[Cover photo credit to Michael Crusty]
Canadian Punk and Glam Rock outfit The Black Halos have just released their LP How the Darkness Doubled via Stomp Records. How the Darkness doubled is the unofficial follow-up album to The Black Halos’ 2001 release from Sub Pop Records, The Violent Years. They’ve recently released the song and video for “Better Days”.
Original songwriting team Billy Hopeless, Rich Jones (guitarist with Michael Monroe, Ginger Wildheart, AMEN), and Jay Millette, reunited for the album, also bringing in new members John Kerns (The Age Of Electric) and Danni Action (ACIIDZ). The album was recorded in Toronto and mixed by Dave Draper (The Wildhearts, The Professionals.
Guitarist Rich Jones comments on the album:
Reuniting with Billy and Jay for this new album brought my focus back to writing with a mindset that was pure, uncompromising Halos – as far as I’m concerned we’ve really achieved it. Having our friends John and Danni on board makes this feel like the strongest lineup that we’ve ever had and you can really hear it on this record. Additionally, Billy and I had always planned to call the third album ‘How The Darkness Doubled’. So it seemed natural to use that title now, 20 years later, for what I consider to be a spiritual follow-up to The Violent Years.
The band have recently performed at the Bovine during Toronto’s Canadian Music Week and at their hometown of Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre.
The Black Halos were known as a very active touring band, playing in clubs as they crisscrossed North America in a van (actually a series of nine vans) at festivals like Warped Tour, Edgefest, SXSW, CMJ, and The Kerrang Awards in the UK. Line-up changes followed as the band released two more albums on Century Media, touring Canada, the United States, and Europe extensively. That all came to an abrupt end when their van, trailer, and equipment were stolen in Montreal at the start of their 2008 tour.
With their latest release, How the Darkness Doubled, The Black Halos will be back on the road with tours across North America and Europe planned for 2023 and beyond.
