Yeah, i'm not sure if a list of venues like circus_brimstone mentioned would help, but I'm in St. Louis MO and could give you some. I'm now an OLD FART and wasn't really ever in the scene here, but i just looked up a local college station metal show - you might be able to contact him and see if he knows what good bands are from around here and where good shows are at.
http://kslu.slu.edu/metal.php
Offhand, i know of:
Creepy Crawl (metal place - NovDoom played at the old location, new one's supposed to be better),
Bluebird (bluebirdstl.com i think, more rock-oriented but could work),
Lemp Arts Center (more punk/avant-garde music DIY place, not sure they'd work)
Pop's (popsrocks.com) is where the big metal tours go around here (At the Gates plays there July 15th, that Summer Slaughter tour is there July 27th)
also (not sure if this helps or not), Columbia, MO is a big college town- many tours totally bypass St. Louis in favor of playing there. Lawrence, KS is same situation, many bands play there rather than Kansas City.