit more easily to understand. screaming is well, getting boring. not everyone can scream good. please take note.

26. Instead of talking to the crowd, The Locust tune their instruments after almost every song. Why?
we tune to achieve musical accuracy. talking is over rated. especially when we dont know the people and they are seeing us as elitists or fat haters.

27. Is The Locust a political band?
i suppose, yes. but that depends on your definition of political.

28. Tell me about the appearance of Justin Pearson on a Jerry Springer show.
it was a joke and happened a long time ago. lets move on, shall we?

29. Okay, thanks for your time anwsering this interview. Good luck with The Locust.
thanks a lot. no problem. take care.

*Alright, here we go. The Locust is a Hardcore/Grind/Sci-Fi Noise/Rock group from San Diego, California, USA. They're known for their unique synth-heavy, distorted sound and their stage presence. For more infos about The Locust, please kindly go here: http://www.thelocust.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Locust