Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends – Dark Passengers.
An 11 song record about depression and mental health. On Learning Curve Records.
You can stream the available tracks and pre-order at: https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/dark-passengers
Dark Passengers (LCR077-1)
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The Way of the Neutron + Japan Tour + May/June US.The Way of the Neutron + Japan Tour + May/June US.
Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends – “The Way of the Neutron” is a record with Conan Neutron/Tony Ash and Dale Crover Mini-anthems for overwhelming and far too interesting times, defiant fight songs for those counted out or not counted at all. Still here. Still operating. – First song/pre-order and Japan.
http://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com
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The Way of the Neutron – Mini-anthems for overwhelming and far too interesting times, defiant fight songs for those counted out or not counted at all. Still here. Still operating.
Spangle, and sass, small scale arena rock for smart alecks and malcontents. Big riffs, critical thinking, and big smart rock for freaks, nerds and weirdos. The latest work of the mighty Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends, Way of the Neutron (2025) is a mission statement of the most compelling order. Blending heavy riffs, huge hooks and harmony with relentless abandon. Telling the story of an ethos, a life of uncompromising music and the perseverance of the creative good fight in spite of overwhelming content and stimuli. It is not only the bands most accessible record, it stands alone as a case study for endurance. The very characteristic attitude is a part of Conan Neutron’s DNA. Talking about the first single off the upcoming long-play, Neutron states:
“Who Dares? Is a mission statement song. Most attributable to something a super villain would scream as a hero enters the room, this is a song about not just surviving but thriving often against insurmountable odds. One challenge at a time, one step at a time, one punch at time, one round at a time. Featuring a simple guitar hook and a relentless menacing main riff, it is a motivational soundtrack to dogged persistence. Who Dares? I’m the one who dares.”
The previous record is a split LP with the incredible LUNG called: Adult Prom on Learning Curve Records in 2023, This follows up 2022’s Dangerous Nomenclature. A three song concept ep and 2020’s Dark Passengers: their last dedicated full length release and 3rd full length album. After a relentless and creative 10 year run so far, with love from college radio, press and crowds alike. Neutron Friends show no sign of slowing down at all. Some people may be more familiar with the podcast, Conan Neutron’s Protonic Reversal , or the 4 Day Caterwaul music festival in Minneapolis but make no mistake about it. Neutron is a born rocker and very good at what he does and the Secret Friends in all iterations are a world class rock band. Available now to pre-order, and to stream in full in bandcamp by March 20th. You can now find your way… to the Way of the Neutron.
Conan Neutron is a guy, Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends is a band. It is a band with a revolving cast of live players. It is a band whose recordings featuring Dale Crover of the mighty Melvins on drums, Tony Ash of Coliseum on bass and the production skills of the iconoclastic and enigmatic Toshi Kasai. The Secret Friends bring forth a wiry and adventurous rock ‘n roll that is equal parts Cheap Trick, fugazi, Queens of the Stone Age, the Cars, and DEVO with perhaps Mean Streets era Van Halen mixed in. Big rock, big riffs, heavy, hooky, a little strange. You get it. This is big rock music that has all the bombast and energy of the classic arena rock bands, but with punk rock attitude.
With a bench deeper than a baseball team Conan Neutron, a rock ‘n roll lifer has spent the last 25 years making records and touring making uncompromising, sometimes challenging and daring rock music to anybody that is interested.UPCOMING TOUR-DATES:
March 7th – San Clemente, CA – No Joke Gallery
March 8th – Los Angeles, CA – Redwood Bar
March 27th – Chicago, IL – Liar’s Club – w/Mr Phylzzz, Ghost Forest
March 28th – Madison, WI – Mickey’s – w/Mr Phylzzz
March 29th – Kenosha, WI – White Lilac – w/Mr Phylzzz, Dogsblood
March 30th – WILD ANTICS – X-Ray Arcade, Milwaukee, WI (w/Mr Phylzzz, Resurrectionists, Vile Bees, Chi Chi’s Restaurant, Powerwagon, Moon Rebels, Salvation, Primitive Broadcast Service)
Japanese leg:
April 1 – Nakano City, Tokyo – Moon Step
April 2 – Shibuya, Tokyo – Cyclone
April 3 – Shibuya, Tokyo – Ruby Room
April 4 – Hachioji-shi, Tokyo – Hachioji RIPS
April 5 – Fukuyama City, Hiroshima – 5 Cent
April 6 – Nanamacho, Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City – Shizuoka live house Sogen
April 8 – Amagasaki, Hyogo – Tora
April 9 – Osaka – Hokage
April 10 – Tokushima City, Ginza – Crowbar
April 11 – Shibuya, Tokyo, Nishihara – Club Heavy Sick
April 12 – Kawasaki, Tokyo – Live House YYYs
May 15 – Washington DC – Quarry House w/Club USA
May 16 – Boston, MA- O’Briens w/Bedtimemagic, the Freqs, Sapling
May 17 – Providence, RI – Fete Lounge w/Hammer Party, Ash and Bone
May 18 – New York, NY – Gutter Bar w/EAT, Matte Black
May 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Thunderbird Hall
May 20 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl w/Fashion Week, Wendy’s Ash
May 21 – Detroit, MI – Lager House w/Warhorses, Lung
May 22 – Chicago, IL – Liar’s Club w/ Lung, Naw, Salvation
May 25 – Minneapolis, MN – Caterwaul, 331 Club
May 27 – Sioux City, IA – Whiskey Dick’s w/Elephant Rifle, It Really Is
May 28 – Rapid City, SD – The Diamond E Collective w/Elephant Rifle, Local Cryptics, Whitfield Rennin
May 29 – Casper, WY – Oil City Beer Company w/Elephant Rifle
May 30 – Missoula, MT – VFW Hall w/Elephant Rifle
May 31 – Boise, ID – Neurolux w/Elephant Rifle
June 1 – Reno, NV – Corrigan’s Lost Highway w/Elephant Rifle
June 2 – Bend, OR – The Capitol w/Kronk Men, Non Ether, Vacancy Floor
June 3 – Seattle, WA – Woodland Theater w/Negative Passengers, Elegant Pleasures
June 4 – Portland, OR – Swan Dive w/Gaythiest, Club Deluxe
June 5 – Oakland, CA – Stork Club w/HLLLYH, the Freak Accident
June 6 – Palmdale, CA – Transplants Brewing Company w/Cosmic Kitten, Astral Jets, Knopf
June 7 – San Diego, CA – Til Two Club w/Cosmic Kitten, Holy Tears
June 8 – Los Angeles, CA – Slipper Clutch w/Cosmic Kitten, Tragic Radicals
All photos for Way of the Neutron by Ed Hunsinger
PROMO MATERIALS:
CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – WAY OF NEUTRON – DOWNLOADABLE HQ COVER
CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – WAY OF NEUTRON – DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO
CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – WAY OF NEUTRON – DOWNLOADABLE PRESS-SHOTS
PUBLICITY:
Dan Volohov – NA, Japan
dan@disciplinepr.com
Matt Sorokin – UK, Europe
contact@disciplinepr.com
Conan Neutron on the Crash Bang Boom Podcast
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Youtube
Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, Podcast Host, and more-Conan Neutron stops by to talk his new record; Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends: “The Way of the Neutron”, the process of working with Dale Crover of the Melvins on drums for all the records thus far, demoing -vs- going into the studio, working with Australian band DEAD, some his favorite guitarists, some of Conan’s previous guests that Jody’s fascinated with: Guy Picciotto of Fugazi (and a couple of good Fugazi stories), Trey Spruance of Mr Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3, and Ralph Spight of Victims Family- plus much more! Link for pre-order of “Way of the Neutron”:https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-of-the-neutronhttps://www.neutronfriends.com/ – Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends – Rock Band:
NEUTRON FRIENDS GO JAPAN!
April 1 – Nakano City, Tokyo – Moon Step
April 2 – Shibuya, Tokyo – Cyclone
April 3 – Shibuya, Tokyo – Ruby Room
April 4 – Hachioji-shi, Tokyo – Hachioji RIPS
April 5 – Fukuyama City, Hiroshima – 5 Cent
April 6 – Nanamacho, Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City – Shizuoka live house Sogen
April 8 – Amagasaki, Hyogo – Tora
April 9 – Osaka – Hokage
April 10 – Tokushima City, Ginza – Crowbar
April 11 – Shibuya, Tokyo, Nishihara – Club Heavy Sick
April 12 – Kawasaki, Tokyo – Live House YYYs
SW014 – the Art of MurderSW014 – the Art of Murder
artwork by Rick Froberg.
This record was written and mostly arranged leisurely between November 7th, 2014 and March 7th 2015 by Conan Neutron. Tracks were given final arrangements and recorded at Sound of Sirens studio in Sun Valley, CA between May14th-18th, 2015 by Toshi Kasai. Mixing was done at Sound of Sirens between June 12th- July 28th. 2015 by Toshi Kasai.
Mastering was done at Chicago Mastering Company by Bob Weston: September 2015
Art and layout by Rick Froberg
This record was directly inspired by the Hannibal Lecter series of books by Thomas Harris. Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal and the fascinating interpersonal dynamics between the characters within. As well as some of the other associated material around the characters of said stories. Certain phrases are cited in the lyrical content and are done so with the utmost respect and admiration.
Thanks to Lindsey Neutron, Stephanie Vogt, Jordan Sobolew, Michael Marchant, Erica Strout, Lindsey Charles, Kevin Burkett and the Electrical Guitar Company and to all of the rest of the Friends of the Neutron out there. Secret, explicit or otherwise.
SW014 – Seismic Wave Entertainment. 2016
All songs © Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 3.0 unported (CC BY-NC-SA3.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
credits
released May 1, 2016
Engineering/Production: Toshi Kasai
Vocals/Guitar: Conan Neutron
Bass: Tony Ash
Drums: Dale Crover
Additional Synth/Organ and Strings: Conan Neutron
Additional Vocals on Avid Fan and Chair of Antlers: Buzz Osborne
Additional Vocals on Eat the Rude and Chair of Antlers: Tony Ash
Additional Harmony Vocals on Quid Pro Quo and The Doctor Will See You Now: Dana Poblete
Additional Percussion and Vocals: Toshi Kasai
Additional Percussion: Dale Crover
LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – Adult PromLUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS – Adult Prom
LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS: cello-grunge powerhouse joins forces with Melvins-affiliated rockers on electrifying new split LP; West Coast tour announced
Learning Curve Records announces the October 6th release of Adult Prom, the new split LP by Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends.
Pre-order the album, here:
https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom
Stream new Lung track, “Fucked Up Darling,” here:
https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom
Stream new Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends track, “Wild Antics,” here:
https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom
Adult Prom is an example of the magic that can happen when an unlikely pair of bands, bonded more by spirit than by sound, choose to join forces and make a thing together. Like a mouthful of sugar and salt, the contrast between the two reveals the power of each.
Where Lung brings sheer intensity, executed with dark, neoclassical flair, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends revel in an exuberant, noisy reimagining of classic rock. Despite the divergent energies, these bands are united by friendship and mutual respect and they give themselves, one hundred percent, to this project. On Adult Prom, not only do the two share space on a slab of vinyl; each also covers one song by the other, reinterpreting it in its own singular style, and members lend their talents to other tracks as guest vocalists and musicians.
Explaining how the collab came to be, Conan Neutron states, simply: “We are fans of each other’s music and enjoy each other’s company and it just seemed like a cool thing to do.”
From Cincinnati, Ohio, Lung consists of Kate Wakefield, a classically trained opera singer and cellist, and drummer Daisy Caplan, formerly of Foxy Shazam. Fierce, ethereal, and heavy as hell, Lung rocks with the intensity of early grunge, layered with sinister undertones. “Tony Iommi teaching a Nirvana class at Juilliard,” reads one review from Cincinnati paper CityBeat.
“PJ Harvey is absolutely brilliant,” states Wakefield. “I also am a huge fan of Tori Amos, Hole, Cibo Matto. I also love dramatic classical composers like Prokofiev, Sibelius and Barber – who are all pretty metal, in a way. Daisy has also introduced me to tons of bands that have influenced our style since we started playing, like Minutemen, Smart Went Crazy, and Death From Above. Our sound is intentionally genre-bending, but the consistent thread is that everything we do has an intensity to it. We mean every word and every note we play, and people can feel that.”
People can feel that, indeed, as Wakefield runs her cello through distortion pedals and big amps, and Caplan pounds out earthquaking beats on cartoonishly bell-shaped, vintage North drums. A relentless touring machine, the duo has played over 700 shows across North America and Europe, on bills with Brainiac, Screaming Females, Fucked Up, and so many more.
With roots in Oakland, California, transplanted to Milwaukee, Conan Neutron is a wildly prolific musician, podcaster, and impresario. As a co-founder and curator of Caterwaul Festival, and as the founder and host of the Protonic Reversal podcast, Neutron is a self-built pillar of what he has termed “independent-minded, iconoclastic, noisy music.” With Caterwaul, he has helped create an annual fest that has quickly become a major new axis for this “noisy music” scene, putting the likes of Flipper and Chat Pile on one stage and serving to strengthen a community of diverse, yet connected, bands and fans. With Protonic Reversal, he has chatted for hours with an absolutely legendary list of artists – members of The Stooges, Devo, The Birthday Party, Black Flag, and Fugazi, to name but a few – amassing a huge library of conversations that exists as a resource for the world to enjoy.
As a band leader, Neutron wields the same creative fire and the same knack for putting exceptional people under one roof. His rhythm section, The Secret Friends, consists of none other than Melvins drum-slayer Dale Crover and bassist Tony Ash, formerly of Coliseum. (When Neutron takes the show on the road, he and Ash are joined by a revolving cast of live players – “a bench deeper than a baseball team,” in Neutron’s words.)
Contrary to what one might expect from these guys, the sound hits like a burlier version of power pop – more Cheap Trick than AmRep. Honed over four full-length albums and shows with Big Business, Torche, and more, the songwriting and execution are world-class. Crover’s iconic drumming lays the foundation for rich tones, sweet hooks, and Neutron’s croon.
Given the underground cred of Neutron and his gang, their choice to rock unabashedly might come across like a subversive act. Neutron puts it like this: “What we do is BIG WEIRD ROCK MUSIC. I have to throw the WEIRD in, because when people think of rock music they tend to think of slavish imitators of bygone eras or a specific kind of very safe consonant guitar music for middle managers and wraparound shade dads.”
One press release from the recent past calls it: “small scale arena rock for smart alecks and malcontents.”
Lung’s tracks on Adult Prom were recorded and mixed by John Hoffman at The Lodge in Dayton, KY; Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends’ trackswere engineered and mixed by Toshi Kasai. The album was mastered by Shellac’s Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.
Adult Prom’s album artwork, created by Aaron Cross, comprises paintings of the two bands’ vans – two 2006 Ford Econolines, coincidentally. On October 6th, the day of the LP’s release, Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends will get in said vans and kick off a West Coast tour together. (See those dates, along with Lung’s other upcoming touring, below.)
Adult Prom tracklist:
1) Lung – Fucked Up Darling
2) Lung – Kingpin
3) Lung – Cash Machine (Two Ton Boa cover)
4) Lung – The Impossible Task (Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends cover)
5) Lung – Pastor
6) Lung – Anyone Else (feat. Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends)
7) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Wild Antics
8) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Crybullies
9) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Fridging (feat. Kate Wakefield of Lung)
10) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – I’m Nervous (Lung cover)
11) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – Criminal Hypnosis
12) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends – We Were Wolves
Lung w/ Screaming Females:
Aug 16 – Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St
Aug 17 – Cincinnati, OH @ Legends
Aug 18 – Chattanooga, TN @ Songbirds
Aug 19 – Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Aug 20 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Lung:
Sep 1 – Michigan City, IN @ Oktoberfest
Sep 2 – Indianapolis, IN @ Romanus Fest
Sep 7 – Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
Sep 8 – Athens, GA @ Flicker Theatre
Lung w/ Djunah:
Sep 9 – Savannah, GA @ It Takes Two fest
Sep 10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Sep 11 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
Lung w/ Thelma and the Sleaze:
Sep 19 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
Sep 20 – Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger
Sep 21 – Athens, OH @ Union
Sep 22 – Cincinnati OH @ Fountain Square
Sep 23 – Lafayette, IN @ North End Pub
Sep 24 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Lung:
Sep 26 – St. Louis, MO @ CBGB
Sep 28 – Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Sep 29 – Austin, TX @ The Electric Church
Sep 30 – San Angelo, TX @ The Deadhorse
Oct 1 – El Paso TX @ Mona
Oct 2 – Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry
Lung w/ Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends:
Oct 6 – Tempe, AZ @ Time Out Lounge
Oct 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Redwood Bar and Grill
Oct 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Oct 9 – Sacramento, CA @ Old Ironsides
Oct 10 – Reno, NV @ The Loving Cup
Oct 11 – Eugene, OR @ Sam Bond’s Garage
Oct 12 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark
Oct 13 – Bellingham, WA @ Make Shift Art Space
Oct 14 – Seattle, WA @ Southgate Roller Rink
Lung:
Oct 20 – Logansport, IN @ The Record Farm
Oct 21 – Dayton, OH @ Dayton Music Fest
Photo of Lung, by Rachelle Caplan
Photo of Conan Neutron, by Abbey Garside