The Doxies with the Wormwood Scrubs

"He's been getting down with the new disease," croaks Doxies singer Tim Lloyd on "Kid Don't Know," a track off the band's just-released Weight of Gold LP. While the lyrics are vague about this "new disease," a clue comes at the two-minute mark of the track, where this sturdy rocker becomes -- say it ain't so -- a dance-punk song. The hi-hat goes into overdrive, the bass flanges into oblivion, and the guitars become as jagged as the Bravery's hairstyles. Since when did this herky-jerky throwback become an obligatory allusion? Has the cruel hand of Franz Ferdinand corrupted these five fellas from Columbia, Missouri?

Thankfully it's all a passing fancy; the rest of Weight of Gold (the Doxies' third album) charts the progression of the band's Southern rock hybrid. Mixing Crazy Horse's guitar solos, My Morning Jacket's ethereal haze and Kings of Leon's fear of the barber, the Doxies have branched out more on this outing. The aforementioned detour notwithstanding, the sonic chances have paid off. Wes Wingate's keyboards take a central role, and the record is better for it: His Wurlitzer's quote of Tom Waits' "Mockingbird" on the first track is a reassuring one-off. More often than not, the boys break away from the standard 4/4, balls-out approach and give the songs some space. The stage has long been the Doxies' proving ground, and this time they'll share it with their friends in the Wormwood Scrubsfor a benefit for cancer survivors -- lead Scrubbers Jason Rook and Larissa Dalle (a three-year survivor herself) recorded Weight of Gold and sang back-up, respectively.

Show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $7 (cancer survivors get in free); call 314-621-2181 for more information.