Insight
Lung came out of Vancouver at the start of the 1990s as a power trio, with songs credited to Clark, Taylor and Hanley. Their first record, Psychopornadelia, appeared on Scratch Records in 1991 (SCRATCH 3), a 7-inch single at 33 RPM pressed on red and black marbled vinyl and sold in a polybag with a sticker on the front. 'Mother (Makes Me Feel Like A Man)' took the A-side and the five-minute 'Consume' the B-side. The band co-produced it with Don Gordon, founder of Numb, one of the city's leading electro-industrial bands, and Ken Marshall, who had engineered for Skinny Puppy, recorded it at Mushroom Studios. The release carried a 1991 copyright and phonographic copyright under Illumination, while the run-out grooves set the tone for everything that followed: 'Almost As Good As G.B.H.' on one side and Aleister Crowley's 'Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law' on the other.
The single attracted attention on both sides of the border. In the summer of 1991, Snipehunt described Lung's destructive live performances, with guitars, drums and musicians taking a beating on stage. That October, Maximum Rocknroll praised the band's heavy guitars, ferocious vocals, tape editing and thunderous drumming. Hype criticized the recording quality but acknowledged the tight playing, while Flipside compared Lung's sound to Slug. Vancouver's Georgia Straight heard elements of NoMeansNo's hardcore intensity and Ministry's industrial aggression, and The Rocket singled out Lung as evidence of the strength of Vancouver's heavy underground scene. By spring 1992, Psychopornadelia had appeared at No. 4 on a DJ's favourite 7-inch singles list in RiFLe, the magazine of the University of Kentucky radio station WRFL.
By 1992 Lung had grown to four, with a fourth songwriting surname, Scoular, appearing on the 1992 recordings. On the sleeves the members went by first names only. Mike played bass, credited with low frequency harmonic distortion. Doug supplied guitars and sonic emanations. Richard handled drums, bellows and, by his own account, the manipulation of space and time. Vocals, guitar and "the word" are credited to Jason on the British single and to Max on the album.
On their 1992 releases, Lung built an elaborate mythology around the music. Each came with a missive from Ignatius B. Giles, president of the Illuminated Friends of Lung, a fan club whose members called themselves Lungites. Giles wrote in the voice of a deranged Victorian evangelist, warning the public that Lung was a neural virus, a threat to the Archonic Conspirators and the coming soundtrack of revolution. Prospective Lungites were asked to swear an oath to wreak havoc on multinational corporations, government officials and the local police. Looking back on Psychopornadelia, Giles reported that all hell broke loose.
In 1992 Britain's Serial Killer label issued 'Litany' backed with 'Fuck Generator' (FATAL 02). The B-side was an older song, carrying a 1990 copyright, and it resurfaced on the 1993 Vancouver compilation Wade Free Vancouver. Giles's insert essay recalled first witnessing Lung at a small San Francisco coffee house in the summer of 1991 and staggering away permanently rewired. Again the run-out grooves carried messages: 'Sounds Like He's Building A Shed' on one side and 'Good Deal For The Punters' on the other.
Lung's only album, Magnum Opiate, followed later that year on Zulu Records, on CD (ZULU 8-2) and cassette (ZULU 8-4). The booklet credits an overnight session at Mushroom Studios, from 11 PM to 8 AM on October 2, 1992, again with Don Gordon producing and Ken "Hiwatt" Marshall engineering, and Gerry Hughes credited for "live audio terrorism." The result sat between noise rock and the industrial sound coming out of Vancouver's studios at the time.
The nine tracks include 'Glow,' 'Dive Bomber,' 'Pat Hogue Must Die,' 'Pretty Rabid Dipshit' and 'Superpornoreaction,' closing with a reworking of 'Litany' subtitled 'Absolution Rₓ.' The band handled art direction with the artist Steakface. Giles's liner notes, now datelined from Arkham, Massachusetts, H.P. Lovecraft's fictional town, announced the album as Lung's "first full-fledged evisceration," timed by the I Ching to the fall equinox. The thank-you list ran from Scratch Records and Serial Killer UK to Madonna Louise Ciccone and The Guy That Lent Doug His Guitar.
-Robert Williston
Gallery
Images
6 images
CD-Lung - Magnum Opiate INLAY
CD-Lung - Magnum Opiate FRONT FOLDOUT 01
CD-Lung - Magnum Opiate INSIDE 01
CD-Lung - Magnum Opiate INSIDE 02
CD-Lung - Magnum Opiate CD
Magnum Opiate
Media
Videos
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Credits
Musicians
Max: vocalizations, guitars, background noise, the word
Mike: low-frequency harmonic distortion, backing vocals
Douglas: guitars, sonic emulations, sub-etna disturbances, backing vocals
Richard: drums, manipulator of space-time, backing vocals, metal objects
Songwriting
All songs written by Clark, Taylor, Hanley and Scoular
Production
Produced by Don Gordon
Live audio terrorism by Gerry Hughes
Technical
Engineered by Hiwatt Marshall
Recorded at Mushroom Studios, Vancouver, BC
Recorded 11 PM–8 AM, October 2, 1992
Mastered by Hiwatt Marshall and Don Gordon
Mastered at Lung Western Hemisphere HQ (m.u.s.h.r.o.o.m.)
Digital editing by Craig Waddell
Digital editing at Gotham City Sound
Artwork
Art direction by Steakface and Lung
Release
CD, album
Canada, 1992
Zulu Records: ZULU 8-2
Manufactured and distributed by Zulu Records Ltd., Vancouver, BC
© ℗ 1992 Zulu Records Ltd.
Made in Canada
Publishing
All songs © 1992 SOCAN
Matrix Numbers
DISQUE AMERIC UF31<727>ZULU82
Inner ring: DISQUE AMERIC INC
Acknowledgements
Mr Don ‘In Your Face’ Gordon, Gnarlage, Gerry (We Love You), Keith, Serial Killer UK, Grant, datap anik, Kevin, Brother Pete, Scratch Records, SteakFace, Ignatius B Giles & Mira Shapely (IFL), Sean E, Derek, Dave, Charmaine, Tim, Andrew ‘Big Moe The Iguana’ Campbell, Jen, Kate, Peter Hanley, Joanna, Olo, Pat, Madonna Louise Ciccone, Zulu, Bryce D, Zolty Cracker, Force Four Productions, The Guy That Lent Doug His Guitar, and all Lungites Great and Small
Liner Notes
A MESSAGE FROM THE ILLUMINATED FRIENDS OF LUNG (IFL):
OCTOBER 2, 1992
Well Children, here it is. The bold, new full-length release from those incorrigible, agitating, maladjusted, heathenistic, jesus-mocking, narcissistic, dope-smoking, wicked, paganistic, fornicating, sheep-shucking, blaspheming, promethean, cybernetic, sociopathic, hedonists, LUNG.
Why, it seems like only yesterday that the apoplectic PSYCHOPORN ADELIA single was released on Scratch Records. It was following the release of that gem that ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE! I can see now, in retrospect, that a gross miscalculation was made in gauging the socio-political fallout that was to ensue; alas, as is so often the case with history, LUNG may have been caught at unawares, but the zeitgeist had already determined what was to be. Like any virus worth its salt, it metastasized itself through all levels of society — turning on end the plans and machinations of the ARCHONIC CONSPIRATORS and setting aflame the hearts and minds of the enslaved masses.
So great was the furore over this release, that our noble heroes found themselves ducking and dodging a hail of the most slanderous and pernicious barbs, not to mention bullets (from a certain privileged caste, need we say more), while at the same time being lauded and enjoined by fellow libertines in a lustful, searing cry for REVOLUTION! (The minds of the masses are waking at an exponential rate, brothers and sisters: the ENTROPIC cycle has reached critical mass; now, let pure nEGative enTropy tip the scales!!)
With their continued existence in North America hanging by a tenuous thread, LUNG hopped continents and countries to release the penultimate LITANY single in Britain on the stellar SERIAL KILLER label. So committed and worthy were the magnates at Serial Killer, to the cause, that truckloads of singles were consistently liquidated in points all over Europe and the UK. (And so the virus spread...) In case you are wondering, good reader, the LITANY single has been made available in North America — albeit in limited and strictly controlled quantities. There is good reason for this friends, be sure. (We could not have a repeat of the kind of mania that occurred with the first release, could we?)
So, you see, before any substantial long-player was even feasible, the zeitgeist had first to be considered. But LO!, after careful consultation with the I Ching and the Secret Grand Kabal ... the times were again deemed propitious! Recording was begun with the utmost secrecy and expediency so that the release date would coincide with a certain significant period during the fall equinox ... And thus!, do you have in your possession LUNG’s first full-fledged evisceration — their aptly-titled MAGNUM OPIATE!!
So sinners ... beware (you know who you are) and witness LUNG’s righteous assault on “ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL”. SEE YOUR PRECIOUS SOCIAL MORES CRUMBLE! ... AND HOLD FAST TO YOUR MANTLES OF WEALTH ... OF ONE THING YOU CAN BE SURE ... to borrow the words of a certain wizened brethren ... “THIS REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED!”
Ignatius B Giles
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