Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Emotional Strings

Justin Pearson: “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did.”
Justin Pearson: “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did.”

“I’ve written songs that metaphorically address what happened to my dad,” says Retox mainman Justin Pearson, who was 12 when his father was assaulted, robbed, and died during a 1987 altercation with patrons he’d met and argued with in a restaurant bar. “I wrote about it more directly in my book [From the Graveyard to the Arousal Industry], but, musically, I’d rather keep it a little more broad. You can’t get into a lot of depth about topics like death, alcoholism, and bad parenting in a two- or three-minute song.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Now 36, Pearson says his father’s drinking and aggression “probably provoked what happened. To me, he was kind of like the quintessential dickhead from John Hughes films, kind of like the preppy jock that everyone hated. He was really against the fact that I was into punk. He kept saying, ‘Sid Vicious was a heroin addict. You’re gonna become a drug addict.’ I didn’t want drugs, I just wanted to listen to cool music.”

Almost never a drinker, Pearson says, “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did...until around a year and a half ago, I’d never even played a show in a 21-and-up venue.”

The year after his father’s death, Pearson was living in Clairemont, where he met Eric Allen, with whom he later formed the 1990s hardcore/screamo band Swing Kids. Shortly after that group split in 1998, Allen committed suicide. “That was the other big heavy-hitter for me, as far as someone dying.”

Last year, Pearson (a vet of the Locust, All Leather, Holy Molar, and a dozen other local ensembles) joined several other former Swing Kids for a European tour under the name Blue Note, with All Leather guitarist Nathan Joyner in place of Allen.

“I would find myself onstage, and these emotional strings were being pulled. Even though I’m an atheist, in a sense it made me feel as if Eric was living on.... What he and I shared as musicians and friends, those elements have carried on into all my projects.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Justin Pearson: “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did.”
Justin Pearson: “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did.”

“I’ve written songs that metaphorically address what happened to my dad,” says Retox mainman Justin Pearson, who was 12 when his father was assaulted, robbed, and died during a 1987 altercation with patrons he’d met and argued with in a restaurant bar. “I wrote about it more directly in my book [From the Graveyard to the Arousal Industry], but, musically, I’d rather keep it a little more broad. You can’t get into a lot of depth about topics like death, alcoholism, and bad parenting in a two- or three-minute song.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Now 36, Pearson says his father’s drinking and aggression “probably provoked what happened. To me, he was kind of like the quintessential dickhead from John Hughes films, kind of like the preppy jock that everyone hated. He was really against the fact that I was into punk. He kept saying, ‘Sid Vicious was a heroin addict. You’re gonna become a drug addict.’ I didn’t want drugs, I just wanted to listen to cool music.”

Almost never a drinker, Pearson says, “I’m too smart to do the things [my dad] did...until around a year and a half ago, I’d never even played a show in a 21-and-up venue.”

The year after his father’s death, Pearson was living in Clairemont, where he met Eric Allen, with whom he later formed the 1990s hardcore/screamo band Swing Kids. Shortly after that group split in 1998, Allen committed suicide. “That was the other big heavy-hitter for me, as far as someone dying.”

Last year, Pearson (a vet of the Locust, All Leather, Holy Molar, and a dozen other local ensembles) joined several other former Swing Kids for a European tour under the name Blue Note, with All Leather guitarist Nathan Joyner in place of Allen.

“I would find myself onstage, and these emotional strings were being pulled. Even though I’m an atheist, in a sense it made me feel as if Eric was living on.... What he and I shared as musicians and friends, those elements have carried on into all my projects.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Croome Brothers Trio, Jack Tempchin, Ricky, Swami & the Bed Of Nails, Kahlil Nash

Acoustic and electric in Del Mar, La Jolla, Little Italy, and City Heights
Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.