Whirlwind year for Demon Lung

A year ago, he couldn't have imagined having this conversation.

"If you told me that this would be happening so quickly, I wouldn't have believed you," acknowledges Jeremy Brenton, drummer for Vegas doom upstarts Demon Lung, still sounding a little incredulous, as if he was being asked to acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot or something similarly far-fetched.

Brenton's speaking about a remarkable 12-month run for his band, which has culminated in Demon Lung finalizing a deal with Candlelight Records, a leading metal indie label home to established acts such as Obituary, Corrosion of Conformity and Fear Factory along with rising bands The Atlas Moth, Woe, Havok and dozens of others.

At this time in 2011, Demon Lung was making its first recordings as a band.

"We thought it was just going to be a demo, maybe we'd put it out digitally, just to see what kind of interest it had," Brenton says of what would eventually develop into the band's debut EP, "Pareidolia."

The EP's promise was palpable, with frontwoman Shanda Frederick's by turns forlorn and mesmeric vocals and a recurring horror flick motif powering a dark, insistent rumble.

"Pareidolia" would circulate quickly in metal circles worldwide, eventually landing the band in the pages of popular Brit mag Metal Hammer and earning loads of positive reviews. From there, the labels came calling, with Demon Lung getting courted by suitors big and small.

Eventually the band went with Candlelight, with Marco Barbieri, the former head of mega-indie Century Media Records, who lives in Vegas, negotiating the band's deal and serving as its manager.

Now, Demon Lung is set to record its full-length debut at the end of December in Oakland, Calif., with celebrated underground producer Billy Anderson, who's worked with greats like EyeHateGod, Sleep, Neurosis, Fantomas and scads more.

"We were talking before, kind of jokingly, like, 'Hey, maybe we can get Billy Anderson to do this record,' " Brenton says. "We didn't think that would ever be a possibility."

The album is tentatively due out in May, and already Demon Lung has been offered a U.K. tour with a big-name band in February, though the band decided to wait until the record is out before hitting the road.

Everyone in the band works full time, which limits the ability to tour, but not ambitions.

"If I was 10 years younger and we were all 21, it would be a lot different. Go on the road, see what happens," Brenton says. "But because we have to be a bit more strategic about it, that might work to our advantage," he adds. "It's huge for us that this stuff is happening."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com
or 702-383-0476.