Deaf Club: Pearson pedal pleases Pixies

Deaf Club, the newest project from occasional costumed Locust Justin Pearson, wasted no time after the release of their debut album in January, following up in May with their Bad Songs Forever EP, featuring three original tracks as well as a cover of The Pixies’ “Broken Face” that resulted in Pixies lead guitarist Joey Santiago announcing, “Love it! Going to steal that feedback pedal effect.” The EP was pressed on limited edition color vinyl and released by Pearson’s local Three One G label, in conjunction with Sweatband Records.

The video streaming online for the original EP track “If You Eat a Rat, It Might Taste Good” was directed and edited by Chris James Cunningham, aka Seattle artist and musician Dark Details, a surrealist film student who has also helmed videos for Kool Keith and Planet B. Described by the band as “sci-fi crust punk from the future,” the video flashes on the morphing and exploding faces of the band members, utilizing film projection, low rent Halloween masks, and vintage ‘80s video effects to approximate being spun around in circles within a sonic nightmare.

The EP was recorded by Alex Estrada and Tommy Meehan, and mixed and mastered by Brent Asbury. The sleeve cartoon was drawn by Paul Rentler, who also designed the package. It depicts a semi-nude, only partially-costumed Gene Simmons of Kiss, splattered in blood and wearing full, trademarked makeup. It’s the sort of work that may soon earn Three One G an annoyed phone call from someone in Simmons’ famously litigious camp.

Limited edition variants of Deaf Club’s debut full-length Productive Disruption were recently issued in collaboration with clothing brand Brain Dead. The group has played a handful of support shows in Southern California, including under a bridge in DTLA lit by the spotlight of a hovering police helicopter.