Protons and Electrons: Atom 7 – Armies of the Mind / The God Eaters – Cluster Fuck Shit Show Atom 7 is now available to stream online and for advance purchase.
The God Eaters! The pride of Marquette, Michigan, hidden away in the upper peninsula. A powerful nervy band that aggressively follows their own compass and puts forth a righteous and uncompromising noise. Drummer Nick has filled in for neutronfriends many, many times, and guitar player Dylan has filled in on guitar as well.
Fiendishly creative and productive, they are band that I hope has a long and storied career.
Armies of the Mind is a song that’s basically two choruses. It gets in, does it’s thing, gets out. That’s the idea. Here’s what Jimmy of The Vega Bodegas and formerly of Future of the Left had to say about it. :
” I think this just became the greatest song of 2018 for me. Like Roky Erickson on a motorbike on fire & I’m hitching a ride with nothing but leather trousers on. Such a monster of a riff! “
Atom 12 (of 12!) of Protons and Electrons is up! Parade of Deceit / B/W Dale Crover Band – Sell Out. DOUBLE DOSE OF CROVER!
As always free to listen to on bandcamp, you can buy digital for $2 and you can pre-order the vinyl if you feel so inclined (ships mid next month)
This here, Parade of Deceit is a nervy lil’ number about outrage fatigue and general disgust with the Newstainment Industrial Complex, confirmation bias and political actions designed to exhaust, demoralize and infuriate. Don’t we all just love a parade?
With a DOUBLE DOSE OF CROVER!
Dale Crover Band, in their first released recording of the live unit (Dale Crover, Steven Mcdonald, Mindee Jorgenson, Toshi Kasai) , meanwhile… give you a delightful homage/medley sure to please fans WHO listen.
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 . 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:
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
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.
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 Reversalpodcast, 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
PROMO MATERIALS:
