If your Halloween playlist is a tepid cauldron of Phantom of the Opera dubs and Monster Mash remixes, you need to get bitten by the Helsinki Vampires.


Finnish goth’n’rollers The 69 Eyes recently released their tenth studio album, “Back in Blood,” which combines the glam and grit of the Sunset Strip with coven-baked gothiness. The sleazy anthem “Dead Girls Are Easy” will have you banging your head and sloshing your bloody mary; the sing-along “Night Watch” lets new listeners move their lips while shaking their hips; and “Hunger” offers a dark backdrop for party conversation.


And though many fans can experience this grave-rocking playlist live as the leather boys headline a U.S. tour, Utahns will have to wait a little longer.


“We’ve been to Salt Lake City a couple of times but we’ve never played there,” croons vocalist Jyrki 69, whose accented baritone conjures Antonio Banderas. “Hopefully your article gives the hint to organizers to do the right thing — to invite a Helsinki Vampire over.”


It’s about time the Helsinki Vampires invade American soil as a headlining act. Since the band’s inception in 1989, The 69 Eyes — whose lineup remains the same even 20 years later — have repeatedly stolen the No. 1 spot on Finnish charts, and have seen four albums go gold in Europe. In 2005, after being signed to major label Virgin/EMI, the band released their eighth studio album “Devils” in America, which was promoted heavily by their longtime friend and pro skater, Bam Margera.


“That was the album that introduced us to the American audience,” Jyrki says.


The American success continued with “Angels,” and now “Back in Blood.” Margera directed the video for “Back in Blood's” single “Dead Girls are Easy,” which premiered on Playboy.com. Add a headlining tour and some celebrity fans (like Christine Dolce aka MySpace’s “Forbidden”) and you’ve got a spell for success.


The band’s fourth U.S. tour marks another milestone. Even though their image and sound are dead-on with Halloween culture, they’ve never actually experienced the holiday.


“It’s really strange that we never have experienced the real Halloween in the States,” he says. “The 69 Eyes is so strongly based in American pop culture; our music and everything we’re doing is so much based on Halloween.”


In fact, Jyrki says he wants his crew of smudgy-eyed nightwalkers to be synonymous with the supernatural night.


“I want The 69 Eyes to establish as a Halloween band,” he says. “The ultimate Halloween party band was The Cramps, and the singer passed away earlier this year. So unfortunately, there is a place for another ultimate Halloween band. If we were accepted, we would take that title.”


Jyrki, who has a master’s in analytical chemistry, is already scheming ways to carry the torch, like wearing KISS makeup for the Halloween show in Pennsylvania. And he’s getting plenty of inspiration from the pumpkins and haunted houses (or “Halloween resorts,” as he calls them) he sees from the tour bus window. For him, Halloween in America is one hell of an aphrodeathsiac.