Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends: (Dale Crover drums!)-The Way of the Neutron

[Bigval]

Yeah! come out, come out!
We're like a day ahead of Melvins, which is a really dumb move with a hilarious story.

How was the reception in Japan, was that your first overseas tour?

[amazonAMAZON]

Who's drumming on tour? Is it the lady from DCB?

[conanneutron]

Yeah! come out, come out!
We're like a day ahead of Melvins, which is a really dumb move with a hilarious story.

How was the reception in Japan, was that your first overseas tour?

Oh man, it was absolutely incredible. One of the coolest things i've ever done in rock and roll. All the crowds were great, all the other bands were total masters of their craft. People were polite, respectful and present and their public transit system is like a miracle compared to what we have.
Just as stunning experience the entire time.

ultimately it didn't even matter that the airline lost my checked personal bag and I had to buy clothes every single day for the first 6 days.

I'm so glad we didn't just play the big cities like Tokyo and Osaka either. We got waaay out there and those were some of the most of the chain ones.

My favorite bands we played with were Devils & Libido (crazy heavy prog/psych), NUILL (Crazy intense Gravity records style hardcore/noiserock), and Lightning Swells Forever (Stoner rock that basically sounds like Japanese Black Sabbath!). There was a band called Coldfish that opened for us in Osaka that were the closest thing to Japanese Melvins we played with... but they are almost impossible to search. They were rad af though!

I want to go back!

Who's drumming on tour? Is it the lady from DCB?

Hahahah, a bit late. Sorry.
The break between Japan and US tours was so brief, i'm shocked I remembered to login here.

But yeah... Mindee Jorgensen. Who drums for Dale in Dale Crover Band. She's also on the new record doing some percussion and a few other things.
She's a total badass and is definitely a member of the Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends family. Any aspiring drummers should totally take lessons from her!

There are two more legs of the Way of the Neutron tour coming up soon, one of them is going out to this in Seattle, which rules. Huge heavy bands in a roller rink (!), there's an area in the middle to rock out in front of the stage, and folks skate around it... and then more folks watch from outside the rink. Totally insane! We did it with Big Business and Lung a couple years back.

Dipping down into the south a bit in November too. Playing with We Are the Asteroid and a few other badasses. Originally that was going to end with us playing with the Jesus Lizard, but they had to cancel their tour. Total drag! Hopefully that gets rescheduled.

[conanneutron]

wow that poster is big, sorry.
oh yeah, there's a video for Who Dares? too.
There are... 2-3 more coming?
One of which is SUPER cool and noir themed, but it is also the poppiest song on the record.
We're trying to party like it's 1992 here! haha.

[Dumpster D]

Heheh, glad to see God Bullies still performing!!

[Bigval]

Oh man, it was absolutely incredible. One of the coolest things i've ever done in rock and roll. All the crowds were great, all the other bands were total masters of their craft. People were polite, respectful and present and their public transit system is like a miracle compared to what we have.
Just as stunning experience the entire time.

That sounds awesome. It would be a fascinating place to visit. Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) has lived in Japan for over 20 years now and anytime I come across one of his interviews I always make sure I read it as he drops plenty of insightful and interesting stuff about Japan. He says the underground rock/metal scene is really vibrant and the promoters, bands and fans are all hardcore passionate and help each other out, just sounds like such a cool little eco-system over there.

I've heard the public transport over there is absolute top class!

We did it with Big Business and Lung a couple years back.

I do like Lung's new album The Swankeeper.

[conanneutron]

Heheh, glad to see God Bullies still performing!!

oh yeah! We did 4 shows with them last year and they were great. some might get upset, but I think this is the best version of the band. The newest record is the heaviest and catchiest of all of them.
https://god-bullies.bandcamp.com/album/as-above-so-below-2

And Hard is still one of the greatest frontmen of them all.
If you have the chance to see them, don't hesistate!

Oh man, it was absolutely incredible. One of the coolest things i've ever done in rock and roll. All the crowds were great, all the other bands were total masters of their craft. People were polite, respectful and present and their public transit system is like a miracle compared to what we have.
Just as stunning experience the entire time.

That sounds awesome. It would be a fascinating place to visit. Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) has lived in Japan for over 20 years now and anytime I come across one of his interviews I always make sure I read it as he drops plenty of insightful and interesting stuff about Japan. He says the underground rock/metal scene is really vibrant and the promoters, bands and fans are all hardcore passionate and help each other out, just sounds like such a cool little eco-system over there.

I've heard the public transport over there is absolute top class!

Whoa! Marty Friedman? That's wild... there was an ad from a guitar magazine that a coworker had at my second job. I wanna say... crate amps or something? And I saw it every single day when I went to my desk. I could have clocked that guy from 500 yards if he still looksed the same.

I didn't know that he lived in Japan, I feel like i've met a lot of ex-pats when we were there, and some were "mostly harmless" guys as far as their art, but there are a few people that seemed to really carve out a cool niche for themselves. Let's say this: I see the allure! hahah

Everybody is really engaged and present and excited about music, it really is wonderful.
There is a little bit of the "too cool for school" contingent, especially in Tokyo. But that's a rare, rare outlier. Most everybody was cool as hell.
People that came to the first Tokyo show showing up at the second and third and so on.
It is super cool to see.

We did it with Big Business and Lung a couple years back.

I do like Lung's new album The Swankeeper.

Yeah! I love all of their records (obviously, I can't be impartial about Adult Prom), but I think they've brought out a really cool part of their sound on this one.

When we did the longer tour with them in 2022 they were already playing that song "The Money" and even though it wasn't recorded I had "you are worth the money... you are worth the money" stuck in my head every night.
This one.
Love them so much, we're going to do a longer tour with them next year. We just gotta figure out where.

[Bigval]

New tour dates:

With Mike Watt + the Missingmen

Thu-Mar-19-2026 San Pedro, CA The Sardine (also w/Lung)
Thu-Mar-20-2026 Los Angeles, CA Permanent Records
Thu-Mar-21-2026 Yucca Valley, CA Mojave Gold

With Redd Kross:

Sun-Mar-22-2026 Long Beach, CA Alex's Bar
Mon-Mar-23-2026 San Diego, CA Casbah
Tue-Mar-24-2026 Phoenix, AZ Valley Bar
Fri-Mar-27-2026 Austin, TX 29th Street Ballroom
Sat-Mar-28-2026 Houston, TX Bad Astronaut
Sun-Mar-29-2026 New Orleans, LA No Dice
Tue-Mar-31-2026 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
Wed-Apr-01-2026 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
Thu-Apr-02-2026 Culture Room, FL Ft. Lauderdale
Thu-Apr-09-2026 Orlando, FL Wills Pub (also w/Buzzcocks!)
Fri-Apr-10-2026 Atlanta, GA The Earl Restaurant & Lounge
Sat-Apr-11-2026 Nashville, TN The Blue Room at Third Man Records
Wed-Apr-15-2026 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room

[vince furnier]

hoping i can go to this!