Mother’S Pub Gets Heavy

This week, the music hitting the local clubs is going to be heeeeaaaavvvvvy. First, Sugartooth and Godspeed will be laying their wrecking-ball-friendly grooves into the walls of Mother’s Pub tonight.

Sugartooth - don’t be deceived by the name - is vying for recognition. Yes, the band records for a major label, DGC, but “Sugartooth” ranks as the band’s debut album.

The quartet hasn’t made a name for itself, at least not yet.

A spring tour with Tad would have helped. However, Tad canceled the entire tour to join the Soundgarden tour as an opener. Tough break for Sugartooth.

But if you want to see what sort of influence Black Sabbath left on a younger generation of listeners, Sugartooth is the best example.

Godspeed is another band which anchors its brain-poaching sound with dark, leadish riffs.

The songs on Godspeed’s major label debut “Ride” churn like green slime in city sewers. It isn’t pretty, but that’s not the point.

Elsewhere in the night

San Francisco’s perennial punk band R.K.L. will join Mother Load for a showcase of big and beefy punk rock tonight at the Big Dipper.

R.K.L. records for Epitaph, the seminal L.A. punk label that also features artists like NOFX, Bad Religion and the Offspring on its roster.

R.K.L.’s most recent recording for the label, 1993’s “Reactive,” is full of quirky punk and funk rhythms, not your run-of-the-mill punk.

Mother Load is shopping for a label to release its second album. In the meantime, a four-song EP should be out on eMpTy Records soon.

Openers to be announced. Tunes at 9:30 p.m. The cover is $4.

Tchkung! The sound of the band lies in its name.

Tchkung!, which plays the Dipper Saturday, is a collective experience among band members (sometimes numbering 10), various performers and the audience.

The Seattle group’s sound covers a broad spectrum of music. The five drummers drive home a tribal beat while the rest of the group supplies Middle Eastern textures as well as organic industrial noise and other worldly sounds.

Tchkung is usually accompanied on stage by body piercers, fire breathers, welders and other eclectic types.

The Planetary Refugees open.

Showtime’s at 9:30 p.m. Bring $4 and ID.