Thursday, October 30, 1997 By JANE STEVENSON --

Hugh Dillon, irrepressible lead singer of Toronto's in-your-face rock band Headstones, can barely sit still.

It's early evening at the Wheat Sheaf, "Toronto's oldest tavern," and Dillon and his Head-mates -- bassist Tim White, guitarist Trent Carr and drummer Dale Harrison -- have gathered to put back a few pints and talk about their Halloween gig tomorrow night with the Nixons and Gandharvas at the Warehouse.

"Anytime anybody can dress up, it seems to free them up a little bit more," says Dillon, who just returned from a six-week, Western Canadian tour in support of Headstones' third album, Smile & Wave.

"So it's more than just like a drinking game where people go, 'Hey, I'm loose!' They get to put on a little costume. They get a little nuttier."

Dillon should know. A sometime actor with the lead role in Bruce McDonald's critically acclaimed 1996 movie Hard Core Logo under his belt, he has other things on his mind this particular night. Like the songs he's lined up on the Wheat Sheaf's jukebox. Each time the tune changes, whether it's The Eagles' Take It Easy or Champagne Supernova by Oasis, Dillon sings along loudly.

"I like listening to rock 'n' roll and having a couple of drinks and having fun with your friends, and I think that part -- especially with our band -- is forgotten about," says Dillon. "'Cause they (the audience) just see the image of 'Well, they must be angry.' You don't get angry, you get frustrated."

Dillon, a hospital orderly for five years, is also jazzed by the fact that he's at the Wheat Sheaf, his and Carr's meeting place of choice before Headstones even existed.

"We'd bring a notebook that we'd buy across the street -- I worked at the Hospital for Sick Kids -- and it was night shift and we'd come here 'cause I'd get off at Friday morning. We'd just sit around and get drunk and plan a band of the future. So it's funny for us being back here now, a little older and a little more together. The drugs and the rough times are behind us -- slightly. Things have gotten to a point where you can delegate days that will be free-for-alls."

Dillon has previously estimated that as many as 15 different musicians have played in Headstones since they formed in 1987. Alcohol and drugs took their toll.

Now it seems that Dillon has settled down -- as much as he can anyway -- and is talking about marrying his longtime girlfriend and maybe even having kids.

"I've got what I want and I'm becoming a little more civilized," says Dillon. "I think I've always been civilized, it's just that civilized in Canada is so conservative."

Still, Dillon is on the verge of getting an even larger, international profile due to Hard Core Logo, even though he initially disagreed with the script's take on what it's like to be in a rock group. "I didn't want Headstones to be caught in Cheese-gate," he explains.

Dillon auditioned this summer for a role in Quentin Tarantino's new film, Jackie Brown, which eventually went to Michael Keaton.

"He was just really cool," says Dillon of Tarantino. "We'd go over scenes and he'd give me a bit of direction and say, 'No matter what, I'm going to see you in six months.' "

Dillon is referring to the fact that Tarantino picked up Hard Core Logo for U.S. distribution, so Dillon will be heading down south in January on a publicity tour.

Dillon, however, insists that his band, not his film career, will always come first.

The realization that he would be a singer came at an early age. "When Riders On The Storm came out my mom freaked out 'cause I'm in the back seat of the car with my brothers and sister listening and I'm going (imitates Jim Morrison singing) -- 'There's a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad,' and I had it down, and I'm like six years old. Hello?"