The Locust

The Locust are a grindcore, noisecore and experimental group from San Diego, active from 1994 to 2022. Their music combines extreme speed and aggression with complexity, distortion, synthesizers and new wave-influenced oddness, and also draws on powerviolence, experimental rock and death metal. The band starts as a powerviolence act with a strong use of synth passages, then develops a stripped-back but still harsh sound built around screamed vocals, heavy distortion and abrupt rhythmic changes.

The original line-up includes Justin Pearson, Bobby Bray, Dylan Scharf, Dave Warshaw and Dave Astor. After several line-up changes, the group settles in 2001 into a four-piece of Pearson, Bray, Gabe Serbian and Joey Karam. Other members associated with the band include Joseph Karam, Alex Yusimov and the earlier line-up members. The Locust also become known for a distinctive stage presentation: they perform in tight full-body nylon suits, which they call uniforms, many designed and made by Ben Warwas, and they usually stand in a line at the front of the stage rather than placing the drums behind the other players.

Justin Pearson describes the group’s aim as changing how people think about music, or destroying it altogether. Bobby Bray links the band’s abrupt time-signature shifts to the pressures of functioning in Western society. Their lyrics range from stream-of-consciousness writing to satire about mainstream ideas of sexuality, as well as political commentary and criticism of religion.

Activity and related work

The Locust spend much of the 2010s on hiatus, while members play in other hardcore acts including Head Wound City and Cattle Decapitation. The band later regroup for several shows, work on new material and a remix of a Danny Elfman track. They also maintain a boycott of Clear Channel Communications and refuse to play Clear Channel-owned venues, which affects tours including dates with Fantômas and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They also insist on all-ages shows.

In April 2022, the group announces the sudden death of drummer Gabe Serbian shortly before his 45th birthday, and the remaining members state that they are unlikely to record or perform again under the Locust name.