Interview with Justin Pearson

It’s been a long while since I last featured an interview by an individual to be featured in the forthcoming book, America Is Just A Word. I’m pleased to present some snippets of the first part of an ongoing interview I’m conducting with Justin Pearson, a man who’s energy cannot be contained by the sheer number of bands he’s been involved in. Most folks may know him from his role in The Locust, a band I was lucky enough to see open for Andrew W.K. some odd number of years ago at the 9:30 Club in DC.

Though Pearson’s amassed discography certainly deserves its own book, America Is Just A Word will focus on his experience as vocalist for Swing Kids and as co-owner/creator of record label Three One G.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a peek at parts of the interview:

*How’d you get into music? At what age did you decide that you wanted to give music a try?

Justin: “i think at an age, maybe as early as i can remember, i was into music. i was into kiss for obvious reason as to why a 5 year old would be, they looked so cool. i think being drawn to them, was sort of a door opening to what i needed to focus my attention on. i remember being way into styz when “mr roboto” came out. then i remember being super into van halen’s “1984” album as well as michael jackson’s “thiller”. so all this was from age 5 or so up to 8 or 9. at some point, i realized that kiss sucked pretty bad and started to focus on the actual music and what i was drawn to. i think at that point, i stumbled upon skateboarding and that led me to the thrasher skate rock comps. so then i found myself listening to septic death and then bands like the cramps, suicidal tendencies and so on. at that point, i was totally submerged in music and more so, punk and metal. when i was 12 i met the cramps and they were the biggest influence on me to start a band. they were so cool to me and really showed me that i could play music, and that being a musician, even well known like they were, i could accomplish something as great as what they were doing.”

*You often describe your background as poor, white trash, etc. Do you feel that these circumstances helped form who you are as a person? Or even why punk music appealed to you?

Justin: “i suppose. its hard to say though. its not like i can try it another way and compare and contrast situations. however, being from the poor side of the tracks, i think it forced me to be more creative, as well as appreciate the little things in life. it also installed a strong work ethic in what i try to accomplish. as far as punk and its appeal to me, it makes sense as to why id be drawn to it. that was essentially what punk music was created out of and who it was created for.”

*How did you meet and become friends with Eric and Jose?

Justin: “jose i met at a p.i.l. concert when i was 14. then i got a job with him at a swap meet working for his uncle. then he started going to the same high school as me. with eric, i somehow met all these kids in the east county of san diego and eric was one. at some point, we started playing music together in struggle, then later on in swing kids.”

*Considering you, Eric and Jose were in Struggle together, what was the key moment, act, or idea that made you want to all play together again as Swing Kids? How’d you all determine how the band was going to operate?

Justin: “eric was in struggle at the start of the band then quit and started unbroken. later on, he rejoined struggle. once struggle split up, we decided to start swing kids. it had a lot to do with peoples changing interested in certain kinds of music and art.”

*There’s this general concept that seems to run deep in a lot of the people/bands I’m including in the book [America Is Just A Word], that being that the personal is political, that every idea and notion of what you do is no less political than the “screw the pigs”/”fuck the man” sentiments that a lot of played-out hardcore seems to push. How did you and the other guys in Swing Kids come to that conclusion on your own terms?

Justin: “i agree. with struggle, it was sort of that mentality of preaching to the choir. it was already said and done. granted, the things that we were saying were relevant, but we were 15 and 16 years old. at some point, we wanted to say things differently so we did so. but all of this was never preconceived, it just sort of happened and then in retrospect, all made sense.”

*When you wrote the lyrics for Swing Kids songs, where did you draw inspiration from, both for the actual content of your songs and for the point-of-reference for the material you were writing?

Justin: “well i think since it was my first stab at lyric writing for a band besides the occasional lyrics that id contribute to struggle. so now, looking back, i think that the lyrics, and even my voice in swing kids is the weakest part of that band. but it was what it was, i mean, i was still pretty young, and honestly had no idea what i was doing. i would not even have considered myself a musician or a lyricist. but the inspiration was drawn from all sorts of things. none were musical really. i think heroin was a great band, but i was more into political stuff. just at the time of me writing lyrics, i was looking for the not to obvious or overtly political things to draw from. i think i was also growing up and dealing with odd emotions and things from my childhood that were taking a toll on me coming into an adult, trickled into some of the stuff i was trying to convey in the lyrics. its interesting though, as swing kids just recorded two songs when we did the recent reunion. one was redone, or finally completely written, the song “situation on mars”. originally it was just a mess that we created in the studio. at times, even felt like filler. so we write it properly. the additional lyrics that i wrote had more meaning to me than ever. the song took a turn and could be applied to a few things in my life. the lyrics were also written for the band, and even for eric allen, who passed away after the band originally broke up. but i tend to leave the lyrics, specially in swing kids, open ended, for the listener to use them however they want to. the other song we wrote and recorded, “fake teeth”, is about a band in specific that caught wind of swing kids, sort of late in the game and cashed in on something that was not theirs, hence basing their career on something as obvious as culture theft. i think that we benefited in ways by disbanding at a point in time, then coming back to what we did, after we had created a legitimate fan base, and how we still managed to hold onto our dignity.”

Swing Kids – “Intro To Photography” (live, 1996):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Iev6FjNVac]