Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends: (Dale Crover on drums!)-Dark Passengers

Started by conanneutron, February 09, 2016, 12:18:42 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Bigval

Just bought 'Perfectly Reasonable Deviations' looking forward to listening to it!

meezer

Been waiting for some new songs because neither of your albums fill up a whole cassette by themselves.  :nerd:
"Get off of our stage. If you want on this stage, get in show business." -King Buzzo
"Yeah, we don't come in the 7-11 where you work and get up on the counter." -Mark D
https://soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/nathalie-b20-driving-force-paploviante-cyclone-open-collab-meezerpocalypse-haboob-remix

Bigval

A new Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends split single with Trophy Wives:

https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-1-litany-of-grievances-trophy-wives-tomorrowland

Sounds like it's going to be the first of 12 coming split singles.

Dale Crover still on drums, I gather he won't be for the bands live shows in March?

conanneutron

Quote from: Bigval on February 26, 2018, 01:21:47 AM
A new Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends split single with Trophy Wives:

https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-1-litany-of-grievances-trophy-wives-tomorrowland

Sounds like it's going to be the first of 12 coming split singles.

Dale Crover still on drums, I gather he won't be for the bands live shows in March?

Dale on drums 100% of the time, always. Every recording!

Yup, there will be 12 of these, one every month for the next year, including one volume with Dale himself on the other side. Everybody on the other side is involved in Secret Friends in some way, recording, live shows or just important to "the story". Trophy Wives is a band that Secret Friends member Tony Ash plays in. They are fantastic!

There's a possibility that Dale will be on drums for the show in LA, but i'd rather it be a nice surprise than promise something cool that won't happen. Chris Bolig from Replicator, Cartographer and Mount Vicious on drums for this tour... who even Dale called "a Beast of a drummer". It'll be a good run of shows.

One of these days the scheduling Gods will allow for a tour where DC can rock the drums with us and isn't busy with a million Melvins things. Then again: we LOVE those million Melvins things!
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

conanneutron

We've got two more of the splits out now, still available... still shipping out regularly (last batch just went out)
When they are gone, they are GONE! (as far as physical goes)

Atom 2: This one is fairly poppy for NeutronFriends: Hate Secretary
https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-2-hate-secretary-quivers-master-of-dirt

Atom 3: This one is a good riffy one: RECANT!
https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-3-recant-thoughts-detecting-machines-alllies

All available to stream for free, Atom 2 and Atom 3 will be on spotify and all that other stuff later this week. Atom 4 coming up soon.
Thanks everybody!

Oh yeah, Atom 12 is going to be the drummer on the other side. I expect that one is going to sell out super quick, but that's a Spring of 2019 problem.
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

conanneutron

Alright been a minute here.
Same thing I typed last time applies:
"We've got two more of the splits out now, still available... still shipping out regularly (last batch just went out)
When they are gone, they are GONE! (as far as physical goes)"

Atom 4: This one is one of my favorites of this batch! Paved Age (other band is the badass chicago band Nonagon)
https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-4-paved-age-nonagon-saffir-simpson

Atom 5: Bit Commander grind! This is the Line (other side is one man noisenik and Tom Hazelmyer favorite REPTOID, who has been seen live playing the Dale parts live sometimes)
https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-5-this-is-the-line-reptoid-no-human

Atom 4 will be on all of the regular non-bandcamp streaming platforms this week.
The idea is: it's a month just on bandcamp, and then it's on all the other things after that.

ok rad! Hope you dig it.

We're hatching plans for some new stuff (beyond this) in early 2019, as always based around the Melvins schedule.
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

conanneutron

I forgot to post this one here, sorry!
Atom 6 has been out for a bit and ships immediately.


Protons and Electrons: Atom 6 - Petulant Messiah / Rally - HVAC

QuoteRally, a simple one word name, but a hell of a band. They are both catchy but have some skronk and grind. Michael from Rally has been a NeutronFriends sideman on the guitar numerous times, drummer Dan not only ran Conan and Tony's old label... but he has sat in with NeutronFriends on drums as well. I'm pretty sure this is their first release, looking forward to many more!

Oh yeah, NeutronFriends side is about messianic figures that turn out to be total jerks. It happens. The badass leads at the end are all NeutronFriends live guitar player Erica Strout of Motherfucker.

rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

conanneutron

Great jumping jehoshaphat  have I been remiss in updating this!

Alright well... Tony, Dale and I have recorded another new Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends record. That'll be coming out sometime next year, it's dark! it's moody! It's... in the future. Let's talk about the now.

Here are the other entries in the series, i'll give a little synopsis after.

Protons and Electrons: Atom 7 - Armies of the Mind / The God Eaters - Cluster Fuck Shit Show
Protons and Electrons: Atom 8 - Jilted Dragon / Turbo Lightning - Give a Man A Brain
Protons and Electrons: Atom 9 - Cop Knock / Cheap Sleaze - Freeze Queen​/​Troll Trap
Protons and Electrons: Atom 10 - Amargosa State of Mind / Maple Stave - Thunderkiss '85
Protons and Electrons: Atom 11 - The Vig / Cartographer - Turnip, The Cloth Clown

Atom 7 - Armies of the Mind. Dale thinks this song kind of sounds like Roky Erickson. I can hear it! B-Side: The God Eaters from Marquette Michigan are on the other side. A couple of these dudes play in the live band sometimes. They rule, just a stellar and unique band. RIYL: Vaz, Minutemen, Shellac etc.
Atom 8 - Jilted Dragon. Easily one of the poppiest songs we've done. At the time I thought it was TOO poppy. But people seem to dig it... it was a minor hit on spotify (whatever that means! Oh right, a payment of a few dollars for several thousand more streams hahah), I've come back around on it. Sounds like a heavy weirder version of the Pixies to me, but not in a bad way. B-side: Turbo Lightning is even poppier. Really cool outfit from Los Angeles. Jeff was in the Mae Shi who were a bonkers band in their own right. Dana did some of the backup vocals on Art of Murder too, Quid Pro Quo most notably. She rules.
Atom 9 - Cop Knock. A peppy little song about Police brutality. HAHAHA, starts with an actual knock on the studio door by Tony Ash (Toshi's idea), this one is fast paced... it features a guitar solo from Rick Valentin of the Poster Children. B Side: Cheap Sleaze which is Tony's Motorhead kind of punk rock band from Kenosha, Wisconsin. They manage to fit two songs into a one song space, the rascals. This is their only vinyl release.
Atom 10 - Amargosa State of Mind. An homage to the Amargosa Hotel and Opera House in Death Valley Junction. This isn't just the mellowest song on Protons and Electrons, it's probably the mellowest song we've ever done, but we all really dig it. Sean from Nervous Curtains/the paperchase on keys here and Josh Hensley from the rutabega on backup vocals here too. If you haven't, watch the documentary. I sold Buzz on watching it after describing the world making Marta Beckett did in great detail, he even got over his total disdain for people living in the desert (hahaha!) SIDE B= Maple Stave - Thunderkiss '85. Maple Stave is a pretty badass band from Durham, NC, he also has done all of the art for the series and has slanged some second guitar for us live before. They rule, this song rules... and yeah, hell of a name.

Ok, that brings us current to Atom 11, the second to last in the series:
edit navigation bar
Protons and Electrons: Atom 11 - The Vig / Cartographer - Turnip, The Cloth Clown


Cartographer is very closely tied to the NeutronFriends mythos, by nature of Conan being bandmates with Ben and Chris in Replicator, and with Chris and Andre in Mount Vicious. Without Replicator (and to a lesser extant Mount Vicious), there would be no Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends in any capacity. It's their first release in 8 years.

Cartographer is burly, aggressive and uncompromising noise rock. While the band members don't take anything too seriously, the music is serious as a heart attack. Pummeling drums, jagged guitar and bass that evokes pure sleaze and menace make a fully formed package of Noiserock(TM) delivery. I believe their song is about a birthday clown that wants to have sex with a young Ben Adrian's mom.

The Neutron Friends tune is an homage to a classic gambling term. The Vig (short for vigorish) is interest principal amount owed on a debt or loan, always at a usurious rate, with the idea being that the borrower never ends up paying down the principal and is indebted to the lender by just just covering the interest. The conceit of the song is applying those principles to psychic costs, but it probably works as a more dead on interpretation too.

--
Alright! so if you want to listen online that's the bandcamp link there and it'll be in the other places at the end of the week, then... shortly thereafter we will be closing the series with Atom 12 and a double dose of Dale.

Also: there might be a cool live show announcement that would be more Melvins related than normal, but there also might not be. hahah, we'll see.

Phew!
Thanks for reading.
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

Bigval

Thanks for the update Conan, still love those two albums you guys did.

vince furnier

Welcome to my Nightmare!
inbox is currently 82% full. TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!
"uh no, but we do know that meezer is vince furnier" - brian


conanneutron

Quote from: Bigval on August 06, 2019, 01:12:56 AM
Thanks for the update Conan, still love those two albums you guys did.

Thanks! There's a third record that we tracked earlier this year too... probably for 2020. I wouldn't expect a Melvins level of regularity, but we ain't slowing down anytime soon.

As for these singles:
These are all going to be released as a 2XLP comp and 2XCD too this fall, so anybody who isn't super down with streaming stuff digitally can enjoy it collected as an album as well.
These songs are all over the place, and not every one is going to be for every person.

That said: some of the songs in this series are some of the best we've done (IMO), and it's been a thrill presenting them this way.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, ATOM 12 of 12
Protons and Electrons: Atom 12 - Parade of Deceit / Dale Crover Band - Sell Out

Last one!

Protons and Electrons: Atom 12 - Parade of Deceit / Dale Crover Band - Sell Out


Atom 12 is now up!
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?
This is one of my personal favorites of the entire series, and believe it or not I wrote the lyrics BEFORE the 2016 election. Obviously things have gotten even crazier and more insane since then, so it's still relevant

With a DOUBLE DOSE OF CROVER!

Dale Crover Band, in their first released recording of the live unit, meanwhile... give you a delightful homage/medley sure to please fans WHO listen.
Get it? GET IT?!?!

Wow... so there you go.
That's Protons and Electrons.

Also: for those of you into the limited edition vinyl thing. There are some of the other Protons and Electrons that are close to selling out. Because this one is Dale on BOTH sides and there's only 300. This one will DEFINITELY sell out.
We're allocating a small number for Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends tour coming up, and a small number to go out with Melvins after the Madison show in September, but if you want this one in physical form... get it now.

I'm giving the message board heads up before facebook, or twitter or anything, because y'all are our people and have been super supportive since the start.
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

conanneutron

A few notes, the vinyl for Atom 11 and Atom 12 are *FINALLY* shipping this week, which means after assembly they will be heading out. It also means it's unlikely that they will be at the Melvins merch table this tour, which... while irritating, is kind of how it goes with making records in 2019. Thanks to those that have been waiting patiently.

There are some of Atom 12 left online as well., but supplies are getting REALLY low.

For those that are less interested in the collectibility aspect of things, all of the singles have now been collected into one place!
SW027 - Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends (Conan Neutron, Tony Ash, Dale Crover) - Protons and Electrons compilation. Available for pre-order now. Atom 1-12 collected in a 2 LP and a 2 CD set. One NeutronFriends LP and one compilation of bands like: Dale Crover Band, Nonagon, Turbo Lightning, Trophy Wives and more. Protons, Electrons and Neutrons makes the atom.
3+ years of work comes to fruition! Artwork by the unstoppable Plastic Flame Press​. Ships in early October, free to listen to NOW.


I know some people have given a miss to the singles, because they aren't into that kind of thing... so this is another way to listen.
For the CD fans amongst you, this is the first CD release since the Art of Murder.
As always, the most important thing is to listen though... you can stream it at the bandcamp link above and they'll be available as a compilation release in the normal places in the next couple weeks.

The remaining Protons and Electrons 7"s will still be available through mailorder while supplies last, and those that have ordered the box set of the whole thing will be receiving those ASAP as well.
rocker, talker, etc.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
Neutron/Ash/Crover (yes... THAT Crover.)

amazonAMAZON

Very impressed with this whole project. Thank you for the CD option, I think I shall order that.

bUTTHOLEmAN

Has Conan ever covered the Weirdos song? Or would that be too on-the-nose?
if you CALL ME ON MY CELLY
i'll LET YOU RUB ME BELLY!


"I can push over twelve year old girls easy." - Fart
kill yr idols
emperors wear no clothes
"We don't have alot of information right now, but for all we know monkeys might fly out of my butt"- rictus