Roadtrips

Local hooligans-done-good Dropkick Murphys have a disc of working-class pubcore, Do or Die, coming out on Hellcat -- the new Epitaph imprint devoted to old-school ska and oi! -- with production by Rancid (former UK Subs) guitarist Lars Frederiksen. Opening with a burst of bagpipes and closing with a smashmouth a cappella chorus courtesy of the Swingin' Udders (somewhere in between one of the guys from the Big Bad Bollocks plays tin whistle!), it's full of three-chord, stein-raising sing-alongs for disenchanted skinheads . . . with an odd on-the-docks folk-song quality buried in there too. Veterans of the Bosstones' "Boston on the Road" roadshow (as well as their New Year's Eve gig at the Centrum), they're at the Espresso Bar (508-770-1455) in Worcester for an all-ages show January 10 with Hometown Throwdown vets the Ducky Boys, Bullyrag, and the Assassin 8s.

Art-pop chameleons Ween will show up at the Roxy (617-338-7699) in Boston later this month; this Wednesday, January 14, they're at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence with raucous New Orleans lounge-funksters Royal Fingerbowl. Combustible Edison have a make-up date January 9 at the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence, rescheduled from a December cancellation. Lockgroove warm up for their impending album-release party at the Middle East (on January 24) by splattering the Met CafŽ (401-861-2142) in Providence with catalytic, pop-savvy wall-of-noise guitar heroics tonight (the 8th). Sweet Diesel and Six Going on Seven -- the latter of whom have an album out on NY's Some Records -- hit the Space (508-753-0017) in Worcester January 11, on their way out for a national tour. Burritocore stompers Honkeyball open up. And some guy whose symbol I lost shortly after Warner Brothers sent it over plays the Centrum (331-2211) on short notice next Friday, January 16.