Jucifer.

Giving you the music a day early:

Before there was Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes, there was G. Amber Valentine and Ed Livengood of Jucifer. The hellacious one-two punch rides the wall of sound created by Valentine’s grinding guitar and Livengood’s thunderbolt drumming, creating a metal blast of music that tap dances on the throat of The White Stripes. The nomadic duo return to Downtown Music with opening acts Furlow band Knee Deep with their marching Southern metal and Little Rock quartet Pallbearer with their “psychedelic epic doom” metal. The music starts at 8 p.m. with a $8 cover.

One Stone Productions presents A Soul Explosion on Friday at Juanita’s with soul singer Eric Roberson and neo-soul artist Algebra. Little Rock trumpeter Rodney Block and his backing band the Real Music Lovers will open. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. with doors opening at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now with general admission tickets $25 and reserved seating tickets (including an appetizer) $40.

Rousing country rocker Stoney LaRue — Texas born but Oklahoma bred — returns to Little Rock and Sticky Fingerz to run through a collection of tunes that are a blend of Red Dirt Country (Think Cross Canadian Ragweed and the like.) and pure American music. (Consider legends such as Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Grateful Dead and Kris Kristofferson.) In the end, LaRue creates music that mixes and matches country with soul, rock ‘n’ roll and blues. The Midnight River Choir — with their Texas country rock — is the opening band, kicking off the music at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 advance and $12 day of show for the 21-and-up gig.

Throughout their 20-plus years as a trio, Green Day has slowly transitioned from roughish pop punkers singing about smoking their inspiration on Dookie’s “Longview,” to politically in tune, socially conscious alternative rockers with American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. Not a mere cover band, but a tribute band, Chicago’s American Idiots recreate the sound, appearance and energy of the Grammy Award winners. Formed by ex-members of Chicago rock band Shooting Blanks, American Idiots visits Revolution Music Room to play Green Day, from “When I Come Around” to “21 Guns.” The Breakthrough is the opening act with their blues-influenced alternative rock sound, kicking off the music at 8:30 p.m. for the 18-and-up show. Tickets are $8 for 21 and over, and $10 for 18-20.

John Sinclair, a long-time civil rights activist, poet and one-time manager of punk pioneers MC5, will visit Little Rock. Sinclair will first appear at the Clinton School’s Sturgis Hall at 6 p.m. to deliver a lecture titled “North Mississippi Blues: Reflections from the Hill Country,” a discussion of the unique blues sound resonating from the hills of North Mississippi. Joining Sinclair will be David Kimbrough Jr., the son of legendary North Mississippi hill country blues artist Junior Kimbrough, and Duwayne Burnside, son of R.L. Burnside, another bluesman known for his raw, droning Mississippi hill country blues. Following the lecture, the three will appear at White Water Tavern at 9 p.m. along with Arkansas bluesman Thomas Houston Jones and his band the Snake Hips where Sinclair will recite his poetry. They will be joined on stage at the White Water by local bluesman and cigar box guitar luthier Bluesboy Jag with a solo acoustic hill country blues set.

Electronic music DJ Hatiras describes himself as a “DJ, music producer, artist, promoter and fun guy.” The owner of Hatrax and Blow Media record labels, host of a weekly radio show showcasing the best DJs around the globe and two-time Juno Award winner (The Canadian Grammys — Yeah, he’s Canadian.) Hatiras will visit The Village to present his mind-bending electronic music. The music starts at 8:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door, with VIP tickets $20 advance and $25 at the door.

Here’s Jucifer with the video to their tune “The Mountain”: