Supersuckers hit the Brick House

Actor Jerry Reed, 71, of “Smokey and the Bandit,” died last week due to complications caused by emphysema. Along with a few film roles, Reed was also a country singer. His best-known song, “East Bound and Down,” was covered by the Supersuckers on the band’s most recent album, 2005’s “Devil’s Food: A Collection of Rare Sweets and Evil Treats.”

The Supersuckers itself is east bound and down as the band heads to New England for a few dates on its “Hittin’ the Gravel” tour, stopping in Dover on its way up to Canada. With 20 years now under its belts, the self-proclaimed “greatest rock band in the world” will take the stage on Sunday, Sept. 14, at the Dover Brick House, following a set from area hard rock favorites Death & Taxes.

Despite a claim in the recent film “Hamlet 2” that Tucson, Ariz., is the worst place in the world, the city did see the formation of the Supersuckers in 1988. Originally a five-piece band named The Black Supersuckers, original lead singer Eric Martin left after the group moved to Seattle in 1989, and bass player Eddie Spaghetti stepped into the lead role. The “Black” was dropped from the name shortly thereafter.

After several years of playing clubs and releasing a compilation of singles on a small label, the Supersuckers signed with SubPop. Its first album on the label, “The Smoke of Hell,” was released in 1992. Several years of touring with such bands as Reverend Horton Heat, Mudhoney, The Dwarves, Motorhead and The Ramones firmly established the band as one of the country’s most talented rock acts.

The Supersuckers have released more than a dozen albums, including 1997’s “Must Have Been High,” the band’s successful foray into country songs, which later spawned a tour of country music shows and the concert album, “Must Have Been Live.” The band also contributed a single to “Free the West Memphis 3,” a compilation album organized in 2000 by Spaghetti to bring awareness to the case of three young men who many feel were falsely convicted and are serving life sentences in Memphis.

As hard working and hard rocking as ever, the Supersuckers have continued to pound out hard beats while opening up to a whole new generation of fans with podcasts on iTunes and videos on YouTube. Known for holding a fake encore at the end of shows, where the band pretends to leave the stage, fans of the Supersuckers can expect nothing less than a real kick-ass time this weekend.

The 21-and-over show begins at 8 p.m. at the Dover Brick House, 2 Orchard St., Dover, 603-749-3839. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. For more on the Supersuckers, visit www.supersuckers.com.

Laurel Brauns returns for Portsmouth gig

Singer-songwriter Laurel Brauns, former hostess of The Red Door’s Hush Hush Sweet Harlot music series, left the Seacoast last year and trekked across the country to Oregon, where she settled in Bend. She met violinist Julie Southwell in January while both were cross-country skiing through a blizzard on Mt. Bachelor. Under these auspicious circumstances, the pair decided to get together and play some music. Brauns implemented a piece of her past into the resulting band’s name: the Sweet Harlots.

Brauns and her new band will visit The Red Door on Monday, Sept. 15, to participate in the series after which it was named. Splitting the bill with the Harlots will be singer-songwriter Audrey Ryan, a past Hush Hush performer and long-time friend of Brauns. 

The Sweet Harlots’ show in Portsmouth comes during a brief swing through northern New England, with other gigs scheduled at Unity College in Unity, Maine, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and at One Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine, on Thursday, Sept. 18. Then it’s back to Oregon for Brauns, a native of Laconia.

The indie band’s sparse sound, which consists of acoustic guitar, violin and lush vocals from both members, features the type of folk and Celtic elements that has long typified Brauns’ songwriting. She seems to have found an appropriate band mate in Southwell, whose playing fetches out the music’s thicker emotions. The smooth interplay between the strings and the chilling vocal harmonies amount to a surprisingly full sound from two like-minded artists.

The show begins at 8 p.m. at The Red Door, 107 State St., Portsmouth, 603-373-6827. Visit www.myspace.com/sweetharlots.

midnight Metallica

If you’re a Metallica fan, you’ve waited more than five years for the release of a new original studio album. Why wait another extra day? All Bull Moose Music locations, including the shop in downtown Portsmouth, will be open for business from 12 to 12:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, for a midnight sale of “Magnetic Death.” (Note, this is late Thursday night/early Friday morning.)

The new disc is Metallica’s first since 2003’s “St. Anger,” the torturous making of which was filmed for the 2004 documentary “Some Kind of Monster.” The new album promises to satisfy Metallica fans of yore, many of whom grew disapproving after the band members chopped off their hair in the mid-1990s and went on to denounce online music sharing. Early reviews of “Magnetic Death” indicate that the hard rock icons have returned to their raw, thrash metal roots. Cheers to that.

“We’ve been hearing really great things about the new CD. A lot of customers are talking about it,” said Eric Rossignol, assistant manager of the Bull Moose in Brunswick, Maine, in an email. “The midnight sale is simply responding to all of the excitement for this.”

“Magnetic Death” is Metallica’s first studio album with bassist Robert Trujillo and legendary producer Rick Rubin. It’s the band’s ninth album overall; the first, “Kill ’Em All,” came out 25 years ago, in 1983. The new disc’s midnight sale price will be $9.97. Portsmouth’s Bull Moose Music is at 82 Congress St., 603-422-9525.