Although there have been a plethora of punk revivalists over the years, Vancouver’s the Black Halos look to a slightly different golden age than that of the Clash and the Buzzcocks; they’re more enamored by the glammed-up trash-rock of the New York Dolls, the sonic scuzz of the Stooges, and the snotty nihilism of the Dead Boys.
New Noise are proud to premiere, “Uncommonwealth,” the title track taken from their forthcoming EP out June 11 through Cursed Blessings, below:
In 1999, the group released their self-titled, debut record on Sub Pop imprint Die Young Stay Pretty before switching to Sub Pop proper, where they released the “Jane Doe/Russian Roulette” seven-inch and their Jack Endino-produced second album, The Violent Years, in spring 2001. After a brief split, a new line-up of the band re-grouped for 2005’s Alive Without Control followed shortly after by 2007’s We Are Not Alone. The band split again shortly afterwards.
Hopeless formed the Bonitos, Matt Camirand joined Black Mountain, Rich Jones went on to play with Michael Monroe and Ginger Wildheart and Jay Millette joined Darlings Of Chelsea. Then in 2016, founding members Jones and Hopeless reunited for the first time in 15 years for a riotous tour of Spain.
Original guitarist Jay Millette re-joined the fold in 2019 and the band played their first Canadian show in over a decade to a sold-out house at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. 2020 sees a new album from this line-up–rounded out by bassist John Kerns (The Age Of Electric) and drummer Danni Action (Midnight Towers)–with more shows in the pipeline.
On the release of “Uncommonwealth,” vocalist Billy Hopeless:
“What can you do when life gives you lemons, you ask? Well, squirt the juice in its eyes, I reply, and that’s exactly what we’re doing with this new three-song EP!
“Just take the lyrics: ‘It’s the punchline line of the century that Brian Jones sunk like a stone,’ from the song ‘Fossil Fuel,’ and the line, ‘So this is what it looks like under the bus!’ from the title track ‘Uncommonwealth.’
“We’re not talking ballads here kids. Finishing it off, we got a cover of the song ‘Shoot You Down’ by the British gem of the delete-bin band, Birdland, that we fell in love with and used to jam in the early years. We hope these three offerings will keep you burning until the upcoming, soon to be announced, full length.”
Preorder Uncommonwealth here.
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