The Locust are interviewed by AMP Magazine!

A FLOCK OF LOCUSTS
BY JOHN JOH

LIKE A PLAGUE OR A VIRUS, SAN DIEGO'S THE LOCUST ARE SWARMING INTO CITIES AND DEVOURING AWAITING EARS WITH SONIC BLASTS OF HIGH-VELOCITY SCREAMS, MANIC GUITARS, RAPID-FIRE DRUMMING, RUMBLING BASS LINES, AND ENGULFING KEYBOARD QUAKES. CONSISTING OF JUSTIN PEARSON (VOCALS, BASS), BOBBY BRAY (GUITAR), JOEY KARAM (KEYBOARDS), AND GABE SERBIAN (DRUMS), THE LOCUST TAKE THEIR MUSIC SERIOUSLY AND DELIVER IT WITH AN INTENT TO EXPAND THE MINDSET OF PEOPLE'S MUSICAL PERCEPTION. WHILE PUNK AND HARDCORE HAVE BECOME MORE AND MORE ACCESSIBLE IN THE EARS OF MANY, THE STATE OF MUSIC, EVEN ON AN INDEPENDENT LEVEL HAVE BECOME MORE AND MORE THE MARKETING OF FASHION, AND GENRE CLASSIFICATION.
THE LOCUST, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE RE-INVIGORATING THAT SENSE OF URGENCY, SPEED, AND THE NEED FOR AUDIENCE REACTION INTO MODERN MUSIC. THERE ARE THOSE THAT LOVE THE LOCUST, AND "GET" THE IDEAS IN WHICH THEY ARE TRYING TO EXPAND UPON, AND THERE ARE THOSE THAT "HATE" THEM FOR VARIOUS REASONS (AMONG THEM BEING ON EPITAPH'S ANTI- LABEL). BUT THE REACTION IS FORMIDABLE ENOUGH TO SAFELY SAY THAT SOMETHING'S GOING ON WITH WHAT THE LOCUST ARE DOING, WHETHER YOU FIND IT TO YOUR LIKING OR NOT. SUCH IS THE DEFINING MOMENTS OF CREATING AND PUSHING MUSIC AS ART, WHICH MOST MUSIC FAILS TO EVEN TOUCH UPON.
"WE CREATE THE ART FOR US. WE ARE NOT TRYING TO GET WHAT WE DO MARKETED TO THE MASSES. BUT IF PEOPLE OPEN UP TO IT, THERE MUST BE A REASON FOR IT," SAYS JUSTIN OF THE UNDENIABLY BRUTAL AND PROVOKING REPERTOIRE OF THE LOCUST'S MUSIC. READ ON AND FIND OUT WHY THE LOCUST(S) AREN'T THE BEATLES. AND THAT'S A GOOD THING.

TALK ABOUT THE SAN DIEGO AREA IN TERMS OF MUSIC. WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED WHAT THE ATMOSPHERE LIKE THEN, AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT NOW? AND WHAT'S THE LOCUST'S RELATIONSHIP TO SD IN GENERAL? IS THE LOCUST A "SAN DIEGO" BAND?
JP> Well it always sort of changes depending on the bands that are active here and the clubs that are supportive of local music. At times it seems to be the best place in the world. Then it also sucks as well. Especially when clubs like Soma call on other clubs to get shows shut down and due to the lack of all ages venues and the support from the community. The Locust only plays all ages shows so it's tough at times. But there has been so many amazing bands from here... Antioch Arrow, Drive Like Jehu, Kill Me Tomorrow, Unbroken, Amenity, Heroin, Crossed Out, and so on. As far as The Locust being a San Diego band, I'd say yes. Joey lives in LA, but we have been based here from the start of the band.
BOBBY> When we first started I remember Antioch Arrow was playing a lot of shows around San Diego, and it was kind of like the beginning of "hardcore" evolving past its in-your-face political lyrics with Metallica-esque riffs into more of an open to explore sound itself approach; remaining political but in a way more metaphorical and ridiculous manner lyrically. I still like San Diego even though it gets a lot of shit from the rest of the hardcore/sub-culture/vinyl collector's entity or whatever you want to call it. It's probably the most conservative city I can think of politically, but there's something to be said about a high concentration of anything. You could be in a place like Iraq while it's getting bombed. It doesn't seem like the best place to have a band or live (that day), but I bet there were/are pockets of amazing artist/writers/musicians producing amazing art.

WHEN THE LOCUST STARTED, WHAT WAS THE AUDIENCE RESPONSE LIKE TO 20 SECOND SONGS, SCREAMING, ETC.?
JP> The audience has always been pretty responsive. I think that the crowd that we would tend to play to would always be into different things. We would like to think that we surround ourselves or appeal to people that are progressive and that have open minds.
GS> When I first saw The Locust play, and when they did their "short" songs I totally felt like I had scratched an itch I couldn't reach. I knew I had to do something and quick... so I joined the band.
BOBBY> The Locust wasn't the first to do this. There was Crossed Out and Dropdead, but it was still very ridiculous to do at the time, and we tried different things within those 20 seconds to keep ourselves interested. For a while we used to have a guy run his noise machines called "the whore known as Ja Lo Pez." The last time I saw him he was in New Orleans still working on being a one-man band street performer and being super overly excited about recording in mono. Anyway, back in those days after every song, people and us would seem to have a feeling of "what the fucked just happened, this is musically preposterous."

HOW DID THE INITIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GSL AND THE LOCUST BEGIN? CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RELEASES AND SOME OF THE EXPERIENCES DURING THE INITIAL RELEASES? HOW DID THE SPLITS WITH MAN IS THE BASTARD, JENNY PICCOLO, ARAB ON RADAR, ETC. COME ABOUT? WHAT WERE THE INITIAL REACTIONS TO THOSE RECORDS
JP> Well the split releases all came about at different times in the bands life. We have been close to the bands we have worked with and that was the main reason for working with them. They were all friends of ours, awesome artists and "family." As far as the initial reaction to the records, I'm not sure. I never really cared about what people thought of the art that we created. We don't do it to please people. If someone doesn't like it, then that is fine with us. We wanted to do what we did because we like it. As a band and artists, our goal is not to sell records and make people like us musically, ethically or whatever.
GS> Well the M.I.T.B. split was released before I joined the band, as was the Jenny Piccolo split. But the Arab On Radar and Melt Banana splits were just meant to happen I think because both of those bands are (or were) changing the way people looked at music and I think that is a common goal to any sort of artist or whatever... to turn heads and distract people from what they think they should be taking in. I dunno, after all I'm just a human.
BOBBY> I like the Man Is The Bastard side of that 10- inch, as far as the rest.... I'd rather look to the future than the past. As far as how they came about we were all friends enough and excited about doing a record with each other (Man Is The Bastard and Jenny Piccolo). So we did.

YOU SEEM TO HAVE AN ODD "LOVE/HATE" RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR AUDIENCE. BETWEEN SONGS, YOU'LL HAVE PEOPLE HECKLING, AND YOU'LL HAVE PEOPLE MAKING FRENZIED REQUESTS; ALL AT THE SAME TIME. WHY SUCH EXTREMES?
JK: Because we're such dynamic personalities.
JP> I'm not too sure why that happens but it's a drag.
GS> Who cares?! Hecklers are only people having fun and trying to get a friend to laugh or something... if they hated us why would they stay around and watch? I don't care what people say when we're in the middle of playing a set, even if what I hear people screaming is totally absurd and weak attempts to fuck with us. If they hate us and stay around to heckle us, then we're the winners because in the long run... we are the loudest people in the room. Whoever wants total silence when the band has finished a song should stay at home. This question is totally stale.
BOBBY> I'm so sick of this question. Bands get heckled all the time. I heckle bands. It's no big deal. Anyway any reaction is better than none. At least brains are doing something.

YOU TAKE A LOT OF HEAT FROM "SCENSTER" CRITICS FOR VARIOUS THINGS LIKE "BEING ROCK STARS," OR YOUR IMAGE, ETC. DOES THIS FUEL YOU'RE EFFORT TO "SUCCEED" BEYOND THEIR SCOPE?
JK> No. I know that one day a new dawn will come upon us, crushing our foes and delivering us from their evil.
GS> I don't care about any of that shit. I play music and that all I do, if I wasn't in The Locust I'd be playing with some other band. Luckily our paths crossed before I got fed up with playing with people that we're afraid to push it.
JP> It gets old hearing how we are this and that. There has been little truth about us a band from the so-called critics. But I'm not sure if that horse shit fuels us as a band. We do what we do and I think we are affected by things on a larger scale. World events, media, culture, etc., some jag-off that writes for some zine or spends their free time on a message board does not really has an effect on us as a band.
BOBBY> It's funny, most humans I encounter on the planet when criticizing something are 90% of the time revealing precisely what it is about themselves they dislike. "Projection" - it's just a shame that it was Freud that came up with the term, I would have much rather it been Carl Jung. Try it out, the next time you hear anyone criticizing something (even if you are doing the criticizing) analyze the details to find the source of the critique.

WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM YOUR COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCES OF BEING IN A SLEW OF BANDS LIKE SWING KIDS, THE CRIMSON CURSE, HOLY MOLAR, LE SHOK, DEATH DRUG, CATTLE DECAPITATION, ETC., WHEN YOU JUMPED INTO THE LOCUST?
BOBBY> Broken equipment.
JK> That violence can be positive and constructive.
GS> I'm with Joey on this one.
JP> Well a lot of the bands you mentioned came about when The Locust was already a band. I'm not sure why we all took on side projects, but I think that its good to do other things. You can sort of draw from other forms of art, experiences with other artists and so on.

WITH JUSTIN RUNNING HIS OWN LABEL, THREE ONE G, DOES THAT AID AND AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS DECISIONS AS A BAND. AND IN PARTICULAR WITH ANTI-?
JK> No.
GS> No.
JP> The Locust's ties to Three One G are pretty limited. Three One G has only released the split 5-inch with Jenny Piccolo and there is a track on "Dynamite With A Laser Beam." Three One G sells some of the merchandise for the band via online to sort of eliminate high prices on eBay and things like that. The Locust might do a single or EP Three One G in the future but nothing is set in stone at this point. My running Three One G has no effect on Anti- and The Locust. The only thing it does in help educate me on how to run a label on a larger scale. I get a lot of ideas from how things are with The Locust being on Anti- and I try to carry that over to bands on Three One G.

YOU PLAY SHOWS DONNING GREEN LOCUST MASKS AND ATTIRE. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU TO HAVE A VISUAL ELEMENT TO YOUR SHOWS? AND DOES THE RELATIVE ANONYMITY ALLOW YOU TO TAKE ON A DIFFERENT LIVE PERSONA?
JK> I appreciate bands that go the extra mile in the name of a good live show. For us, given the nature of our music, lots of movement - flying around on stage, etc. just doesn't work. Any way we can place the music in a surreal context outside of what is normally perceived as a "crazy show" is of interest to me. It seems like our outfits as of late add to that overall aesthetic. Ideally I'd love some sort of projected backdrop spitting out images that flow with the music, but that'll have to wait for now.
JP> There are a few different aspects to the uniforms we wear. There is this sort of anti fashion statement that we are working with. Also the uniforms get us away from any sort of imaging that one might see where a band wears this or that and it influences people to take on that image for themselves. It also adds another aspect to a live performance. Music can also entertain visuals. And lastly, we are all sort of into things like science fiction, political terrorism, and homo-eroticism.

WHO MAKES YOUR MASKS AND OUTFITS?
JK> A man named Ben.
GS> Ben Warres... I think that's how you spell his name.
JP> Mr. Ben Warres.

WHEN YOU WERE FIRST APPROACHED BY BRETT GUREWITZ OF EPITAPH, YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU DIDN'T TAKE ANY SERIOUS CONSIDERATION. SIMILARLY, THE BLOOD BROTHERS HAD THE SAME REACTION TO THE OFFER BY ROSS ROBINSON OF ARTISTDIRECT. BUT, IN THE END, YOUR TAKE ON THE "BIG" LABEL THING CHANGED. WHAT'S MADE YOU RETHINK YOUR INITIAL REACTION?
JK> It had nothing to do with this "big" label issue you've mentioned. As we learned more about the label, and Brett, we softened up. The entire issue rested upon whether they were into putting us on their Anti- label - in the ideological company musicians and artists I already respected and admired.
JP> Well the main reason we were not serious about Brett Guerwitz's offer to The Locust was due to the roster at Epitaph. That was an important aspect to us working with him. But we found out that he is an awesome person, and we all felt comfortable with him and decided to work with him. When the idea of being on Anti- was introduced, that sealed the deal. We felt that the label was a more comfortable home for us. But as far as a big label, it is a lot bigger label, but is still an independent unlike The Blood Brothers' label, ArtistDirect. I think that was an important factor for us as well.

BEING ON A LARGER LABEL, WHAT TYPES OF THINGS ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE, GIVEN THAT YOU HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES?
JK> Bend peoples minds. Hopefully this jump will afford us more time to focus on pushing our medium further and further with every consecutive project.
JP> First and foremost, a better recording. That comes from a larger recording budget. I think that the new album shows a world of difference with how much a larger budget can affect a recording. I guess the other points are the availability of the album, and a label that works to get the band's album and even the existence of the band out there.

IT MUST COME AS A BIT OF A SURPRISE TO BE IN THE POSITION THAT YOU ARE TODAY. BEING ON ANTI-, AND GARNERING TONS OF PRESS. ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU'RE MUSIC SEEMS TO BE INTENDED TOWARDS THE INACCESSIBLE, IE. NOT FOR MASS PUBLIC CONSUMPTION. WHAT'S YOUR REACTION TO THE GENERAL SHIFT OF PEOPLE "OPENING" UP TOWARD "NEW" MUSIC?
JK> I'm grateful that there's a following for music that's outside of the so-called mainstream.
JP> Again, we create the art for us. We are not trying to get what we do marketed to the masses. But if people open up to it, there must be a reason for it. Maybe the fact that the major label conglomerates polished all sort of turds for mass consumption and people are getting a little sick of it so they are opening up to different things, ie. The Locust, The Blood Brothers, Black Dice, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc., but I think that the general interest in more obscure art does not come from the work of a label, I think it's just that people are finding out about stuff and it's sort of sparking interest where in the past it would be written off by "critics" and "journalists" as a bunch of crap.

WHAT EFFECT HAS RESULTED WITH THE CHANGES IN THE LINE-UP? WITH DAVID ASTOR LEAVING, AND GABE SERBIAN TAKING HIS PLACE FROM GUITAR? AND WILL THERE BE A FIFTH LOCUST LATER?
JP> Nope.
BOBBY> We can't really talk about it. But just for the record, if high-up United States government officials start dying, there are only four of us.
JK> Our band has improved.
GS> I was a drummer playing guitar. So when Dave wanted to leave, I was really excited to be able to play drums and put twists on things I thought were missing. There were things we wanted to do also that he was just not into... like wearing uniforms and writing fucked up weird parts. I think he's an amazing drummer and I've learned a lot from that guy, but as a band we wanted to pursue different avenues that he didn't care about. As for a fifth member I think we're pretty set, yet I think it would be rad to record some songs with two drummers like Weasle Walters or even Zach from Hella; and maybe even have Mick from Orthrelm play guitar and write some fucked up songs for a recording... but as a band and playing live I think The Locust has finally made its last line up changes.

LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW RECORD, "PLAGUE SOUNDSCAPES," WHICH IS OUT THIS MONTH. WHEN YOU CREATED "SOUNDSCAPES," I'M ASSUMING YOU HAD MORE IF NOT BETTER RESOURCES AT YOUR DISPOSABLE, WHAT DID YOU TAKE INTO MIND PRIOR TO RECORDING?
JP> Well the studio time we had was the first major thing. We were not rushed to record an album in two days like we did before. We had ample time to make everything sound as best as we could. Also working with Alex Newport was a great aspect that we were able to have with the new album. He did a great job producing it.
GS> Mostly that we had a little more time than we ever had to record an album. We had ten days, when we actually needed probably 20; but we're used to only three days to record and mix.
BOBBY> The same goal as we've always had except this time we were able to pull it off. Joey and I had a lot of ideas in terms of making certain parts stand out and blend together to create more of an over all sound effect rather than two separate instruments making two separate arbitrary weird sounds. Stuff like that.

WHAT DID ALEX NEWPORT ADD TOWARDS THE PRODUCTION OF "SOUNDSCAPES?"
GS> I think it's safe to say that Alex is actually the fifth member of The Locust. I think he made us sound better than we ever have because that guy pays so much attention to detail, it's scary. I would hate to be his kid because I'm sure he can hear anything you say under your breath. He's like a superhero with super hearing.
JP> I think that recording technique and the fact that he was understanding of what we do musically made a great combination. He worked on getting sounds and making sure that things would all be audible where as before we never had the knowledge and time to work on those details. I think especially in drum sounds and instrument separation, we were able to make it sound amazing.
BOBBY> He understood what we wanted and added a lot of attention to detail which we never really had in an engineer/producer to help us achieve what we wanted, suggesting things at times to help us achieve our audio goals. It's completely analog (except for the CD mastering) which was very important to Joey, myself and Alex. The vinyl is completely analog, no squashing compression, just straight off the mixed reel, onto the lacquer.

IN PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS, YOU'VE TALKED ABOUT "PUSHING THE ENVELOPE" IN TERMS OF THE SOUND YOU'RE TRYING TO EXPOSE TO AUDIENCES. IS YOUR MUSIC A REACTION TO THE AUDIENCE? THAT IS SHOULD A LARGER AUDIENCE TAKE TO YOUR WORK, WILL THAT PUSH YOU TOWARD SOMETHING EVEN MORE ABRASIVE, OR POSSIBLY LESS SO? IS CONSTANT CHANGE A NECESSARY PART OF THIS APPROACH? IF IT WOULD PISS PEOPLE OFF, WOULD YOU DO A "POP" RECORD?
JP> I honestly don't think we would do a pop record for the sake of pissing people off. That is not what we are trying to do now on a smaller scale. We just do what we do. I think the art that we create is derived from different aspects in life. How we are living in this fast paced abrasive society. The political and economic structures of this time we are living in reflect what we create. It all makes sense to us. It's a direct result of the world that we live in. The music and lyrics are a reflection of our time and our lives.
BOBBY> Music itself is working through us as an entity, I'm not really too concerned with just pissing people off. It seems that the role of music or art is to hone in on the truth and produce an equivalent to get the other entities at work to tune in as well.

WHAT INFLUENCES MUSICALLY, POLITICALLY, AND SOCIALLY AS YOUTHS HAVE GIVEN RISE TO THE LOCUST?
JK> Surrealism, George Bataille, Italian Fascism, Scientology, watching animals shit, Nietzsche, Chaos, Terror, Burroughs, Paranoia, etc., etc., etc.
JP> family history, class structure, schooling and education, social "status", mental and physical abuse, political events, art, culture, etc.
BOBBY> Crossed Out, Deicide, Devo, Downcast, Oingo Boingo (Danny Elfman), Jodorowsky (Holy Mountain), Ghostbusters, Jung, Hesse, Charles Tart, Don Juan, quantum physics and the search for a unified field theory, Ralph's records, Rhine and any scientist who risks all of his/her credentials to research anything related to parapsychology; Art Bell in his prime.

YOUR SONGS ARE, FOR THE MOST PART, SHORT, OR EXTREMELY SUCCINCT; WITH A LOT OF THEM CLOCKING IN JUST UNDER THE 30 SECOND MARK DO YOU THINK YOU'LL EVER CREATE A SONG LONGER THAN 4 MINUTES?
JP> Yes.
GS> Who knows, I think we get to the point with what we're up to. 4 minutes might get boring.
BOBBY> It would be rad to make a song that goes backwards so it's less than zero seconds. The listener is in a subconscious dream like state (theta) and the songs ripples back in time a little bit like a backwards delay and when the listener kind of wakes up they see the beginning of the song and then its over!

YOU'D LIKE TO SEE A CHANGE IN PEOPLE'S VIEW OF MUSIC; OR POSSIBLY DESTROY MUSIC IN GENERAL. WHAT WOULD CONSTITUTE THE SUCCESS OF THOSE GOALS FOR YOU?
JK: When Orthrelm are Grammy award winners and Justin Timberlake has to suck dick for heroin.
JP> I'd love to destroy music as they, the people know it. I'd like to introduce things like creativity, chance... and eliminate forced structure of how one is "supposed" to create music in general. Some of the best art has come from chance. If you just try things and put effort and question into the way one is usually supposed to go about arranging and making music then we can progress and invent new techniques and ideas.

BOBBY'S STATED BEFORE, "SOUND IS KIND OF A MUSICAL METAPHOR FOR HUMAN THOUGHT, AND IN OUR PRESENT-DAY POSTMODERN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY, OUR MUSIC IS A REFLECTION OF HOW BRAINS NEED TO FUNCTION IN ORDER TO SURVIVE --- RAPID TEMPO CHANGES, SUPER FAST-PACED PROBLEM SOLVING, AND WEIRDNESS TO HOLD IT TOGETHER." IS THE LOCUST AN EVOLUTION OF MODERN EFFICIENCY? TAKE MORE IN FASTER?
JP> Sure I think you can say that.
BOBBY> That's one way to look at it. We are basically trying to document brain activity through sound, including all activity in the sub-atomic particles that make up neurotransmitters, dopamine in particular.

THANKS.
href='http://www.ampmagazine.com/amp.html' target='_blank'>www.ampmagazine.com