The Black Halos

Play the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks next to Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In, and you'll see what a fine line there is between '70s punk and '80s glam. The Black Halos, though, have known all along. Since its 1999 debut, this band of Vancouver trash merchants has been sketching out its rock-and-roll vision in broad strokes of mascara and booze-stoked hooks. But after releasing its masterwork, The Violent Years, on Sub Pop in 2001, the outfit fell apart -- only to be resurrected last year with new guitarist Adam Becvare. A veteran of the Lustkillers, Becvare also took part in a Lords of the New Church reunion, filling in for its legendary track-marked leader, Stiv Bators. Besides channeling the fury of Bator's pre-Lords group, the Dead Boys, the Black Halos flog every gutter-spawned riff pumped out by Kiss, Generation X and Hanoi Rocks. Looking for a hit of lipstick-smeared nihilism? Get your head around the Halos.