Conan Neutron is a cool name — it evokes power and strength, fusion and combustibility, heavy vibes and vast possibilities.

You know what other names are cool? One is Tony Ash. Tony Ash plays bass in the band Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends, a trio from the Midwest that plays “big weird rock music for smart asses and malcontents.” He also played guitar in the great hardcore punk band Coliseum.

The other is Dale Crover! Dale Crover plays drums in the Secret Friends, and he has played in influential sludge-metal giants The Melvins for 40 years. He also played in Nirvana for a short time. Nirvana! They were good.

Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends are fronted, of course, by Conan Neutron, a charismatic fellow who writes catchy, swaggering, arena-ready rock songs and then plays them in places other than arenas. The band’s bio puts it better than I ever could:

“The Secret Friends bring forth a wiry and adventurous rock ‘n roll that is equal parts Cheap Trick, fugazi, Queens of the Stone Age, the Cars, and DEVO with perhaps Mean Streets era Van Halen mixed in. Big rock, big riffs, heavy, hooky, a little strange. You get it.”

Please note: Ash and Crover play on the Secret Friends records, but the live band is a revolving cast of characters. So don’t necessarily expect to meet a former member of Nirvana if you go catch ’em at The Capitol.

If You Go

What: Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends, with The Kronk Men, -ether and Vacancy Floor
When: 5:30 p.m. Monday
Where: The Capitol, 190 NW Oregon Ave., Bend
Cost: $15
Contact: instagram.com/thekronkmen