How to Lose Friends and Irritate People
By Justin Pearson
Published by Three One G and Bread and Roses Press, 2008
Praise for How to Lose Friends and Irritate People
"Justin Pearson is back with more tales from a life stranger than fiction. In this new work, Justin takes us along for a ride on his ill-fated Australian tour with the Bloody Beetroots in front of 15,000 sweaty/screaming bodies whose idea of anarchy comes more from American Apparel than Emma Goldman. In another story, after many hours of driving in a crowded van with a bunch of beer-drinking-beef jerky eating kids on the way to a video shoot that may or may not involve a live goat, we arrive to the location of the shoot: a remote forest somewhere in the state of Pennsylvania. JP tells each story like no one else could–mainly because no one else gets himself into quite the same kind of misadventures as he does." -Jose Palafox
"Justin Pearson occupies a unique niche within the world of underground music in America. As a member of polarizing bands such as The Locust and All Leather, he’s become synonymous with music which redefines the limits of technical prowess while blurring the lines between punk, noise, experimentalism and outright assault. As a lyricist and author, his aggressively contrary attitude and at times hilarious commentary on the scuzzy reality of do-it-yourself culture provide a glimpse into the mind of an artist whom, one could argue, has effectively used the underground to his advantage for close to 20 years. Which isn’t to say he’s an opportunist. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone contributing back to the culture from whence they came with the consistency and dedication Pearson exhibits year after year. Wearing his ideals on his sleeve, he is an icon within the punk scene – a cantankerous, shape-shifting, immaculately-groomed hybrid of old attitudes and new. With punk as his platform, Pearson has crisscrossed the globe endlessly, experiencing people and places from a vantage point few others could imagine. His writing sheds light on the mostly unglamorous reality of rock (anti-) stardom in the twenty-first century, free of the typical clichés of hotel rooms destroyed and groupies disrespected. Pearson’s life and art are case studies in DIY and few, if any, put their money where their proverbial mouths are with such aplomb" -Sonny Kay
"Thank God for Justin Pearson, he comes with an utter lack of nonsense. Always #realasfuck. Willing to diminish his hype to provide hope and in some kind of parry and thrust cerebral knife fight with the past, ethics, situations, himself and hope for the future so it can be celebrated, destroyed and reconstructed again" -Martin Atkins
