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Although the Lost City Angels’ new album will have serious messages, they are far from stony straight-edge politicos. They constantly trade jokes and guzzle beers. They laugh and poke fun at each other, horse around with Kolderie’s big hairy mutt, Rudy, and greet visitors like old friends.

That’s the way they were brought up, musically. The bands they loved and got a boost from, mostly fellow Bostonians the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dropkick Murphys, conduct themselves the same way — with good spirits and a genuine affection for their fans and people in general. They often spend hours talking both with strangers and with familiar faces at their shows. They even write songs communally, with every Angel pitching in lyrics and playing a hand in arranging tunes.

The path that’s led the Lost City Angels to their current major-label deal has been a four-and-a-half-year blur. Since 2001 they’ve ripped repeatedly across the country, opening for Dropkick Murphys, Social Distortion, the Living End, and Flogging Molly, and playing their own dates at everything from VFW-hall all-ages shows to the Warped Tour. They made their 2002 debut, Lost City Angels (Nitro), with former Bosstones guitarist Nate Albert — who manages the band — at the controls. And they’ve never given up day jobs, although touring so often has meant they’ve had plenty of them. That is, except for Shaw, who’s worked at the Middle East club — where his bosses understand the travails of the rock-and-roll life — since 1997. For the record, Duggan also works at the Middle East, Suxx slings luggage at Logan Airport, Ragona is on the Avalon stage crew, and Bacon is a mover.

"It feels like we’re always running," says Shaw. "Always hitting one thing after another and never slowing down."

"Some people think we’re really sitting pretty now," says Suxx, referring to their major-label deal. "But we’re still going to our jobs. What’s cool is that for the first time we don’t have to rush through recording, which we’ve always had to do, whether it was recording demos or making our album."

What’s also cool is that the Lost City Angels aren’t the only Boston punk band who are making the leap to the major labels after relentlessly laboring at their craft. The Explosion released their major-label debut, Black Tape (Virgin), in October and the Street Dogs will release their outstanding Back to the World (Brass Tacks/DRT) in early 2005.

"Boston is sitting pretty in the American punk scene right now," says David Staygold, who signed the Lost City Angels — whom he describes as "a noble-as-shit punk-rock band" — to his New York City–based imprint. "The Lost City Angels will really be the flagship band for us. Everybody in the punk-rock community loves them from their first record and wants to put them on their tours. Between the Unseen, who signed to Fat Wreck Chords, the Explosion, the Street Dogs, and Lost City Angels, that’s four great bands who have real distribution power. They’re all no-joke bands. Since the pop-punk thing is played out, emo is real tired, and the screamo stuff is unlistenable, maybe it’s time for real punk to be popular again."

Nate Albert, who, besides managing the Angels, has produced demos with the Explosion and co-produced both of the Street Dogs albums, offers his insight: "There’s a strong punk scene in town right now, and the record industry has shrunk in a way that makes these bands attractive to bigger labels that might not have signed raw, guitar-driven bands, or even a group that’s a little more arty and eclectic, a few years ago. In a way, the industry shitting the bed has been amazing for punk rock. The labels no longer have bloated budgets, so now a touring band that’s built its own following is a valuable commodity. When a label sees that a band is touring six months a year, having fun on stage, and has a sound and a message, they’re interested."

Parenthetically, fans of Albert’s own post-Bosstones band, the Kickovers, might wonder what the hell’s going on with the group. At this point, the guitarist explains, the band are on ice. "We did 30 shows in front of 20 to 20,000 people and I realized the part I liked most was being in the studio. When I was in the Bosstones I loved touring and being on stage. When I was playing Kickovers shows, all I wanted to do was get to the guitar solos. I was just filling in the blanks with singing. I really love playing, but now my life is so much more about songwriting and the studio and bringing records to life."

The Lost City Angels play an all-ages show on December 26 at the Webster Theater Underground, 31 Webster Street, in Hartford; call (860) 525-5553. They play on New Year’s Eve at the Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, in Central Square; call (617) 497-0576.