The Locust are interviewed by Mean Street!
"The Locust are sell-outs." "They're rich." "They do too much coke." "One of 'em screwed my little sister behind the Washington Mutual after a show and never frickin' called her again."
Such is the kind of hateration that Locust members Justin Pearson, Bobby Bray, Gabe Serbian and Joey Karam endure every day. They get it in e-mails, on the phone, over message boards, heckling from the audience, ad nauseum.
If you didn't know any better, it would seem like the punk world has declared jihad on these boys (which would be a silly damn war since most of the haters never leave their bedrooms 'cept to do chores so mom stops bitching and lets 'em "borrow the gawdamn car once in awhile, Jeeezus Christ!") But as bassist Justin Pearson says, things lately have mellowed out a bit.
"At first it was all about how we were sell-outs, how we 'ruined our fan-base,' and how we just plain suck," says Pearson. "But the new album was leaked to the internet and that sort of changed peoples' ideas of what we're doing."
But the shit-talking was far from one-sided; the band was right there in the trenches --- even calling out their very own newly-signed-to label for enlisting low-rate bands. However, again, it looks like things have sweetened up.
"With all of the criticism, I'd like to point out a few things on our label that we stand behind: Noam Chomsky, Nick Cave, Joe Strummer and Turbonegro," says the bassist. "Not to mention that the owner of our label has a band that gives out scholarships."
But what about groups like Pennywise and The Transplants? Surely The Locust isn't down with music that runs that contrary to their all-or-nothing panic-rock steez.
"Sure, there are plenty of turds on the label," admits Pearson. "But I think it's safe to say the last label we were on had a few of them as well, and we still dig GSL."
The Locust's new album, Plague Soundscapes (Anti-/Epitaph), shows the band under a microscope: all pieces and elements are bigger, in better focus, intensely bright and washed with livid, raw-wire clarity. The drums sound like they're being played on a mini-loft built right above your desk (and with plastic curtain rods instead of drumsticks). The keyboards have left Keyboardland completely and now exist somewhere in nebulous gray. Are they the amplified sounds of your stomach digesting that crap-ass Quiznos veggie-wich? Did Joey sample them off "Tiny Toon Adventures?" Are they the ghost-voices of long-dead velociraptors or bobcat yowls or just plain misguidedly beautiful sound? Abstractly and figuratively speaking, it's a little bit of everything.
According to Pearson, a lot of that is thanks to producer Alex Newport (The Mars Volta, Melvins).
"What Alex did was get the best sounds for all the instrumentation," says Pearson. "He made sure that we played everything perfect, made suggestions about sounds, tones and how things were mixed."
Still, no matter how well the new record does --- and chances are mainstream rock audiences will point their shiny SUVs in the opposite direction, right quick --- the playerhatering has yet to cease.
Re: news for you locusts...
Author: jeri teencunt (----.sd.cox.net)
Date: 04-19-03 20:40
yor new cd got leaked to the internet. i am very shockked how ratarded it sounds. your gay. you shoudl be sent to iraq or blown up like the homo communists that you are. fuck teh locust. supports our troops. god bles american.
Still, fuckwit threats and lousy grammar aside, Pearson isn't exactly concerned.
"Yeah, those chickenshits ... what do you expect," he says. "I mean, the only art they create is the indentation from their ass on the chair in front of their computer."
By Adam Gnade
href='http://www.meanstreet.com' target='_blank'>www.meanstreet.com