As not-punk as the term sounds, Justin Pearson has an extensive curriculum vitae. He's probably best known for his work in The Locust, the grindcore/noise rock group that had a tendency to attract those seeking the strange and elicit cries of "that's not real music" from squares during a good part of the previous decade.

He was also involved in '90s hardcore bands in San Diego such as Swing Kids and Struggle, both of which have a kind of cult status among record collector and punk historian types. On top of this, he has appeared in a ton of other musical projects such as Some Girls, Holy Molar, and All Leather to only name a few. His current band, Retox, plays the kind of short and abrasive music he seems to gravitate toward, but with more of hardcore punk focus with weird guitar parts, a sound jokingly described by the band in a recent documentary as "surfer caveman." I talked with Pearson about Retox and how it ties into the rest of his C.V.

Up on the Sun: How's the tour going right now? Pearson: It's good. It's not too bad, I guess. We had some problems with the label getting our record out on time, so we're touring before the record actually is officially released, which is kind of a bust, but it is what it is, so we make the best of it.