Justin Pearson has stayed in rapid motion since his early days fronting Swing Kids. He’s thrashed against the Locust’s swarming electronics with two other vocalists, produced throat-shredding hardcore in Deaf Club, and filled out the low end alongside Dave Lombardo (Slayer) and Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) in Dead Cross. Beyond joining a dizzying number of bands over the years, he founded the independent label Three One G — celebrating its 31th anniversary — authored books, and launched the Cult and Culture podcast.
But he’d have never started his career without seeing a Suicidal Tendencies show with future bandmate Jose Palafox when he was 14. Turns out his grandmother, Lucile Ramsey, drove him to and from that formative gig. Pearson decided to start his first band, Struggle, with Palafox that night, later mailing Ramsey their debut seven-inch (“which was completely offensive, and I should not have shared it with you,” Pearson laughs).
Read more: 15 contemporary mathcore bands bringing the genre into the future
In a new video directed and edited by Stephen Inman, Pearson plays songs from his various bands to his 95-year-old grandmother. Most of the time, she’s startled and horrified by the loudness, unable to follow Pearson’s chaotic vocals. “I can’t understand the next part. You have to enunciate,” she teases when he puts on a Swing Kids song. “That’s spooky,” she observes at another point, captivated by the droning organ that begins Crimson Curse’s “Psycho 75.”
Most endearingly, she’s steadfast in encouraging Pearson’s pursuit of music, even lending him $2,000 so he could go on tour in Europe with Swing Kids in 1995. “I remember when I went to Grand Ole Opry and saw Elvis Presley,” Ramsey reflects. “Nobody knew his style back then, either. Every generation has their own kind of music, and this is yours.”
Check out the video, premiering with AP, below.