Justin Pearson wears many hats: musician, author, publicist, record label owner. He’s also the co-host of the podcast Cult & Culture. On November 21st, the album Cult And Culture – A Planet B Podcast Compilation, featuring songs from artists that have appeared on the podcast is being released. It also includes a 7″ single from Pearson and co-host Luke Henshaw’s band Planet B. Pearson fills us in on the podcast and album along with his numerous other creative endeavors.
Chad Bowar: How did the Cult and Culture podcast start?
Justin Pearson: I initially was taking a handheld recording device on tour with me and doing short, maybe ten minute interviews with some of my friends. They would air on local radio in San Diego, and then later on, end up on the Three One G Soundcloud profile. The last short version volume I did was with Luke Henshaw, who is in Planet B and Satanic Planet with me, and he suggested that we turn it into a proper podcast, which we did.
What topics do you cover?
My original idea for the short volumes was to ask questions that may not be what you’d get from your typical interview. I’d try to just ask one odd question and see how that panned out. When we started the full episodes, it was almost always with friends and family, so there was never a set list of questions or even topics I wanted to cover. We’d just riff on one thing and see where the conversation took us.
Who have been some of your most memorable guests?
Obviously some are more interesting than others, due to many reasons, but I loved having everyone on the podcast who we have had on so far. Some are very close friends, and some maybe are seen as legends. So having someone like Jose Palafox on is someone who I have been friends with since I was thirteen or fourteen years old. There is a ton of history with us. The having John Reis on, who recorded his episode close after the passing of Rick Froberg, which was obviously hard for him, but perhaps seemed therapeutic in some sense. Then there was Wattie Buchan, who I felt was pretty wild to have sat down with me to talk. And of course we try to mix things up with non musical, and not as obvious guests such as some of our favorite yoga instructors or comrades from the San Diego Black Panther Party.
Has your experience being interviewed as a musician and author impacted how you conduct interviews on the podcast?
Yes, and what a great question. I’m very much familiar with being asked questions or discussing topics that are not as engaging, not as informative, and maybe lack the depth that I would prefer. I do know how to steer a conversion when I’m being asked questions, in hopes to make it better than it may be turning out. So I decided to try to have guests that I am close to, very familiar with, and who I can sit with and converse with and not interview. Only one was a band suggested to be on the podcast and I’m so glad that we had them on, CumGirl8. It was awesome and now I love the band and the members so much. And more recently we did a series with filmmakers at the Oak Cliff Film Festival, which was fantastic, and I assume was not your typical conversation about film stuff.
Who’s on your wish list to be on the podcast?
Oh man, I could list a ton of people. Mostly, I wish I could have my friends who are not able to pass though San Diego in person, as that is the only way we do the podcast, which is us being in the same room. So there are so many people who come through and there is just no time to get them to go to Luke’s studio to spend an hour or so talking with us.
How did the idea of the compilation album come about, and what does it include?
One of our awesome sponsors of the podcast is Smashed Plastic, one of the best vinyl pressing plants in the U.S. They hit me up to sponsor it, and neither of us know what that would entail. So at some point, the idea of an album came about and we picked a handful of episodes who were musicians to use music by. The artists on it are The Exploited, The Locust, ADULT., Sonido de la Frontera, HIRS Collective, D-Styles, Doomsday Student, Jenny Piccolo, Satanic Planet, Year Future, Swing Kids, and also Martin Atkins, and a one-off recording I did with Mario Rubalcaba called COMA.
It also includes a 7″ of your and Luke’s band Planet B. How did you decide to cover “White Lines,” and how did you approach the arrangement?
Yeah, that was a weird last minute thing to the overall comp. I mentioned it to Smashed Plastic and they agreed to do a limited run of 100 7”s. Luke and I had been talking with Johnny Whitney of The Blood Brothers just after we had him on an episode, to have him record an album as part of Planet B, and that was the first thing we tackled, to see if it was going to work, and it certainly did! The b-side is a bizarre improv piece Luke and I did with our friend Oak Jackson, where Oak played a series of sound bowls, which had mics on them and ran through Earthquaker Devices pedals, as they are another sponsor of the podcast.
What was the response to Deaf Club’s recent album We Demand A Permanent State Of Happiness?
Well, for me, the response to anything is typically amplified by the negative. But I’m also extremely critical and mostly disappointed with things I’m part of after they are completed. And to be honest, I normally don’t care what others think, I just want to do better, as I clearly can. However, people seem to like it, but is that amount substantial? I have no idea. I’m still on EBT playing to very small crowds, so I’ll let the critics call it.
What other musical projects are you currently working on?
I’m working on new Planet B and Satanic Planet albums now. I’ve also been doing live stuff with Swing Kids, but that is very sparse, pretty limited, and not anything that will make new music.
What is your latest book GG Alien And The Mystery Meat about?
It’s about a job I had for close to ten years at a gay nightclub as a barback. It attempts to draw parallels between punk ethics and the gay community, and tries to highlight both the revolutionary elements as well as the nihilistic aspects of the life I was submerged in, and still sort of am.
Do you have plans to write another book?
Not at the moment. I’ve written four books so far, but I assume in due time I’ll come up with a plan to write another. I’m still learning how to write, just as I am still learning how to make music.
Three One G has been around for over 30 years. Hundreds of labels have come and gone during that time frame. How has Three One G managed to survive?
That is a wild thing to consider. The main reason that the label has survived is that I have managed to find ways to not rack up debt, and that happens to be mainly by myself and a couple friends remaining as unpaid interns. But overall, in general, the music industry has shat and continues to shit on artists. A great example on that statement is how there are roughly 120K new songs released per day, and all us musicians are pandering to companies like Spotify who pays $.0003 per stream and at the same time, donates to Military AI and has I.C.E recruitment ads on its platform. Being a musician in this world is a joke, and sucks. Sure, some artists make a living from it. But I have no idea how that feels.
What is the biggest challenge for a record label like yours in 2025?
How to tackle anxiety and depression is at the top of a fairly long list of challenges.
The promotion process has changed dramatically over the decades. Do you prefer the old school way that had a lot of mystique, or the current social media driven promotion with a lot of transparency and interaction?
Yes, of course. Discovering something which you were required to use other senses opposed to Googling everything all the time had depth to it. When you discovered something by taking a chance the “payoff” seemed to have way more value. Not that access to everything all the time doesn’t have its benefits, but the feeling I had as a younger person when I found something truly righteous may never be felt again in this world.
You’re now 50 years old. How would you compare and contrast your current political/social outlook and awareness to when you were in your 20s and 30s?
First off, being 50 seems fucked up in my brain. At every single point leading to this, I was certain there was no future, and certainly not one that had me functioning at 50. But my political and social outlook have always been in focus, ever since I was in my early teens. There have been changes and nuances introduced, partially with the grasp of knowledge, as well as living life experience, but also the world has changed drastically, which has made me find other ways to navigate life on this planet. I have more patience and understanding in some ways, but I also am fed up and sick of some of the bullshit that humans present in my lifetime. I often think of leaving, but something seems to keep me around.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Not that I’m aware of other than dogs. I love dogs so much. I think they make me better at being a living being, and they bring me joy where humans are incapable of doing so.
(interview published November 19, 2025)
