by JOHNSON CUMMINS

The Distillers may have four members, but the face of the band will always be punk rock siren Brody Dalle. Often described as Courtney Love with talent, the enigmatic Dalle possesses all the punk rock sass of a young Wendy O Williams, has proven to be quite the tunesmith, is adored by glossy-paged magazines and even married into rock royalty lineage like Ms. Love.

It was Dalle's turbulent love life that had the Distillers' name splashed across the tabloid covers. Like a punk version of the Bennifer scandal, her divorce from Rancid's Tim Armstrong and her current hook-up with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme have actually taken attention away from their music. Which is too bad, because the Distillers are a killer live band and have just released the best record of their career.

Talking on the phone with drummer Andy Granelli, one learns he could care less which member of the band they are going to shine a spotlight on and could care even less than that about what people in the supermarket checkouts are talking about. "I don't really care about that shit at all," says Granelli. "We've had a lot of people come down and see us without hearing us just because they saw Brody's beautiful face in a magazine or something. They see this hot chick and just think it's going to be this easygoing thing, and then after they see us playing punk rock, they're freaked out."

The Distillers recent Coral Fang may be the closest thing to 100 per cent, grade-A punk rock to land on a major label. Although a lot more rock elements can be heard on this third album, it's when they bash away at punk that they really show up the major-label pop punkers as the poseurs that they are.

Before being on a major, the Distillers released two records on Tim Armstrong's highly respected Hellcat label, whose logo still appears next to Sire's on the record. Kind of odd, as Armstrong has been absolutely seething in print when the Distillers' name has come up in Rancid interviews. "What happened between Tim and Brody is their own private thing," says Granelli. "I know his feelings were hurt over that whole thing and if he hates me, he hates me, but I really wish he wouldn't."

With the Icarus Line and Lot Six at Club Soda on Friday, April 2, 9pm, $17, all ages

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