Conan Neutron (Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends)
photo by Abbey Garside
What are your top five albums that were released in 2023? (In order 1-5)
I do a podcast of these, so I should make you wait…but spreading the word about good music is spreading the word about good music.
- Djunah - Femina Furens
- Marnie Stern - The Comeback Kid
- Resurrectionists - Now That We Are All Ghosts
- Oxbow - Love’s Holiday
- Elephant Rifle - Broken Water
What band did you discover in 2023 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? How so?
mssv (aka: Main Steam Stop Valve)
I was aware of them as a “Mike Watt thing,” especially since on their first tour it seemed like they were playing every city we were playing around the same time, but I didn’t understand them as a band and a distinct unit. The melding of Mike Watt’s bass, Stephen Hodges’ drumming (he’s worked with David Lynch, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and more!) and Mike Baggetta’s guitar is something really special, and I’m glad I got to see them once on their US tour right before ours.
How will you remember 2023 (in terms of music)?
This year was the year of Adult Prom to me. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year if I thought we would have a split record with Lung out *at all*, let alone have completed an awesome full West Coast tour in support of it. I would have been skeptical. But it is a real thing, and absolutely everything we all hoped it would be. I would have liked to have done more with it, but I’m thrilled with what we got to do… and people have to get over the “two week album cycle” when we do more of it with them in the spring. Songs are still good, album still rocks. Deal with it.
We got out THREE videos for Adult Prom, which is pretty darn good. People seemed to like them well enough.
Also: Caterwaul 2023, which was bigger and better than before and was a great success and a great (if exhausting) time.
We also finished tracking a brand new Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends full-length, and just like every musician in history I think it is the best. The catch here is that it actually *IS* the best one.
What can we look forward to from you in 2024?
Some Midwest dates with Lung for the aforementioned Adult Prom record, and then The Way of the Neutron in the fall, some exciting things in the conversation for that, but nothing at liberty to discuss and there’s nothing worse then a band people have barely heard of talking about “big things coming!”
Mclusky is coming back and we’re going to be making up that cancelled show on the 2022 tour we were supposed to play. That’s thrilling if you live in San Francisco or Oakland!
I dunno, probably a few more videos.
And as a dude (and 1/3 of the braintrust), yes… Caterwaul 2024. No, we don’t need more bands.
What records are you looking forward to most in 2024?
Lung has a new one coming too and I think that is the best one that they have ever done (other than the split LP with us, of course… COPIES STILL AVAILABLE).
USA Nails - Feel Worse, Character Stop was their best yet IMO. Excited to see it.
ARCWELDER! There’s gonna be a new Arcwelder record… That is amazing!
A new Mclusky record is coming, I’d IMAGINE that is going to come out next year and I think anybody that heard the recent EP on Bandcamp knows how rad that is.
B. Hamilton keeps releasing these EPs with unwieldy titles, but I think a record is coming by them. They rule!
Ooh! Bronson Arm is putting out a new record on Learning Curve, that’s going to be great.
There’s a really cool Seismic Wave Entertainment Compilation coming out too, with some great exclusives. That’ll be killer.
With physical media sales seemingly less popular than ever, what are some the best ways that fans can help to support the musicians when they go to a live show?
It sucks to just say: “BUY STUFF!” But it’s “BUY STUFF!”. If you see a design you like for a t-shirt or hoodie or whatever. Not only does the money go to support the artist, YOU Are free advertising. Yes that includes at your local bar or grocery store or whatever. All of that matters.
Obviously the future of Bandcamp is uncertain, but even if you don’t maintain your own music library of mp3s, making a purchase there is money direct to the band without the need to send anything anywhere. I’m constantly blown away by people that don’t understand that concept, so I’m saying it now.
The entire music-going populace has been trained into giving CREDIT to these walled garden sharecropping services that you rent your music from. They do nothing for you and they do even less for the bands, they are barnacles at best and vampires at worst. Especially to smaller working bands. EVERYTHING costs more than it used to, and touring it somehow even more difficult than it used to be and it was never that easy. Direct support. Your favorite artists probably don’t live as comfortably as you think and the ones you dig but don’t know that well definitely don’t.
Barring capitalism points, become a megaphone. We are also being trained to engage with corporate-approved content, and yes this includes REACTIONS. If you really dig something tell EVERYBODY about it, don’t be afraid getting zero likes or coming off as “annoying.” One of the only good things about social media is that it allows us to become our own media sources. So do it.
