The Justin Pearson (of The Locust, Deaf Club, Dead Cross, Some Girls, Retox, Swing Kids, Planet B, and more) documentary Don’t Fall in Love with Yourself is out today and can be rented or purchased on Vimeo or VHX. It’s also out on Blu-ray. To coincide with the release, we’ve got a Q&A with director Jon Nix, and you can read on for our chat.
The film’s synopsis reads:
Don’t Fall in Love With Yourself is a documentary that explores the life of enigmatic musician and artist, Justin Pearson. From childhood tragedy and his roots in the San Diego punk scene, to his appearance on Jerry Springer and rise to cult celebrity status. An in-depth look at a career made out of blood, sweat and spit.
Much of the B-roll has been sourced from dozens of VHS & Mini-DV tapes recorded over the past three decades. Controversial and never-before-seen footage of one of the most interesting and unique musical movements is recent memory.
The film’s interviews include Justin Pearson, Dave Lombardo, Eric Paul, Gabe Serbian, Bobby Bray, Travis Ryan, Jeremy Bolm, Jon Syverson, Molly Neuman & Becky DiGiglio and more.
And here’s our chat with Jon…
Can you give us a little background on the film, and tell us what you most hoped to get across with it?
I’ve been fascinated by Three One G since high school and the San Diego scene in general. Every so often there are regional explosions that seem to come out of nowhere. Whether you’re talking Omaha when Saddle Creek first blew up, or New York after 9/11. Those explosions are always interesting and always seem to point to something much bigger. They’re also usually gone overnight and I think capturing as much of a record of them as you can is important. That’s where real culture happens. In these spaces where people are giving each other comfort or a voice without a whole lot of concern for what the broader culture might be doing at the time. It’s becoming more rare with the internet constantly giving a global view to everything. But it’s still out there. I’m always looking for films or books about niche cultural moments or insular communities. For years I waited for someone to come out with a documentary about this thing I love. And half-dreading it, if I’m being honest, because I wanted to make it. And I finally hit a moment where it felt right to pull the trigger on trying to make it happen. I figured if no one else was going to do it, I might as well.
What was it about Justin’s story that made you want to do a documentary?
I think characters like Justin are becoming more and more rare. So much of social media is built around portraying yourself in as accessible a way as possible. Everyone has to be their own PR team. Everyone feels like they’re constantly in a job interview to me, where you’re only portraying the positive and comfortable parts of yourself. And audiences are lazier than ever because they have so much at their fingertips. They don’t have to go digging for anything. There isn’t really a system in place that allows for the mysterious or esoteric anymore.
Justin, for me, occupies the same sort of space as GG Allin or Harmony Korine. These oddities that seem to have this otherworldly sort-of gut level understanding of what is provocative and mesmerizing. He has so much lore about him. The Jerry Springer appearance. The chaos of shows he played. It just seems obvious to me that it’s great material for a doc.
How did you go about choosing the people you interviewed for the film, especially the people that are maybe “less obvious” than, say, Justin’s bandmates?
This whole film was very DIY. A lot of the choices we made were out of necessity. We obviously benefited from Justin being able to put us in contact with a lot of people but everyone is pretty spread out at this point. So outside of going to San Diego or LA and knocking out a handful, it was a waiting and logistics game for some of them. Do we have the days to take off work to drive 3 hours to catch this person before a show nearby and drive back the same night? For a documentary like this you have to be an opportunist and grab what you can when it presents itself. There are some interviews that I would have loved to get that just weren’t in the cards, or the people weren’t interested, or COVID got in the way. The interview list could have been even more varied. But I think that’s to be expected with someone like Justin. He’s a real artist’s artist and a wide variety of people take notice.
What’s a moment in the film, or from the film-making process, that you’re particularly proud of?
Getting to know and becoming friends with Gabe Serbian [who passed away in 2022]. He was and still is my favorite drummer. Being trapped in rural Ohio as a teenager, his drum work really symbolized something to me. It really expressed that there aren’t rules and that you can do whatever you want as long as it’s true. And there are other ways to live your life outside of what is expected. So to have a guy like that treat me so warmly and be so supportive of all of my art was mind blowing. He was so kind and I really cherish the conversations I got to have with him.
What’s something in the film that you think will really surprise people?
I think a lot of people will be surprised by how kind Justin actually is. There’s a very clear delineation between stage persona and what he’s actually like to deal with as a person. I think a lot of people only know the snotty/bratty stage side of him. And there’s a lot more underneath that.