Roadtrips

Reel Big Fish's "Sell Out" stuck to listeners' palates quicker than they could turn the radio off, and "Trendy" struck the fishy baseball Florida Marlins as so diggable that they made it their unofficial theme song. The biggest goofballs and stickiest ska-punk popsters to come along since the good ol' days of, uh, Goldfinger, the Fish on their second disc now ask themselves the musical question Why Do They Rock So Hard? (Mojo). Having already made off with A-ha's "Take On Me," they recently stripped down to their skivvies (musically speaking) to do an a cappella rendition of "New York, New York" for an upcoming Sinatra tribute (a deft trend-stabbing move in itself) and made off with arguably the best song in the catalogue, "Gigantic," for a Pixies tribute. They'll cast their lines once again at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on March 2, and at the Roxy (617-338-7699) in Boston on March 6. Zebrahead open both shows.

Authors of one of the better death-metal discs to come down the pike last year, Whisper Supremacy (Century Media), Canada's Cryptopsy make a run for the border, kicking off a US tour with dates at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on February 25, and at Infinity (413-731-9329) in Springfield on February 28. They'll wind up back this way on May 1 to appear at the recently announced three-day New England Hardcore and Metalfest at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester, which will finally give Massachusetts a taste of the kind of mayhem regularly visited on Milwaukee this time of year. Also headed to the festival bill, vegan death-metal heroes Earth Crisis are at the Living Room (401-521-5200) in Providence on February 28.

A press release indicates that the original Bad Brains line-up had to give up the "Bad" to deal with some unnamed contractual obligations, but whoever was giving 'em grief couldn't steal the soul, and so it will be the Soul Brains -- the Bad Brains of hardcore legend in every way but name -- performing on March 2 at Pearl Street in (413-584-0610) Northampton and on March 4 at Avalon (617-262-2424) in Boston. Bad Brains reunions tend to have a shorter halflife than manmade isotopes, so don't miss it.

A one-time valet to B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland found his life imitating his art when he was drafted shortly after cutting "Army Blues" in 1953. He beat Mr. T to the phrase "I Pity the Fool" by a couple of decades, and by the time the bejeweled mohawked menace turned it into a prime-time slogan, Whitesnake was covering Bland's "(Ain't No Love in the) Heart of the City." Still churning out blues you can use in his 69th year, Bland will be at Harpers Ferry (617-254-7380) in Allston for two shows -- with the Racky Thomas Band opening -- to wind down that club's month-long blues festival on Thursday the 25th before moving on to Lupo's on the 26th.
-- CC