Roadtrips

Local ska bands by and large resisted the urge to cash in their chips during the brief ska-core epidemic that swept the country a couple summers ago. As a result, you won't see any of 'em on MTV. But on the upside, they still actually sound like ska bands. And damn fine ones, too. For the better part of a decade -- since '94, to be exact -- the Mash It Up compilation series has documented Boston's thriving ska scene, and there's a new one out now, Mash It Up 2000, with old faces (recent Best Music Poll winners the Allstonians, Bim Skala Bim) and new (Big D & the Kids Table, Jaya the Cat). Several release parties take place this week, the biggest of which goes down on May 26 at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge with Bim Skala Bim, the Allstonians, Beat Soup, Steady Earnest, Shoeless Joe, Jaya the Cat, Jumpsuit Jerry, and Green Island. On May 27 that group splits up: the Allstonians, Big D & the Kids Table, Steady Earnest, the Take 5, and Jumpsuit Jerry head to Café Eclipse (603-226-2556) in Concord, New Hampshire, while Bim Skala Bim, Shoeless Joe, and Green Island play that same night at the Stone Coast Brewery (207-773-2337) in Portland, Maine. Then Bim, the Allstonians, Steady Earnest, and Jaya the Cat reteam and storm Cape Cod's Wellfleet Beachcomber (508-349-6055) on May 28.

In punk: Initial's Boy Sets Fire have a new disc on Victory, After the Eulogy, and a tour that brings 'em to the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester on May 28 along with Ann Beretta, Midtown, the Hope Conspiracy, and Old Man Gloom. Plus Lookout's Groovie Ghoulies do the monster-mash pop-punk thing along with Muffs sound-alikes Buck at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on May 31, and at the Middle East on June 1. In grunge: Local H play Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton on May 25; and Stone Temple Pilots join Every Friggin' Modern-Rock Band In The Universe -- the short list includes the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Godsmack, the Bloodhound Gang, Cypress Hill, and Static-X -- at a sold-out Foxboro Stadium (617-931-2000) on May 27. In swing: Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence hosts the Cherry Poppin' Daddies on May 26 and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on June 2, but neither outfit has the oomph or the stamina of funkmaster George Clinton, who hits Lupo's on May 30.

Boston stoner-metal kings Roadsaw are preparing to release their latest, Rawk N' Roll, but in the meantime they're back in Europe as guests of Nebula. Those of you who are headed across the Pond can catch 'em at El Sol in Madrid on May 27; at Mephisto in Barcelona on May 28; and at Bloom in Milan on May 31.
-- Carly Carioli