Sun. Jan. 20

 Since the re-formation of Mission of Burma is not a big deal any longer - hey, they're part of our rock infrastructure now - one keeps looking for new hooks, new wrinkles. "We're constantly working on those," quips drummer-singer Peter Prescott, about the wrinkles, which could be read with double meaning. But it's certainly  one way of saying these late-'70s/early-'80s post-punk vets are 20-plus years down the pike and not about to coast into oldies land. Bassist-singer Clint Conley, put it this way in an email to Prescott: "We're taking the old nag for another trot." The old nag includes guitarist-singer Roger Miller and soundman/tape manipulator Bob Weston. Here's a new wrinkle: Mission of Burma is playing Burma for Burma, a benefit at Great Scott's Sunday Jan. 20, along with the Neighborhoods and the In Out. Tickets: $15. What a deal! Problem: It's sold out. That means, you'll have to find a friend who's got one, make friends with a band member or visit Craig's list or the ticket agencies. This should be a barnburner. What's kept the band's spark, says Prescott, is the strong response to Burma's second comeback album, "The Obliterati," and the fact that after they play "we're high as hell."  After a few months off, Mission of Burma will be trying get up to "throttling speed," as Prescot calls it. Of playing new stuff, he adds,  "You've gotta have connective tissue or you're not a band. It's a shark, it's got to keep eating and the only way to continue to operate. Either doing creative things or just keeping the muscles intact." There are, as usual, no plans to record; neither are there plans not to record. "That has to be part of the equation," he says, "or it stops. We're shocked it hasn't stopped yet. It almost seems perverse and we're well aware of that." Of course, you have to back up your desire with performance and Prescott promises, "If you wanna get your ears batted around, we'll do it with some class. It's easy to be loud, but I don't know too many bands that are loud the way we are. We really like to move your interior organs around in a way you'll remember."

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