Heavy Dates

WORCESTER

There's nothing quite as enjoyable as a live show held in a shot-and-a-beer neighborhood dive. Just stick the bands in the corner, flip the switches, and watch the regulars and the scenesters try to figure each other out. This Friday, the sleepy town of Webster in general, and the Gaslight Tavern specifically, catch hell with a triple bill that features Officer Down, Skulltoboggan, and Cosmo. It promises to be an abrasive little evening of rant and rage, and a swell deal to boot, `cuz admission is just three bucks a (metal)head. Recycled DysFunkShun are the self-proclaimed "best band in Worcester," which we reckon takes some major balls to say. Or a warped perspective. Or maybe just a clever ploy to get some press. Well, it worked, 'cuz here we are, writing about their Friday gig at the Lucky Dog, where they'll open for cover-boys Spit Shine. But are they the best band in Worcester? Decide for yourself. Generally, bands who whine about not getting their "proper due" never seem to realize there just might be a perfectly obvious reason why that is, and then get pissed when they don't hear what they want. Granted, we've apparently had our head up our fanny when it comes to popular and meaningful recording artists as Insane Clown Posse, Korn, Shania Twain, and Pearl Jam, so maybe that's the case here. But we doubt it. Anyhow, go early, so you can hear DysFunkShun badmouth "that asshole from the Phoenix." Elsewhere, Wormtown's fountain of fresh folky ideas, Bob Jordan, plays the Moonstruck Cafe in Charlton, and Issi Rozen appears at this week's installment of the Jazz at Sunset Concert Series at the EcoTarium. On Saturday, Wormtown's most prolific (And shortest. Tee-hee!) gang of rockers Thinner celebrate the release of their third disc in three years, The Roger Project (Horrorhead). You can bet local engineering maven Roger Lavallee (who the disc is named for) will be in the house to play a song or two, as will Boston's Sheila Divine, who headline the night at the Lucky Dog Music Hall. Over at the Plantation Club, the party rages on with Clutch Grabwell and their worthy dictum of "drink, dance, and get laid." Funny how that plan never gets stale. Recently, we had our tiny little brain blown out by Ireland's number-one music export Lunasa, who aren't at all for the "Danny Boy" sing-along crowd. Sure, Lunasa offer traditional instrumentation. But they run it through a wringer of water-tight arrangements, wicked improvisation, and drop-dead innovation. The band boast ex-Waterboy Trevor Hutchinson and Uilleann pipe master Cillian Vallely. Lunasa play a must-see show this Sunday at the Irish Times. Fair warning: it's a twenty-dollar ticket. But even that price becomes perfectly reasonable when you consider the city's only real local music outlet, WCUW (91.3), will enjoy part of the proceeds.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

It's a landmark of sorts in Christian metal -- we're not sure even the mighty Stryper ever pulled off such a balancing of the sacred and profane. We're talking about spiritual So Cal nü-core heavies P.O.D., whom you may have seen last weekend tearing shit up at Ozzfest alongside such heretics, pagans, and heathens as Godsmack, Pantera, and the fiendish madman himself, Ozzy Osbourne. But it's out of Satan's frying pan and into God's pews this weekend, as P.O.D. co-headline the Inside Out Soul Festival, a cavalcade of such church-sanctioned sop as Steven Curtis Chapman and the Newsboys! The three-day fest/retreat at Loon Mountain, (978) 346-4577, in New Hampshire, runs August 3 through 6 and also features ska-punk saviors the Supertones. File under: Jesus saves, but Ozzy pays.

Not to worry -- you don't hafta mosh in the Lord's pit to get your metal fix this week. The attending of Iron Maiden concerts by self-described teenage dirtbags happens to be the subject of a song currently assaulting modern-pop radio, so it's sure to be all over the dial on August 5 when Maiden hit the Tweeter Center, (617) 931-2000, in Mansfield, with Queensrÿche and former Judas Priest singer Rob Halford's new band Halford. Meanwhile, the Salisbury Beach Club and Café, (978) 465-8283, hosts an even more infernal mini-metalfest this weekend. The festivities kick off on August 4 with lovable castrato synth-metal joker King Diamond, Shadows Fall, Babylon Whores, and the Deep; it all goes underground on the afternoon of August 5 with extreme noise terror by Today Is the Day, Dissociate, and Cattlepress before concluding on August 6 with new-school dudes Ultraspank. You can also catch Ultraspank at the Palladium, (508) 797-9696, in Worcester, on August 5; they'll be joined by yet another Inside Out Soul Fest band seeking refuge in the secular world, the very P.O.D.-ish Project 86. King Diamond will be at the Station, (401) 823-4660, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on August 7. And to top off the perfect weekend of death rock, try the reformed version of the Misfits, who headline Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on August 8.

If you're unwilling to sit through umpteen hours of the Newport Folk Festival, (401) 847-3700, just to catch Willie Nelson on August 5, be aware that Willie and his fam play headlining gigs on August 8 at the Calvin Theatre, (413) 586-8686, in Northampton, and on August 9 at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, (508) 775-9100, in Hyannis. Dave Davies does the Kinks-retrospective thing at the Sit N' Bull Pub, (978) 897-7232, in Maynard, on August 9, 10, and 12. And Aussie hard-rock gods AC/DC play a sold-out gig at the FleetCenter, (617) 931-2000, in Boston, on August 8.

-- Carly Carioli