Bio
IRON LUNG started life early 1999 in Reno, NV, rising from the ashes of (the real and best) GOB – a prolific and bizarre punk band that was Jon’s primary creative outlet for a few years which Jensen also played in during its last few months of existence – and KRALIZEC, a one-off project band solely dedicated to the mythology of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’. Both of these groups played the now legendary “Fiesta Grande”, a series of extreme punk showcases Chris Dodge (Slap-A-Ham/SPAZZ) used to put on in the 90’s. Those shows served as a basis for how IRON LUNG would approach the world: DIY, obscure, extreme, maladjusted and utterly free from the constraints of “music” or, more widely, rules in general. The “No Gods / No Masters” approach.
Both Jensen and Jon share a love for old medical practices and equipment. The intrigue of barber-surgeons bleeding people to treat their ill “humors” or full on performing limb amputations simply because they had a razor and the dexterity to wield it was just too exciting to ignore. They wondered if anyone had ever really considered the consequences of a lobotomy, electromyography, trepanation, Xenotransplantation, maggot therapy or even using heroin as cough medicine? The real one that hit home was the sheer brutality of a machine invented for the sole purpose of using positive and negative air pressure to physically force a polio-paralyzed person to breathe was such a heavy concept that there was denying their path. IRON LUNG would like to take this moment to thank John Haven Emerson, who died mere weeks before the band was born, for inventing such a barbaric and inspiring piece of respiratory machinery.
Yes, they write songs about these literal subjects but they’ve always employed them as analogies for other issues as well. For instance, “HeLa Cells” (Adapting // Crawling, 2025) is really about systemic racism. In 1955, Henrietta Lacks, a poor, uneducated black woman from Baltimore, was the unwitting source of cells which were then cultured for the purpose of medical research. Though researchers had tried to grow cells before, Henrietta’s were the first successfully kept alive and cloned. Henrietta’s cells, known as HeLa cells, have been instrumental in the development of the polio vaccine, cancer research, AIDS research, gene mapping, and countless other scientific endeavors. Henrietta died penniless and was buried without a tombstone in a family cemetery. For decades, her husband and five children were left in the dark about their wife and mother’s amazing contribution to modern medicine. The doctors never regarded her as more than a test subject and treated her like something to be used and discarded.
Since the beginning, IRON LUNG have always written their records around concepts. Their first album, Life. Iron Lung. Death., is about the life cycle of living with and eventually dying from terminal diseases that only manmade machines can painfully prolong. Their sophomore and most well known effort, Sexless // No Sex, is about the human condition with focus on life/love/gender with a lack of care. White Glove Test plays with double meanings but is centered around the Cold War and the science that almost cured the Earth of humans altogether. Plus, IRON LUNG’s beloved polio epidemic, in which almost every song of their universe is set against, took place smack in the middle of that particular (pun intended!) conflict. All of these generally regard life as a short and sour time without much hope for improvement. So, not exactly a party band.
For Adapting // Crawling, their first studio album since 2013, IRON LUNG take head shots at mental health with specific emphasis on the exacting tolls the Covid 19 pandemic took on humanity. The album acts as a sliced cadaver with each song a newly peeled layer exposing the corrosive effects of deep depression, a failed healthcare system, heavy grief from multiple friends/family deaths, paranoia and distrust of government, meaningless existence and loss. So much loss. When time disappeared between 2020 and 2023, the loss of function, of relation, of drive, of everything was incalculable. Life goes on but we lose a little more each day. To help cope with that crushing reality, IRON LUNG finally sat down and wrote about their pain. In order to not be consumed by it, they built a wall around themselves utilizing an “us versus them” modality in the lyrics. All of the band’s points of view are from the “we” stance and are funneled through their long established lens of antiquated medical procedures and devices. The only times that mode breaks is when quoting an outsider view before rejecting and destroying it. The power belongs to IRON LUNG and by association, to the allied listener.
Iron Lung is:
Jensen Ward (vocals / drums)
Jon Kortland (vocals / guitar)
They are originally from Reno, NV but currently live in Seattle, WA and Reno respectively.
Contact: ironlungrecords@hotmail.com
Social: @ironlungrecords
