Roadtrips

So did he or didn't he? In the course of winning the Rumble this past month, Boston drunk-punks Darkbuster played "The Amazing Royal Shaft," a catchy number that was introduced as a true story about how the bass player had brought his girlfriend to see the Amazing (then Royal) Crowns during their Rumble-winning stint a couple years back, only to have her run off with the Crowns' singer. The chorus is unambiguous: "Not as funny as it sounds/My girl fucked the singer in the Royal Crowns." In the course of talking with said singer, Jason Kendall, we had to ask. "I did not fuck her," laughed Kendall. "She's a friend of mine and we laugh about it all the time. First of all, I think the song's hilarious, and I'll say it here first: I want them to do that song on a split single with us. But I remember that was a crazy night, I didn't know they were still together. His last words to me were, 'Dude, it's over between us, it's cool, hang out with her.' But I did not fuck her. After the Darkbuster song she called me and said, 'You know what they're saying.' And I said, 'Yeah.' And she goes, 'Well, you wanna get together?' And I'm like, 'No! I don't want any more grief.' " The Amazing Crowns play a "private" gig at Bill's Bar (617-421-9678) in Boston on June 14, for which tickets are available free with the purchase of the Crowns' new disc, Royal (Time Bomb), at any Newbury Comics. They'll then hit the Skinny in Portland (207-871-8983) for two shows on June 15 and 16 (the latter an all-ages day gig). But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, the Crowns hook up with Jimmy Gestapo and Murphy's Law at the Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on June 9 -- and before that, on June 8, Murphy's Law are at Bill's with Toxic Narcotic and others. Darkbuster play Bill's with the Big Bad Bollocks and Tommy & the Terrors on June 9, before heading out on their own to the Green Room (401-351-7665) in Providence on June 10. Meanwhile, the subjects of another Darkbuster fave -- a tune called "I Hate the Unseen" -- show up at the Beach Club and Café (978-465-8283) in Salisbury on June 11. Also on the bill: the Casualties, Virus, and Adolf & the Piss Artists.

The outdoor concert sheds heat up this week: the FleetBoston Pavilion (617-931-2000) has Indigo Girls for a two-night stand (coinciding with Gay Pride week) on June 10 and 11. KISS, Ted Nugent, and a Sebastian Bach-less Skid Row rock all night and every day, or at least for two nights at the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) on June 12 and 13. Testosterone yields to the Cure (well, sorta -- who'da thunk Robert Smith would end up being cited as inspirational by Korn and the Deftones?) at the Tweeter on June 14, and then the rock returns with multi-culti soft-rap/rock kids 311 and Incubus at the same venue on June 15.
-- Carly Carioli