Out today: LUNG / CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS - Adult Prom

Adult Prom, the new split LP from Lung and Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends, is out today on Learning Curve Records.

On Adult Prom, Lung's grungy cello-core clashes perfectly with the noisy power pop of Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends. 

Consisting of classically trained opera singer and cellist Kate Wakefield and drummer Daisy Caplan, Lung has been described by Cincinnati's CityBeat as “Tony Iommi teaching a Nirvana class at Juilliard”; true road dogs, Lung has played over 700 shows with the likes of Brainiac, Screaming Females, and Fucked Up. 

Conan Neutron is known also as the co-founder of Caterwaul Festival and the host of the Protonic Reversal podcast; his rhythm section, a.k.a. The Secret Friends, consists of drummer Dale Crover (Melvins) and bassist Tony Ash (ex-Coliseum). The trio bashes out a charming, noisy, classic-rocking sound in the vein of old Cheap Trick, by way of Amphetamine Reptile.

Stream the album and buy it, here: https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Stream Conan Neutron's "Crybullies" video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsU-3k0dugY

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/08/lung-x-conan-neutron-adult-prom.html

The two bands kick off a West Coast tour together, tonight:

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

"Cincinnati, Ohio’s larger than life cello/drum duo is back at it. This time in the form of a split LP with Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends... featuring dizzying harmonies and shark-toothed cello from Kate Wakefield, and kick-your-entire shit in drums from Daisy Caplan."

–The Hard Times

"The cello-punks of Lung team up with the “big weird rock music” stylings of Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends to unleash a killer split release that showcases each band in all their glory... For those not in the know, Lung are a cello and drum duo. Vocalist/cello player Kate Wakefield is a classically trained opera singer and cellist. She plays her cello through a bunch of distortion pedals and big amps, while drummer Daisy Caplan beats the crap out of their drums. It’s a sound that is ethereal, but also down, dirty, and heavy, like early grunge. They know how to use the quiet/louder dynamic to its full potential. It’s quite the musical stew. Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends are underground impresario Conan Neutron on guitar and vocals, backed by the rhythm section of Dale Crover (Melvins) on drums and Tony Ash (ex-Coliseum) on bass. They take classic rock and bend it to their own twisted goals. Basically, it’s noisy power-pop that is ultra-catchy and rocks. They’re bringing rock back into the underground. Plus, his lyrics are sly commentaries on living in the our messed-up, modern world."
–New Noise

"Lung shakes and shimmers within its neo-classical style as Neutron & The Secret Friends more than allude to rock leanings... Lung – the duo of cellist Kate Wakefield and drummer Daisy Caplan – offer up so much range and depth within their songs it’s difficult to imagine Lung is just a duo and here it’s no different. Neutron on the other hand strikes with memorable melodies through its rhythms and crunchy guitars, making it easy to fall in love with the band’s nostalgic sound which is firmly rooted in the present. Hell yes."

–Ghettoblaster

"If you only buy one split LP today featuring an intense cello-metal duo on one side & a quirky power-pop band on the other … well, it would probably have to be this one."

–Tinnitist

LUNG 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' tracks were 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