You can't beat a bit of pestilence, eh? The Locust are probably San Diego's noisiest band, but beneath the veneer there's a set of complex musical nuggets clawing to get out and CHEW YOUR BRAIN.
Formed in 1995, the four-piece comprises Bobby Bray (guitar, vocals), Justin Pearson (or JP - bass, vox), Joseph Karam (keyboard, vocals) and Gabriel Serbian (drums) - the line-up's changed a million times between then and now, though, and each of the current members have been in dimly renowned bands including Alec Empire's backing group Cattle Decapitation and blink-and-you-missed-'em no-wavers Le Shok.
With 23 songs in just 21 minutes, 2003's Plague Soundscapes is a dizzying album, but careful listening quickly pays off - these songs are amazing. Layers of abrasive guitar lines and growling keyboards criss-cross wildly over double-bass-pedal drums, as each Locust yells unintelligibly about Bad Things. It's piercing, confrontational and filthy, recalling Mike Patton at his nastiest or Melt-Banana before they opted for tunes.
Strange, then, that they seem such nice, quiet lads. Bobby comes across nervous, amiable and friendly, and is almost adolescent in his appearance. JP seems guarded, wild-eyed and slightly pretentious, but somehow open, and not far short of gorgeous. As we chat backstage at London's Forum, the latest stop on The Locust's supporting tour with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the boys seem cagey, almost reluctant to say anything, and I can't quite figure out whether it's because they feel awkward, that they're untrusting, or that they simply have nothing much to say.
I tell them that they've made a very romantic album. They laugh. Actually, it sounds like a mental breakdown on CD; total sensory overload.
JP: "That's what this world kinda feels like, y'know. I think as artists we reflect society. I guess that's where it comes from."
Bobby: "That is the role of art... Documenting what's going on, and sort of predicting the future in a strange, esoteric, artistic way."
JP: "Or trying to maybe set things straight, y'know. Fix it, I guess."
It's a vague answer, but it's a start. Bands say things like this all the time, of course. How would you actually fix it?
JP: "With art, maybe. Education I suppose. Communication."
Bobby: "Getting people to sing. Sending out subconscious bombs and hopefully they'll blow up in someone's brain and they'll actually snap out of whatever they're snapped into."
Music has always had the power to bring awareness and change, and this is often down to lyrical content. But by the very nature of The Locust's post-apocalyptic hardcore cacophony, these are barely discernable without opening the lyric sheet - quite a shame, given that the words are witty and political, and often even rhyme.
Bobby: "A lot of our lyrics have multiple meanings. It's the completion of communication between a band and a listener."
But isn't the communication impeded if people can't understand what you're barking?
Bobby: "Well, maybe on some level they do. Right now we're on tour with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and sometimes we get pelted with beer and people don't quite grasp what we're doing or don't like it, or whatever, and that's fine, but maybe ten years from now they'll have some very vivid nightmare and we'll be there."
JP: "Even if it's a negative reaction, there's a thought process happening. A lot of mainstream music is just laid out for you, you don't have to think about it and you actually don't think about it. It's like background music or non-existent. I'd rather be confusing and hated than ignored."
Fair point, but then again, I'd rather be liked than hated. The other thing I've noticed in the lyrics is that there seems to be a kind of brutal sodomy theme going on in there. At this, I get very strange looks from Bobby and JP. Am I making this up? Here are some sample lyrics:
_'Teenage Mustache'
"Bet you think you are going to change colour/Standing there on all four feet/Getting licked like a lollipop."
'Identity Exchange Program Rectum Return Policy'
"A Styrofoam cup full of responsibility."_
[Much later, on re-reading the lyrics, I must admit that I don't know where I plucked this idea from.] But also, on the cover, there's a picture of a headless Skeletor, and his empty shoulders look like an arse. Right?
JP: "Sure. If that's what you want it to be."
Bobby adopts a condescending voice: "That's exactly what it is."
Oh goodness.
Bobby: "I just thought it was two monsters battling. If it were George W Bush it would still be an ass. Sodomy is relevant though," he says, laughing. "It happens every day."
Better change the subject. The Locust's music is challenging, and lightning fast; by the time you've got your head around a song, it's finished. Hell, with titles like 'Captain Gaydar It's Time To Wind Your Clock Again', the album's finished by the time you're done reading the tracklist. It must be fucking tough to fill such short songs with so many ideas.
JP: "It's condensed. If you were to slow it down and play the parts 16 times like an average rock band or something, it would be more along the lines of typical songs. Chorus, verse, chorus."
Bobby: "Yeah, that doesn't really impress us." He laughs. "I guess yeah, we're cramming in as many ideas as possible without wasting any time. Again, it's a reflection of perhaps how our brains have to function in order to be able to do anything in the Western societies we live in."
It goes without saying that The Locust's music is entirely incongruous with that of Yeah Yeah Yeahs: it's not immediate; you can't really dance to it; it's simply not party music. But the band insists that it comes from the same place, the same mindset. Along the course of the tour, The Locust have been pelted with expensive beer by YYY fans, which amuses them no end. And yet tonight, playing in front of 2,000 fashionista Londoners, the band escapes unscathed. Yeah, there's some booing, but four lads dressed as locusts and battering out angry noise will always get that.
Actually, they go down rather well with at least half the crowd, me included. They confound opinion and defy explanation, but The Locust are a welcome plague.
Daniel Robson
'Plague Soundscapes' is out now on Anti. www.thelocust.com
