"A BLACK HALO OVER
MY HEAD"

The live interview from The Echo 10/08/05
By, Coky-Luv Smithereens

When I think of The Black Halos I'll admit that I get a little excited. Well, actually, I think my pulse rises just a little and I start ripping my clothes off and gyrating around like a f%cking maniac weirdo and people stop and say, "What the f%ck is wrong with that crazy bitch?!". HAHA How could I not? To me these guys are totally amazing. They have been a staple in my music collection for a while now and I can't help but want to get into their heads and pick away at their brains. Assuming they haven't lost their minds because they have been touring maniacs with much more than a sense of humor. These guys have style. They also have stamina that you wouldn't believe. I mean, being on a "chaotic" tour like this "Old Skars and Upstarts" has turned out to be for them, they still can get up on stage and mesmerize you. I mean f%ck! I would've been sleeping in a gutter somwhere in Ohio, but these guys kept on going and doing what they do best, give f%cking amazing live performances. They seem as if they were soley put on this earth to be one of those bands that you just can't get enough of. Believe me, these guys are not some schmucks putting out records that you toss onto your coffee table as coasters after a few turns in the stereo. Their most recent album, "Alive Without Control", is somewhere in the heavens. There isn't one song on it that isn't great. Adam and Denyss have proven to be good luck charms along with Billy, Jay and Rob's rabbits feet kicking you in the head letting you know The Black Halos are here and they aren't going anywhere. These guys have what any band would want, a new album that kicks serious ass, stage presence that you can't ignore and the ability to keep a sense of humor despite things like not being able to clear the border and getting their van clobbered in Texas by J. Geils.

With all this in mind, I know I am headed for much more than a word here and a wink there. It is Saturday, October 8th 2005 at The Echo in lovely Los Angeles, Califrnia .Billy, Jay, Rob, Denyss and Adam kindly sit down with me in a very romantic setting with lights and our very own mariachi band (yeah right!) and pretty much give me exactly what I want...The sleazy under belly of their lives on the road, on the stage and in your face as the band we know and luv...I give you, "A Black Halo Over My Head" The live interview of me, Coky-Luv getting to the bottom of who knows what and The Black Halos telling it like it is....

Coky-Luv - How has the tour been for you so far?

Jay - Kinda Weird. We missed the first few shows because we couldn't cross the border, but we caught them 3 days later. Things have been cancelled, weather has wrecked things, gas has been outrageous. We just stayed with it.

Billy - It's been like a survival camp pretty much. It's like the movie, "Another State of Mind", the documentary of the Social Distortion Tour all over again. Things have not changed. The Gods don't like The Black Halos, but hey Duane Peters record label is called Disaster Records and my last name is Hopeless so what do you expect?

Coky-Luv - Do you like touring when things are chaotic? A lot of things in the US were nutty with the hurricane disasters and all the other things that made it crazy.

Denyss - We've been out with some really great bands and some cool people, so it's worth it.

Billy - We've bonded. We're road dogs especially Adam, man. He is like the happiest guy I've ever met on tour.

Coky-Luv - So, what kind of responses have you been getting to your new album, "Alive Without Control"? When was it released?

Denyss - Pretty good. It was recorded in February and released June 28th 2005.

Jay - Pretty good actually. It's really cool. We've gotten a lot of decent reviews. A lot of people mention a lot of different songs which is pretty cool. They can't pick just one. If they pick just like one or 2 songs the whole time you're like, "Oh, so there's eight shitty ones?". (laughs) At least they pick on all the songs.

Billy - They pick different ones and no one has called it "Shit Sandwich" yet, so until someone calls it "Shit Sandwich" we're OK.

Coky-Luv - What have the 2 new members brought to the band?

Denyss - Youth and Beauty. There's definitely some new influence being brought to the table now. We all listen to a lot of the same music, but our tastes do differ at some point. So, it's not just gonna sound like the old records did.

Jay - It's a lot lighter of an album.

Billy - Yeah right. Happy, happy, joyful like elation. I'd say they brought elation to the band. They made us a much more pleasant band.

Coky-Luv - (I get burned here) Being a musician is hard. There are a lot of things you have to deal with. How do you deal with them?

Denyss - We wouldn't know (Denyss said this so sarcastically and burned me so good. I luv him for it)

Jay - We joke a lot. We make fun of each other constsantly.

Billy - It's the only way we keep our sanity at times. Otherwise, we break down.

Coky-Luv - I want each of you to answer this question. Why do you LUV this band?

Jay - I can't answer that really. Obviously, I like the songs. I like playing them. I'm not embarassed by it. Well, slightly embarassed. I like the tunes, I guess. I guess it affords me an opportunity of taking off and doing shit. we don't just like stay home, which is boring. You know what I mean. It's really hard to get five people to be on the same page. I don't know how there can be this many bands touring w/o killing each other.

Denyss - Well, I was a big fan of the band way before I ever joined, so that kinda adds to it right there. As far as being in the band, I get to wear black and that's part of my uniform and get encouraged to act like a queer. (We all laugh at that) The music is great...A legend in the making.

Billy - Well, when this band formed, it was really because there was no one playing the music that we like and no one was doing it. It wasn't really a popular thing. We were from Vancouver and so we had to start making our own favorite band because no one liked the stuff we were listening to. That is why I think I really luv this band because even though it still isn't the most popular band in the world, there are kids that've come up to me and went, "You're my favorite band. Nobody plays stuff like you.". I remember feeling that way. I remember hearing and seeing bands like"The New York Dolls" on Don Kirschner going, "This is the greatest band in the world!" My older brother was like, "They're just a poor "Aerosmith" which is just a cheap "Rolling Stones". I'm going to bed!" I was like, "I luv stuff!" and nobody liked the Dolls for years. No one liked any of the bands we liked. No one was listening to "Richard Hell and the Voidoids" and talking about them where we were from. So it was really cool to make a band that was still hated by everyone, but we all felt like this the best band we can possibly be in. I luv this band. I'd buy this band's records. I still feel that way. This is my favorite band, that's it. Plus, they all give good hand jobs.

Coky-Luv - What do you take from every live show?

Jay - It's different. If there's a lot of people there that are just having fun, then we will have fun. If there's a lot of people and they hate us, then that's obviously gonna have some other effect as well. Sometimes it's good and sometimes we'll play even better just to piss everyone off. You know like, "This band sucks!". Well, we're gonna have as much fun as we possibly can and you're gonna hate us even more. It's different every time.

Billy - I usually take two drink tickets cause that's what is seems like America likes to give. They like to give two drink tickets. Two tickets to paradise. that's the American way I think. Sometimes, it's one drink ticket. That's what I usually take from a show.

Coky-Luv - How do you guys see yourselves in 10 years?

Denyss - My tarot reader said I had a short life span, so probably dead.

Jay - In ten years? I'll be..uh...I don't know. God, I don't have an answer. You're questining my mortality. It's freaking me out!

Billy - I can tell you. Jay's gonna be that old guy jingling change and whistling down the street. I'm gonna be that guy sitting on the steps going, "I was there in the great rock n' roll revolution of 2000 and 2". If the record label has their way, we'll all be daed and they'll make a lot of money off all of us. The goal is to make legends of the death.

Coky-Luv - How are you guys all feeling right now?

Denyss - Sober

Jay - Sober

Billy - This cocktail is starting to do something.

Coky-Luv - How come (Billy) you kept mentioning on stage that the everyone want s to see you w/ your pants off and are all of you tired of seeing Billy in his underwear?

Jay - I am tired of seeing him in his underwear.

Denyss - I'm indifferent.

Billy - See, what it's all about is men don't take enough care of grooming and the presentation of themselves. See, men think, "Me cave man. I can just wear anything.". Women are expected to go into like nice lingerie stores and buy really nice panties. Now I think guys should take a good tip on that and buy better underwear and groom themselves. Like I wax my testicles.

Coky-Luv - What is the most sick and twisted prank you've pulled out on the road?

Billy - I stuck my finger up my bum and stuck it up a guy's nose once. But, he pissed on me first so, that's sort of you know...He deserved it. He was eating breakfast at a vegetarian restaurant and we just happened to pull up to get gas next to it and we saw the van. I went, "YES!" and I ran in and walked up, stuck my finger up my ass and shoved it up his nose. He started puking on the table. It was a really romantic evening in America. It was like Superfly stuff.

Jay - Would that be under sick or twisted?

Denyss - I have nothing to add.

Coky-Luv - What do you do to take little breaks from each other?

Jay- We get to towns and everyone kind of knows different people in different towns. So when we get there, we scatter. I know a lot of bands stick together, but we'll scatter and do our own things in different towns.

Billy - At home we never talk to each. We never talk to each other at home except me (haha). I'll call, "What are you doing?" and nobody will call me back. I get really hurt.(haha).

Denyss - I call Rob about every 20 minutes with something I forgot to ask him.

ROB'S BIG ENTRANCE

Coky-Luv - Who just sat down? Tell me your name and what you do in the band.

Rob - I'm Rob and I play the drums.

(funny pause before I make a jack-ass out of myself)

Coky-Luv - WOW...(I said this in such a spaced out way that everyone started laughing and commented on me and Rob's "special" moment, which was really me being a spacebrain)

Coky-Luv - (to Robbie) How do you feel about the tour?

Rob - I think it's kinda fucked-up. It has like it's really good moments, but it has like way more bad moments.

Jay - There's a lot of chaos.

Billy - Disorganized.

Coky-Luv - Give me some words of wisdom guys. Touring all the time is difficult - How do you do it?

Jay - It's not for everyone. I try to just have as much fun as I can. the old saying is, "The worst day in music is still better than the best day at work.".

Billy - Not very many people get to see the places we get to see. Even though sometimes it's like, " What are we doing?", at least we get to go, "Wow, we've been to Lawrence, Kansas.". Lawrence in a great place and I never would've went there if it wasn't for playing music. We played this place called, "The Replay". It was just all these old video games and all these old pinballs. Tons of pinballs and you play in the middle and stuff like that is just great. It's Lawrence, Kansas - "Good times. Get Wrecked."

Coky-Luv - How do you guys like Los Angeles?

Denyss - I like it.

Rob - Yeah, I like it. I have a luv/hate with it because I've been coming here my whole life. I have family that lives down here so, you know. It's cool. I like it.

Jay - I used to be not really into it. I thought it was kind of a weird place, but, I ended up liking it.

Billy - There's people that I like here and that's what makes it good. Any where you are if there's people that you like, that makes it way better.

Coky-Luv - If you guys were at home alone right now, what would you be doing?

Jay - I'd probably be watching TV. I watch a lot of TV. I rent movies.

Denyss - I'd be playing video games with my ferrets.

Rob - I would probably just be calling friends and watching a movie. I'd probably be going for a walk cause I luv just going for a walk cause I hate being cooped up inside my apartment all the time. I'd rather just be walking around going to record stores and readinf magazines and stuff like that. I just like going out to music shops and listening to new music and stuff like that. Just checking stuff out.

Billy - If I was at alone at home right now without a purple lampshade, I'd probably be leaving because I hate my own company. Or, I'd probably be sitting smoking and watching the dumpster divers in my alley cause I live in sort of a posh neighborhood. The dumpster divers have the best fashion sense. They've got like Gucci bags that they put stuff in. I'm serious!

ADAM WALKS UP

Coky-Luv - (to Adam) If you were at home alone right now, what would you be doing?

Adam - Watching reruns of "Love Boat" with my robe open.

Coky-Luv - (to Adam) How has the tour been for you so far?

Adam - I'm having a blast because we're playing better than ever. I'm just looking forward to Canada where the drives and everything will be easier. It'll let us enjoy our playing more.

Coky-Luv - Any memorable moments?

Adam - Everyday. Let me talk about when the van and the trailor were towed 5 minutes before we decided to take our second attempt at the border.

Jay - We dressed up as Devo in NYC at four in the morning.

Coky-Luv - Any last words?

Denyss - Don't ever order anything on the menu with words triple bypass in it.