Heavy Dates

by John O'Neill and Carly Carioli

WORCESTER/PROVIDENCE: Greg Piccolo may best be known for his long stint as sax honker and vocalist for Roomful of Blues, but he's been making another name for himself and his new outfit Heavy Juice through a seemingly relentless touring schedule. They hit the Plantation Club this Thursday, April 16. Also on Thursday, Groovecore mavens N.E. Hostility mix up a concoction of metal, rap, hip-hop, funk, and pretty much anything else they can get their hands on at the Espresso Bar with Syndakit and Obsidian. James Montgomery never seems to go away completely, just further out of town. He'll be out at Point Breeze in Webster, on Friday. On Saturday, April 18, it's New Orleans' legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Mechanics Hall, which, unlike Preservation Hall, has restrooms so you don't need to worry about not being able to get back in once you make the decision to "break the seal." Also that night, it's the return of the Pale Nephews, only now they're HÜGE. (See "On the Rocks" this page.) And you just know half the reason they picked that name is so they can stand on stage, smirk and go "That's right gals, we're HÜGE!" Meanwhile, over at Sir Morgan's Cove it's the Seven Hill Psychos and Nude Friction Dancers. They may be a band, they may be an exotic dance troupe. Either way, it could be a pleasant surprise we reckon. Little Charlie and the Nightcats absolutely tore the house down the last time they blew through Gilrein's, and you can be a part of it this time around when they return to South Main this Sunday. On Monday, April 20, the Space continue their long tradition of bringing in top notch national entertainment (that you've probably never heard of in your life) for an extremely cheap cover charge. Braid wing in from Illinois to do the honors. Also on the bill are Boston Phoenix darlings Six Going On Seven, Piebald and Compound Red.

-- John O'Neill

Well, it had to happen sooner or later -- the Electric Hellfire Club, one of the better Satanic acid-industro-metal outfits, have been hedging toward straight-up, unabashed pop-metal of late, pushing their guitar-keyboards-drum machine thing up the devil-glam end of the My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult/KMFDM spectrum. And though they'd already done Kiss, AC/DC, and Bauhaus covers, their latest -- Unholy Roller, a remix/outtakes album -- has a pretty excellent cover of Mötley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil," which is, after all, the mother of all these leather babies. What's more, their Web site reports they were working on a cover of INXS's "Devil Inside" just before Michael Hutchence killed himself. The Electric Hellfire Club are at the Espresso Bar this Saturday, April 18, with Rheys Obsession, Deadites, Mindfield, and Hansel.

We ran into Tree singer Dave Tree last weekend and he recounted a harrowing episode during which he was thrown out of a Q&A forum for filmmaker/fellow man-of-the-people Michael Moore. Nice scene: Moore up on stage pimping his latest film, The Big One, once again about the evils of corporate downsizing, while the singer from a band whose last album was called Downsizing the American Dream gets thrown out by the pigs. Help Dave work through his anger on Wednesday April 22 at the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, in Providence, with Blanks 77 and the Anti-Heroes, but not, as previously advertised, with Miltown, who had spent more than $100,000 of Irving Azoff's dough to record what probably would've been an amazing major-label debut before breaking up last week and bumming the hell out of a lot of people. Singer Jonah Jenkins walked out; the rest of the band have vowed to continue under another name, with new material and a singer to be named later. Meanwhile, Tree -- who seem yet again to have been exiled from Boston clubs -- will also be at the Espresso Bar in Worcester on Friday, April 24 with Stealth, Chillum, and Hollowpoint.

And last but not least, the great young-lion saxophonist Joshua Redman shows up in a quartet at the Iron Horse Cafe (413-584-0610) in Northampton this Monday and Tuesday, April 20 and 21, for two sets each night.

-- Carly Carioli