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[Future Events]

 

FOLK-METAL THUNDER. Even if you take into account the death-metal-style logo that Sebadoh used for T-shirts a few years back, a tour featuring lo-fi indie-pop guru Lou Barlow and oh, say, a doom-metal overfiend named King Buzzo sounds fairly unlikely. Especially if we’re talking about Barlow’s delicate, pitter-pat, loops-and-acoustic-guitars project Folk Implosion and Buzzo’s atom-smashing, abstract-metal-burning, Marshall-stack-sacking behemoths the Melvins. The Melvins most recently issued three distinct albums of thrash/grind mayhem, experimental oddities, and bubblegum/country/metal collaborations, so Lord knows what they’ll be playing. And we’re not sure what the hell Folk Implosion are up to, although Lou B.’s got a wicked-lo-fi Web site called loobiecore.com (say it out loud) where you can download some old Sentridoh four-track oddities ("not my best stuff," he admits on the site) as well as four new unreleased tunes. All we can say for sure is that they’re on a national tour that brings ’em to the Middle East, 480 Mass Ave in Cambridge, on April 24. Call 864-EAST for tickets.

GIRL-GROUP GIRL. Leader of the Pack: The Singles of Ellie Greenwich, which stars Mary Wilson in a staged Broadway-style song-and-dance routine with a live band, comes to us thanks to a convergence of two factors: the sudden stage appeal of popular R&B-style oldies hits of Jewish songwriters (see Smokey Joe’s Café, featuring the songs of Leiber and Stoller) and the abject, financially disastrous miscalculation of Diana Ross’s planned Supremes reunion. The central conceit of Leader and Smokey Joe’s — the primacy of songwriter over performer — seems perversely attuned to the current pop moment. And the outstanding Greenwich songbook — synonymous with the ’60s girl-group sound, and the subject of an unrelated autobiographical 1984 Tony-winning Broadway musical also called Leader of the Pack — includes such gems as "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "And Then He Kissed Me," "Chapel of Love," and "River Deep, Mountain High." The show hits the Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont Street, for a run April 17 through 29. Tickets are $45 to $65; call (800) 447-7400.

NEXT WEEKEND

Tree: No Remorse

"Poverty-stricken/But I’m not quittin’," sings Tree frontman Dave "River" Conley at the beginning of "Rock Star." This rumbling piece of boogie-metal autobiography comes from his band’s fifth album, No Regrets No Remorse, which hits stores this Tuesday on the local Wonderdrug label. (The band celebrate by commandeering the Middle East next Friday, March 2.) That line just about sums it up for Tree, who have yet to receive a national break despite an impressive 10-year run as one of New England’s most popular hardcore bands. "I’m just a blue-collar rock-and-roller," maintains Conley in the same song — and sure enough, when I get him on the phone he’s just gotten home from a day of painting houses.

"I’m really happy about ‘Rock Star’ because it’s got a lot to do with the whole do-it-yourself attitude," says Conley. "A lot of guys in bands out there — even if they are on major labels and kind of in the [public] eye — a lot of the time those guys are out there doing regular jobs when they get home from tour. They don’t just sit around and relax. They’re out there painting houses, too."

This time last year, Tree’s rock-star dreams were on the verge of becoming reality. "Death Wish," the lead single from their ’99 disc Our Day Will Come (also Wonderdrug), became something of a hit on local rock radio and triggered a wave of major-label interest. "We got pretty close to one deal and nothing happened," says Conley. "It was kind of depressing. We had all this material, and it was like, ‘What do you want to do? Well, I guess we’re just back to playing for ourselves and our fans. Let’s put out this CD, play some local shows, and take it from there.’ "

As it is, No Regrets No Remorse would have made a perfectly respectable major-label debut: tracks like the pissed-off break-up anthem "Cold and Alone" are catchy enough for radio without sacrificing anything in the way of intensity. "We became our own toughest critics," says Conley of the band’s increasingly streamlined sound. "We were like, ‘AB, AB, ABC — come on! Let’s do a weird, cool bridge or something.’ "

Tree are hoping to land a support slot on one of the big summer punk/metal package tours. Until then their strategy will be the same as it’s been for a decade: play relentlessly all over New England and make as many new friends as possible. Next Friday’s CD-release party will fill both the upstairs and downstairs stages at the Middle East with an imposing variety of the area’s loudest acts. Tree themselves have a little something extra on tap, as well. "A good friend of ours named Sequoia is going to get married right before we go on," reveals Conley. "She asked us and we were like, ‘Yeah, as long as you don’t take too much time. Just get up there and say I do. None of this long ceremony stuff.’ "

Tree hold a CD-release party for No Regrets No Remorse next Friday, March 2, at 8 p.m. at the Middle East, 472-480 Mass Ave in Central Square, featuring performances by Quintaine Americana, the Bruise Brothers, Give, Toxic Narcotic, Colepitz, Curb Feeler, Heavy Stud, and Superkollider, with spoken-word performance by Conley and Duncan Wilder Johnson. Tickets are $10; call 931-2000.

BY SEAN RICHARDSON