When we last talked with Conan Neutron in March 2025, the tireless Milwaukee rocker and power-pop-purveyor (and podcaster) was prepping the release of a new record with his Secret Friends band, The Way Of The Neutron. An all-day, nine-band event at X-Ray Arcade called “Wild Antics” was also on Neutron’s books that spring, as was a tour of Japan, a U.S. tour, and a proper local release show for physical copies of The Way Of The Neutron.
One of those things didn’t happen.
“The night after ‘Wild Antics’ we went to Japan for a two-week tour, which was the rock ‘n’ roll adventure of a lifetime,” Neutron tells Milwaukee Record. “But we didn’t get the vinyl for the record until later. So no actual release show, because we didn’t play Milwaukee during the one-month coast-to-coast U.S. tour.
“My thought was I’d just tie it into the fall touring we do,” Neutron continues. “Then we got the call to play with the Jesus Lizard. Amazing! Couldn’t ask for a better show for an ostensible record release, right? We rebooked an entire tour and pulled out of a thing in a different state so we could do it. Then they cancelled. Ope!”
That was 2025. The first half of 2026 proved equally busy for Neutron and company: a monthlong tour with Redd Kross for Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise, a week of shows on the east coast, even more shows. But still no Milwaukee record release show.
Until now.
Yes, on Saturday, September 12, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends will take over Cactus Club to celebrate the release of The Way Of The Neutron—a full 18 months after it was, you know, released.
“This summer somebody asked me when we were playing Milwaukee again and I didn’t have an answer. Hence the Cactus show,” Neutron says. “If folks aren’t out of town doing summer activities, it’s a chance to see us play in the city I live in and at one of the best venues in town with two other awesome bands [Daniel James Gang, Resurrectionists]. Great!”
If it’s been a minute since you’ve cued up The Way Of The Neutron, Saturday’s release show is a perfect excuse for a revisit. It’s a sprawling and ambitious album, an earworm mission-statement stuffed with big hooks and big ideas about life, art, work, and everything in between. Neutron says it’s the best record he’s ever done.
“It’s the articulation of a life ethos dedicated to uncompromising and life-affirming art and leaving the world a better place than it was when it started,” he says. “I’ve never written so directly like that, and I found it cathartic and rewarding.”
The final track of The Way Of The Neutron, “The Way,” sums up that ethos best. It sums up the record’s long journey to Saturday’s release show, too:
The way of the neutron is not swift or easy
You’ll be playing 3-dimensional chess while they’re fucking around with Parcheesi
Do the work, but don’t forget to have fun
It always seems impossible until it’s done
Want more Milwaukee Record? Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and/or support us on Patreon.
RELATED ARTICLES
• “Who Dares?” Conan Neutron dares, that’s who
• Watch the Mark Borchardt-directed video for Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends’ “The Commuter”
• What happens when two bands write three new songs based on the same three song titles?
• Weird music by weirdos, for weirdos: Chatting with Milwaukee-via-Oakland musician Conan Neutron