Formed in the early '80s in Santa Cruz, Calif., Camper Van Beethoven rocked the college music world and club scene with their one-of-a-kind brand of "surrealist absurdist folk." Encompassing many different genres -- everything from folk, ska and world music to punk and psychedelic rock -- in many ways Camper predicted the hybrid mix of styles that many alternative-rock outfits would ride to chart success in the '90s.

The band even expanded its reach beyond the college-rock radio, garnering MTV play of songs from their major label debut Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and a cover of the Status Quo song "Pictures of Matchstick Men" from their second Virgin Records album Key Lime Pie before splitting acrimoniously in 1990.

Lead singer David Lowery went on to considerable success with his more straightforward alternative roots-rock outfit Cracker, scoring MTV hits with "Eurotrash Girl" and "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)." Meanwhile, the rest of the band continued on its experimental path as the Monks of Doom. The animosity that originally split up CVB eventually subsided, and the band mates came back together for a joint tour in 2001 that featured both Cracker and Camper in loose-limbed collaboration.

Several reunion jaunts featuring just Camper as well as an album of new material (the politically minded 2004 rock opera New Roman Times) and long-overdue greatest hits collection followed. CVB and Cracker team up once again for their annual post-holiday tour that finds the bands sharing the stage for two local shows ahead of the January release date for La Costa Perdida, the group's first new studio effort in nine years.

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven
Friday, Dec. 28, 9 p.m. $25-$27
The Independent

Saturday, Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m. $26-$28
The Mystic Theatre