The Black Halos rock back to back nights at the Rickshaw
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:00:27 +0000
When: Feb. 7, 8, 8 p.m.
Where: Rickshaw Theatre
Tickets and info: $20, at ticketweb.ca
There are fake mall punks. There are genuine gutter punks. Billy Hopeless knows where The Black Halos fans hail from.
“The Black Halos is a real outsider rock n’ roll band that speaks for, and to, people who don’t fit; people like me.” said Hopeless.
“It’s a very human band putting forth real emotion, real humanity, because that is what all good rock n’ roll was always like. All the boy bands I grew up listening to — Dead Boys, The Boyz, The Ducky Boys, even the Ramones and the New York Dolls — were always on the outside looking in.”
From 1993 to 2008, Hopeless and the initial core of guitarists Rich Jones and Jay Millette, drummer Rob Zgaljic, and assorted bassists toured relentlessly. The hard work paid off as the band was justly recognized for its high-energy live shows and solid, swaggering songwriting.
Inking a deal with Seattle’s Sup Pop label, the band’s second album The Violent Years (2001) was produced by grunge era legend Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden).
The album was well received. Things were looking up. Then they weren’t.
“Rich and I had a falling out ,and he went off to join Amen, and maybe that was the start of a slow implosion,” said Hopeless.
“We put out Alive Without Control (2005) with Jay and Rob and guitarist Davey French and Kelly Wheeler (bass), and people just loved it, and the one that followed with a different lineup (We Are Not Alone, 2007), too. But when our gear and trailer got stolen in Montreal, it was the final straw.”
The band broke-up in 2008, and appeared consigned to the history books.
Millette moved to Toronto and played in Darlings of Chelsea. Jones relocated to England and is a member of former Hanoi Rocks’ singer Michael Moore’s band, gigging all over Europe. Zgaljic switched from playing to concert production. Hopeless formed The Bonitos.
Nothing felt quite like the Halos.
“We took advice from Joey from DOA, breaking up and re-forming with different line ups here and there,” he said.
“Then Rich and I did a tour in Spain a few years back with this group the Basque Street Boys as our band, and it went over so great that we started writing new songs. Rich moved to Toronto and kept running into Jay and asking him about rejoining, and one drunken night he said yes.”
Adding in former Age of Electric bassist John Kearns and drummer Danni Action, the reformed band went back into the studio with Endino to record the new Geisterbahn 7″ EP and digital single.
The three song recording includes the air-punching Geisterbahn II, Swell Maps-like Tandem Drown, and full-on punk attack of Fossil Fuel. It’s a definite return to form for the band, with all of the spit and sweat that fans would expect.
“It was me and Rich doing Spain that really cemented it, playing to 2,000-plus people singing along to every word when we opened for Danzig,” said Hopeless.
“People kept asking about whether we were going to come back; in Spain, in the States, and at home in Vancouver. It kind of gets you thinking, “maybe we weren’t s–t and were pretty good.””
Black Halos live in Barcelona.
Hopeless says the band has written a whole album and hopes to head into studio sometime in 2020 to record it. That album will be out on Yeah Right! Records run by London, ON., musician Tony Lima. Home to bands from the Thunder Queens to The Spitfires, the label also put out the very first Black Halos single. Hopeless says it’s like being back home again.
The new material is coming across the way Hopeless says the best songs always did, from a process of collaboration.
“I can write a song that is really catchy, happy and poppy, and Rich will put something on it that makes it down and depressing sounding,” he said.
“Then I’ll complain, and he’ll come up with some really happy melody that just makes it all so right. It’s always been that way with our best songs.”
Back in the band’s heyday, the Brickyard, the Niagara and the Piccadilly Pub were pillars of the local rock ‘n’ roll revival. The Black Halos held court regularly, as did such gutter rockers as the Murder City Devils, The Supersuckers, and others.
The band was well-known for championing the local scene, and Hopeless still sounds like a cheerleader discussing the killer line up of support acts for the coming back-to-back shows at Vancouver’s present rock palace; the Rickshaw.
“These were the guys I wanted, these were the bands I liked,” said Hopeless.
“I remember the Spitfires giving us their first demo tape at the Niagara. I’ve known Greg from Bishops Green going all the way back to the Subway Thugs, and he can really write a song — his craftsmanship is incredible. Sore Points just got back from touring in Thailand and areas, and Chain Whip kicks ass.”
The only band that couldn’t be set up for the bill was Alien Boys. No doubt, the chance will come somewhere down the road.
Hopeless notes that the Black Halos are ready to go.
“The scene seemed to be drifting for awhile, but it always does that,” he said.
“It goes through phases where everyone is staring at their shoes until someone goes ‘hey, look up here’. Then they do, and there are killer bands like Amyl and the Sniffers from Australia, and a bunch of others for a bit, and then everyone starts looking at their shoes again.”
It goes without saying that Hopeless intends to be around for as many of those cycles as come around in his lifetime. The Black Halos are a favourite vehicle to deliver his style of bark and snarl singing.
“We’ve got a booking agent now, we want to get this album done, and then we’ll see,” he said.
“And the day will undoubtedly come when I’ll be sitting in a hotel room going, ‘I hate this’ once more. Then you get on stage and it’s all forgotten, because that’s what we live for.”
• The Black Halos plays with The Spitfires and Sore Points Feb. 7 and with Bishops Green and Chain Whip on Feb. 8.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com