Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends - The Enemy Of Everyone

Label: Seismic Wave Entertainment
Year: 2015

Here's a good one for a Friday. A record that has an unabashed appreciation of fun and isn't afraid to pull from some reference material which includes things such as; smiles, big choruses, warm fuzz, and melody. Weird, right?

It's a mixture of things that seem very familiar, but synthesized in the way they are they take on a new life, even though you could swear you've heard this, or something like this somewhere. At some point. Start with a very solid base of mid-late 1970's power pop-esque hard rock. Think, Cheap Trick or Sweet...bands that celebrated the good times with big catchy hooks. Then layer in some mid-late 1990's post grunge kind of stuff. Think, Toadies or Local H...bands that had some dirt under their fingernails, but ultimately were playing relatively accessible riff rock. And finally, and this is the most important element as it elevates what would be mundane into something altogether enjoyable and interesting, play the previous elements through your heavy riffing thud rock record collection. Think, Melvins, C Average (second C Average reference in a week!), or Big Business...bands that troll the bottom end to drive their songs into your brain and out the back of your skull.
Make any sense? It's catchy music with a gnarly edge...it's ok to like it because it's not simple pop (even though that's ok to like too, just don't tell anyone I said that). You might just have to hear it.

If the mixed-up description I've come up with doesn't help sway you, allow me to let you in on the "secret" of the Secret Friends...maybe that'll help. Conan Neutron comes to you from the bands Victory and Associates, and Replicator...he's been featured on this blog previously...look it up. Backing him up on bass is Tony Ash from Coliseum and Trophy Wives, who you have no doubt heard of. And rounding out the trio is Dale Crover on drums, who...my research tells me is in a band called "The Melvins" or something, but I can't really find any further information about who or what that might be. So, he's a mystery. In addition, Eugene Robinson of Oxbow stops by to sing a song with the band. Toshi Kasai of Big Business produced the record, and  David Yow of Jesus Lizard went through the trouble of designing the cover art for the whole thing. So, secret friends indeed. My secret friends are mostly just losers and nerds...certainly not up to Conan's secret friend level. Gotta work on that.

DL