Heavy Dates

We nearly fell out of our futon when VH1 profiled none-other-than GWAR for a Where Are They Now? segment. Where are they now? The same place they were 12 years ago -- on the fringes of cultdom. We always figured to get on the show your career actually had to go somewhere before you could be considered "lost." Luckily, GWAR seemed just as mystified that somebody, somewhere would have considered them less-than-obscure to begin with, and they did a great job of getting in trouble with the local PD for the cameras. They play the Palladium this Friday night. We wish we could ask "where are they now?" about the Misfits. Unfortunately, the answer is playing with GWAR. Why these clods continue to willingly drag the once-proud name through the mud escapes us, but we'll bet it has something to do with money. Murphy's Law, the never-ending one-trick pony, also play. Over at the Blue Plate, in Holden, it's a double bill of roots and rockabilly, featuring Das Fearless Leaders and Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers. Five Year Sentence celebrate the release of their new disc at the Webster Elks Lodge, along with sets from Eastcide, Skulltoboggan, and Red Mercury. Over at Point Breeze, it's Magic Dick and Jay Geils Bluestime; and Toni Lynn Washington returns to weave a little magic at Gilrein's. For all the weekend roadtrippers, you won't do any better than catching the Supersuckers swing through the area. Working a career-retrospective package, The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World (Sub Pop) and a nifty new disc, The Evil Powers of Rock `N' Roll (Aces & Eights), the Suckers continue to blend Hank Williams, AC/DC, and the Ramones into a high-octane mix. They're also one of the best live acts going. Take your pick of Friday at the Met Café, in Providence, or Saturday in Cambridge at the Middle East. Meanwhile, Saturday in the Worm brings a little old-school punk compliments of Blanks 77 and the Ducky Boys. They play the L'il Pal. Say good-bye to one of Worcester's All-Time Bests when Puddle pack it in for keeps at Ralph's. There are also sets from the awesome Guererro and Boston's Inhale Mary. Boston's nuanced porn-rockers Magonia split the bill with Huck at the Above Club, and Chad LaMarsh handles week two of the Worcester Phoenix Fall Music Series at Jillian's.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

The Supersuckers have once again tapped into The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll (Koch Classics, due November 16) and come up with yet another collection of superb zingers planted firmly between punk and stripped-back metal. This one's a darker-tinged outing that harks back to 1994's La Mano Cornuda (Sub Pop), with a couple of tracks ("I Want the Drugs") going back to their speed-crazed early days. Those loud-fast rules were the inspiration for many up-and-coming motörpunkers, not the least of whom would turn out to be Zeke, the 'Suckers' fellow Seattle-based comrades in arms. Both bands are on the road again with a tour that brings them to Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on November 5 and to the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, on November 6.

Kaiju Big Battel are teaming up with Japanese girl group the 5678's and mod revivalists the Neatbeats for a "Tokyo Garage and Monster Fest" at An Tua Nua, (617) 262-2121, in Boston, on November 9. The 5678's are in the States to play the annual Cavestomp! festival at the Westbeth Theatre Center, (212) 741-0391, in New York City, November 5 through 7, an event that also features the first US appearance ever by long-broken-up cult garage-punk faves the Monks, as well as the first appearance in several decades by the Standells, of "Dirty Water" fame.

Back to the make-up, and the hip-hop minstrelsy of Insane Clown Posse, who return to Lupo's on November 10. That's the only area appearance for ICP, though a completely different group that also goes by those initials, the inventive Amsterdam-based out-jazz improv group Instant Composers Pool Orchestra, are at the Institute for Contemporary Art Theatre (yep, ICP at the ICA; call 617-266-5152), in Boston, on November 13. And you never know exactly what kind of masks you'll find the guys in Mr. Bungle wearing (occasionally clown masks, often with a few S&M masks thrown in for good measure), though the group -- led by former Faith No More singer Mike Patton -- are much closer in spirit to the Amsterdam ICP, with an approach to cut-and-paste composition and avant-garde theatrics that's heavily in debt to John Zorn. Bungle are at Lupo's on November 7.

In ska-punk news, Save Ferris and 22 Jacks are at Avalon, (617) 264-2424, in Boston, on November 4 and at the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, in Providence, on November 5; Buck-O-Nine are at the Middle East on November 9 and at the Met on November 10. And believe it or not, before there was punk, people used to listen to Blue Öyster Cult to get their rocks off; since then they've mostly made the rounds of the suburban classic-rock circuit. Expect to see fortysomething Ramones fans when BÖC play the Middle East on November 10 and regular folk when they play Bob's Grille and Pub, (508) 559-0498, in Bridgewater, on November 12.

-- Carly Carioli