Heavy Dates

Loud, proud, and, uh, loud -- that's the calling card of the Preston Wayne Four. A band who have been under wraps lately because they've been in the studio, the PW4 are part of the new breed of instro-band. Inspired by psychedelia and hot-rod music as much as Dick Dale and the Ventures, Wayne and company are one of a handful of non-traditional surf bands operating nationwide who are worth listening to. They play the Above Club Friday, December 18, with the fabulous Crybabies. Over at the Tammany Club, it's a CD-release party for Vykki Vox, and the Espresso Bar has the New-and-Improved Chillum opening up for Flipside. Critical Condition and the Terribles also are on tap. On Saturday, it's the 10th-anniversary show for the Curtain Society. Misunderstood, ill-defined, often-ignored, Roger Lavallee and his (almost) merry men have been churning out some of the finest Brit-inspired pop on this side of the big pond. If you haven't caught them in a while, do so. It's a guaranteed good time. Angry Johnny and the Killbillies hit Dinny's for some beer-guzzlin' fun. Popsters-deluxe Huck and the Free Radicals open. Elsewhere the lads from Downchild return to town after a showcase at the Philadelphia Music Conference. The boys dined on cheese-steak hoagies and garnered some label interest, so it was considered a major success on all fronts. They play the Cove with ECAE labelmates Chin Strap, and the Larry, Moe, and Curly of Wormtown rock, the Pathetics. The Tammany Club has Joe Rockhead, whose new release, Sheltering Sky, is a pretty fair reading on roots rock, Mellencamp-style. We always gush when Dennis Brennan makes the scene. He's been working out material for his upcoming album with a Wednesday residence at Vincent's. For a small donation, you get to see a stellar songwriter. Also check Vincent's out on Thursday for Mark Stevens and Jeff Berg, who rip through the blues and swing catalogue armed only with a piano, a voice, and some passion.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: Rock and roll on a quality-control level with women-in-prison flicks suits NYC's Prissteens just fine -- though the studio gloss that flattened the punch on their major label debut didn't. Still, on a bill with a band who take their name from a bona fide women-in-prison flick -- Boston's Caged Heat, who this winter have the added guitar might of a member of Scissorfight boosting their garage-punk antics -- they should make for a sinfully good evening. Along for the ride December 18 at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, are flesh-eating zombie punks 8-Ball Shifter. On the 19th the 'teens tote on down to the Century Lounge, (401) 751-2255, in Providence, where they'll be joined by the L.U.V.'s, Ashley Von Hurter and the Haters, and Hammel on Trial.

The Middle East, long the last word on Cambridge hipsterdom, raised eyebrows last month by booking a Pink Floyd cover band -- which means cool cats are really gonna flip when they find out that an all-original-members version of Quiet Riot will be rocking the room next month, on January 20. "We were pondering a special discount `with mullet,' " reads a dispatch from the club, "but the finance department said that would bankrupt us." And though such happenings are rare in Central Square, it's just another day, another gig for the Station, (401) 823-4660, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, which has already played host this month to Mountain's Leslie West and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider (Quiet Riot are scheduled there for January 23), and where Cinderella will rock the short-long shod on December 20. Some band called Moon Dog Mane claiming members of Tesla open up.

It's Elvis's story, more or less -- the one about walking into a studio to record a song for Mom's birthday, getting discovered, and going on to sell millions of albums -- but it's the one Celtic tenor John McDermott is sticking to, at least on those treacly direct-marketing ads airing late at night way up on the cable dial for his airbrushed easy-listening versions of old-folks tearjerker standards like "Danny Boy." We've got a morbid curiosity about exactly who shells out $25 to see the guy sing Christmas tunes -- when you could hear practically the same thing in any department store for free. Nonetheless, McDermott's at the Calvin Theatre (413) 586-8686, in Northampton, on December 18.

-- Carly Carioli