Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
50: An important milestone for the podcast, and this episode of Cult and Culture is with an equally as important guest: Sam McPheeters of bands Born Against, Men's Recovery Project, Wrangler Brutes, as well as writer, illustrator, designer, and former record label owner of Vermiform. Here, Sam talks about how making people happy with his stage antics means he's failed, recounts hiding in an attic for two days from Nazi skinheads, and discusses how being in the bands he has continues to open doors to journalistic opportunities today. With a mixture of wit and humility, he and Justin recount their individual experiences as they toured together opening for Dillinger Escape Plan decades ago, as well as other overlapping memories (mostly true, but not without a few rumors mixed in).
The concept of Cult and Culture began as a short segment created by Justin Pearson, an internationally known musician, record label owner (Three One G Records), author, and actor. He is perhaps best known as bassist for bands such as Dead Cross, The Locust, and Some Girls as well as vocalist for Deaf Club, Swing Kids, and Planet B. Having traveled the world touring in hardcore and punk bands since age 15, Justin has come to know and work with a broad spectrum of captivating personalities and brilliant minds, many of which are key figures in the realm of popular culture and cult followings alike-- from being on the soundtrack to John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented, to acting in an Asia Argento’s Incompresa, to playing in Dead Cross with Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo. Cult and Culture arose as an opportunity to document bits and pieces of the DIY-driven, subversive world of art Pearson identifies with- one that many are not aware of or perhaps have misconceptions about.
Eventually, Pearson joined up with producer and bandmate Luke Henshaw (Sonido De La Frontera, Planet B, Satanic Planet, First Power Crew) to build the idea into a proper podcast, now recorded at his own PengOne Studios in San Diego. Henshaw has collaborated with hip hop legends such as Invisible Skratch Piklz’ D-Styles and Q-Bert, Kool Keith, in addition to being immersed in the world of Cumbia alongside Sonido De La Frontera bandmate Karlos Paez (B Side Players). He also recently scored the music for upcoming documentary Sk8face, which tells the history of skateboard graphics. In this way, both Justin and Luke are influenced by a diverse array of subcultures that all have connected roots. John Waters was one of the first people interviewed for the podcast- an icon of both cult and culture. Since then, guests have included a broad scope of musicians, producers, authors, and anyone passionate about what they do-- anyone from Grammy-winning musician Juan Alderete (Mars Volta, Racer X, creator of Pedals And Effects) to actor Michael Malarkey (Vampire Diaries, Project Bluebook), from San Diego Black Panther Party members to longtime partners Nicola and Adam in electro-punk band ADULT. or The Satanic Temple cofounder Lucien Greaves (who would go on to form Satanic Planet with Luke and Justin as a direct result of their podcast conversation). The focus is not intended to be solely on people in any one realm, and because guests are friends and family, the conversations are frank, informal yet well-informed, and genuine. Pearson and Henshaw seek to achieve a casual openness, blurring lines between traditional guest and host. Cult and Culture is part of Ruinous Media.
Purchase the Cult and Culture Podcast compilation LP (featuring The Locust, ADULT., The Exploited, HIRS Collective, Swing Kids, and more!) either on vinyl or digitally here: threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/v-a-cult-and-culture-a-planet-b-podcast-compilation-lp
Catch up on all episodes of Cult and Culture podcast, via iTunes, or through Three One G’s Soundcloud.
soundcloud.com/threeoneg/sets/cult-and-culture-podcast
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cult-and-culture/id1232084207
Podcast video editing by Displaced/Replaced.
50: An important milestone for the podcast, and this episode of Cult and Culture is with an equally as important guest: Sam McPheeters of bands Born Against, Men's Recovery Project, Wrangler Brutes, as well as writer, illustrator, designer, and former record label owner of Vermiform. Here, Sam talks about how making people happy with his stage antics means he's failed, recounts hiding in an attic for two days from Nazi skinheads, and discusses how being in the bands he has continues to open doors to journalistic opportunities today. With a mixture of wit and humility, he and Justin recount their individual experiences as they toured together opening for Dillinger Escape Plan decades ago, as well as other overlapping memories (mostly true, but not without a few rumors mixed in).
The concept of Cult and Culture began as a short segment created by Justin Pearson, an internationally known musician, record label owner (Three One G Records), author, and actor. He is perhaps best known as bassist for bands such as Dead Cross, The Locust, and Some Girls as well as vocalist for Deaf Club, Swing Kids, and Planet B. Having traveled the world touring in hardcore and punk bands since age 15, Justin has come to know and work with a broad spectrum of captivating personalities and brilliant minds, many of which are key figures in the realm of popular culture and cult followings alike-- from being on the soundtrack to John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented, to acting in an Asia Argento’s Incompresa, to playing in Dead Cross with Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo. Cult and Culture arose as an opportunity to document bits and pieces of the DIY-driven, subversive world of art Pearson identifies with- one that many are not aware of or perhaps have misconceptions about.
Eventually, Pearson joined up with producer and bandmate Luke Henshaw (Sonido De La Frontera, Planet B, Satanic Planet, First Power Crew) to build the idea into a proper podcast, now recorded at his own PengOne Studios in San Diego. Henshaw has collaborated with hip hop legends such as Invisible Skratch Piklz’ D-Styles and Q-Bert, Kool Keith, in addition to being immersed in the world of Cumbia alongside Sonido De La Frontera bandmate Karlos Paez (B Side Players). He also recently scored the music for upcoming documentary Sk8face, which tells the history of skateboard graphics. In this way, both Justin and Luke are influenced by a diverse array of subcultures that all have connected roots. John Waters was one of the first people interviewed for the podcast- an icon of both cult and culture. Since then, guests have included a broad scope of musicians, producers, authors, and anyone passionate about what they do-- anyone from Grammy-winning musician Juan Alderete (Mars Volta, Racer X, creator of Pedals And Effects) to actor Michael Malarkey (Vampire Diaries, Project Bluebook), from San Diego Black Panther Party members to longtime partners Nicola and Adam in electro-punk band ADULT. or The Satanic Temple cofounder Lucien Greaves (who would go on to form Satanic Planet with Luke and Justin as a direct result of their podcast conversation). The focus is not intended to be solely on people in any one realm, and because guests are friends and family, the conversations are frank, informal yet well-informed, and genuine. Pearson and Henshaw seek to achieve a casual openness, blurring lines between traditional guest and host. Cult and Culture is part of Ruinous Media.
Purchase the Cult and Culture Podcast compilation LP (featuring The Locust, ADULT., The Exploited, HIRS Collective, Swing Kids, and more!) either on vinyl or digitally here: threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/v-a-cult-and-culture-a-planet-b-podcast-compilation-lp
Catch up on all episodes of Cult and Culture podcast, via iTunes, or through Three One G’s Soundcloud.
soundcloud.com/threeoneg/sets/cult-and-culture-podcast
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cult-and-culture/id1232084207
Podcast video editing by Displaced/Replaced.
![Microwaves Regular Magic [Official music video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/97YXwenDRSg/mqdefault.jpg "Microwaves Regular Magic [Official music video]
Microwaves Regular Magic from the album Discomfiture Atlas
Purchase here: https://threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/discomfiture-atlas-lp
Video by Lori Felker
Guitar / Vocals: David Kuzy
Bass / Vocals: Adam MacGregor
Drums: John Roman
Of innumerable bands that traffic in dissonance, the musick of Pittsburgh, PA’s Microwaves shears clean and hot as an oxy-lance through the defenses of even the most cynical noise rock aficionado. In this iteration of the band, which has been in existence now for 20 years, core members John Roman (drums, vocals) and David Kuzy (guitar, vocals) round themselves out with 2006 alum bassist/vocalist Adam MacGregor on one side (“Pyroclast”), and founding bassist/vocalist Steve Moore (Film composer and member of Zombi, Lovelock, Miracle, and more) on the other (“Plasma”). Over the years, Microwaves continues to pick up the loose ends left by Voivod, MX-80, Snakefinger, and some of their own Pittsburgh-area “math-rock” contemporaries, twisting them into a Gordian knot that at once rages and confounds.
Microwaves’ newest LP, Discomfiture Atlas, features guest appearances by Eric Paul (Arab on Radar, Doomsday Student, Psychic Graveyard), Sarah Quintero (Spotlights), Rebecca Burchette (Exosus), and Todd Rittman (Dead Rider). Discomfiture Atlas will be available through Three One G Records on limited edition of 200 color vinyl, 300 black vinyl, and 50 cassettes, as well as digitally.
Who among us doesn’t long for a “do-over” of our wreck of recent history? Maybe it’s that attitude that accounts for the ascendancy of multiverses, parallel dimensions, the “Berenstain/Berenstein” debate, etc., in public imagination. Whatever the reason, contemplating other planes of existence is no longer exclusive to the hard sci-fi wonk set. Apropos of all the above, Microwaves manifests their own twin realities over the two sides of Discomfiture Atlas, its second album on San Diego’s vaunted Three One G records. Though distinct, both sides of the album, “Pyrocast” and “Plasma,” salt the band’s terse alloy of thrash metal, no-wave, brutal prog, noise-rock, and math rock with a hint of pop brevity, if not the melody to match.
Even at a curmudgeonly 20 years of age, (both versions of) Microwaves lean into the new material with the desperate enthusiasm of a 50-something peeling out in a midlife-crisis Corvette. Roman delivers his usual cyborg clatter, careening through odd meters and deconstructing rock drumming according to plans laid out by Beefheart and Devo. MacGregor complements with tortuous lines that invoke eastern melodic ideas at times, though they seethe with distortion and gurgle queasily through analog filtering. His vocal palette has widened to include an unhinged/unschooled falsetto and a Teutonic metal shriek, used to great effect on “Hammerspace” alongside Kuzy’s wavering, town-crier bark. Kuzy executes his trademark spindly atonalities with a draftsman’s precision, alternately ratcheting through all of the first-wave thrash-metal riffs he probably ever wanted to hear. Moore’s performances on side “Plasma” present a tighter and more reeled-in quality, focused on timbre and monolithic repetition over the flash of the past. In an all-time first for Microwaves, the standout “Your Dumb Guts” finds Moore serving up a vocal melody with stunning earworm potential.")
![SQUID PISSER My Tadpole Legion feat. Yako of Melt Banana [Official music video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9yDwZ1d6GGI/mqdefault.jpg "SQUID PISSER My Tadpole Legion feat. Yako of Melt Banana [Official music video]
SQUID PISSER My Tadpole Legion from the My Tadpole Legion LP Available here: https://threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/my-tadpole-legion
Directed and Animated by: Juicy Jaden of THE FLESH FILES
Editing and VFX by: Tommy Meehan
Squid Footage Filmed by : Mike Manasewitsch of www.blockbustervideo.org
SQUID PISSER eviscerates the ego and and all things serene with their own vibrant form of vicious and mucky hardcore. Slamming down dolphin corpses at breakneck speeds, the duo, which is comprised of Tommy Meehan on guitar (Deaf Club, Cancer Christ, Sweatband Records, Cartoon Network) and Seth Carolina (Starcrawler), have constructed a fresh and mucousy new alien craft powered by tightly controlled noise-guitar, savage primal drum work, and gooped up vocal deliveries that might sound like a gaggle of frogs thrown into a garbage disposal (although the Squid boys wouldnt recommend doing this).
Conceptualized and formed in 2022, the band decided to fully utilize planet Earths viral slumber in order to gestate, write, and record 2 full length albums worth of material. Throughout the year, SQUID PISSER played a handful of shows in California and Nevada as a 2 piece as they continued the quest for further personnel and collaborators. Tommy Meehans tightly controlled noise-onslaught of rainbow vomit (spat out of a guitar amp via manic pedalboard wizardry and sophisticated finger work) paired with the utterly brutal, breakneck, and savage drumming of Seth Carolina, merge to create a collection of tracks that have been forged in a totally fucked and sonically chaotic storm of pus and goo.
Their debut release, MY TADPOLE LEGION, is a mutated smorgasbord of songs and guest vocalists from projects like: MELT BANANA, NEKROGOBLIKON, CANCER CHRIST, PUNCH, THE LOCUST, WACKO, and more. Also featured prominently is John Clardy of TERA MELOS on drums for 3 of the songs.
My Tadpole Legion was mixed by Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE, GODCITY STUDIOS) and mastered by Alan Douches (West West Side Music).")
![Venamoris So Good [Official music video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AvLjX3tcxWY/mqdefault.jpg "Venamoris So Good [Official music video]
Venamoris So Good from the album Drown in Emotion LP
Available from Three One G: https://threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/drown-in-emotion
Video by Dennis Bersales: https://www.instagram.com/ashotfortheroad/
Venamoris was founded in 2021 by what can only be called astral influence. Married couple Paula and Dave (Slayer, Fantômas, Testament, Mr. Bungle, Misfits, Dead Cross) Lombardo formed Venamoris as a result of some persistent persuasion on the latter’s part. Dave, who is in charge of drums and production on the record, explains: “Several months after meeting Paula in 2010, she hesitantly shared with me her past decade-long career as the lead back up singer for Wayne Newton. She later played me some of the demos she recorded throughout the years and I was floored by her sonically soothing, rich tone and natural, instinctive ability to harmonize. I was determined to persuade her to return to her creative self. It’s been a deeply gratifying journey witnessing this music come to life.”
Canadian born singer/songwriter Paula Lombardo, who performs vocals and piano for this project, bursts with vulnerability and intimacy, addressing a broad scope of emotion: anger, healing, pain, hope. It’s evident that Venamoris was founded out of love, passion, communication, respect, and trust. One person thriving in music encouraged the other, who had abandoned music to find their way back. It is the result of many late nights with too much wine, and even more truth laid bare: an aural couples journaling generously shared with the world.
Drown In Emotion was recorded and produced at Ritmo Studio by Dave Lombardo. Drum Overdubs recorded at Studio 606. Mixed at Ritmo Studio by David A. Lombardo. Mastered by John Golden at Golden Mastering. Features guest appearances from Tyler Bates (Jerry Cantrell, Manson), Ra Diaz (Korn, Suicidal Tendencies), Jack Gibson (Exodus), George Pajon (Black Eyed Peas, Cairo Knife Fight), and Tim Stewart (Lady GaGa, Damnage).")
