Halfway through the Charlatans UK's sound-check version of "How High," a raucous, Oasis-like rocker, frontman Tim Burgess comes barreling through the double doors of New York's Irving Plaza, jumping onstage just in time to finish the vocals. In his right hand is a shopping bag from Fat Beats, a Greenwich Village record store specializing in underground hip-hop where Burgess has spent the last few minutes snatching up a vinyl copy of "Hip Hop Drunkies," a freestyle rap tune by Tha Alkaholiks that features Ol' Dirty Bastard.

\\Burgess moonlights as a DJ, but if the British band's awful luck held, something far worse than a musical hobby would have kept him from his day job singing for one of England's most popular bands. In fact, given the Charlatans' seven-year run of ill fortune, it's something of a miracle that the group -- which consists of Burgess, guitarist Mark Collins, bassist Martin Blunt and drummer Jon Brookes -- still exists at all.

\\Last July, founding member and musical center Rob Collins was killed when his red BMW caught a curb and spun up and over an embankment on a narrow country road in Monmouth, Wales. Collins was on the way back to Monnow Valley Studios, where the Charlatans were putting the finishing touches on "Tellin' Stories," the band's fifth album.

\\"After that, we just stayed in the studio for about a week -- drinking beer and smoking cigs," recalls Burgess between sips of Coors Light in the ladies lounge at Irving Plaza. "We were just dark souls completely."

\\It was an unprecedented low for a band who are no strangers to misfortune. Back in 1990, the Charlatans emerged from a Manchester, England, music scene that spent the better part of the '80s spawning such critically-acclaimed acts as the Smiths, New Order, Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses (and later Oasis). Their 1990 debut, "Some Friendly," topped the British charts and their Hammond organ-heavy sound struck a chord with American audiences as well. Later that year, original guitarist Jon Baker left the band, and Martin Blunt was hospitalized for manic depression. In late '92, Rob Collins was arrested and jailed for four months for his part in the botched robbery of a liquor store. Last October, the entire band was arrested at New York's JFK International Airport for "lewd and insulting behavior."

\\In the meantime, the Charlatans' popularity waned both in Britain and in the States until 1995's self-titled album brought them back to the top of the charts. Soon after, when Collins died, the band faced its toughest times yet.

\\"Only three weeks after Rob's death, we played the biggest gig that's ever been held in Britain [Knebworth '96, supporting Oasis]," says guitarist Mark Collins [no relation]. "I always use to stand next to Rob on stage and in front of 150,000 people, I was looking around and I was seeing Martin Duffy [of Primal Scream, Collins' temporary replacement] and that's when it really dawned on me. We expected Rob's spirit to make the heaven's open up."

\\"It was one of the worst moments of me whole life," Burgess adds. "I was expecting to see a bolt of thunder and lightning. People were surprised at how brave we were to do it."

\\Next on the agenda was finishing the almost-completed "Stories" and finding a more permanent replacement for their lost mate. In an uncharacteristic bit of good luck the band immediately found Tony Rogers, a keyboardist recommended by Duffy.

\\There are some signs that the Charlatan's troubles may be nearing an end. In late April, "Stories" went straight to No. 1 on the English charts, and the band has set its sights on achieving similar success in America. Their first two records have both sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S., but the following two only sold 44,000 combined. "Stories" comes at a time when the success of Oasis and Blur seems to have made America more receptive to British acts.

\\"We've lost time in America for various reasons," Collins says. "But we want to mean something, we want to be a band that people can trust -- we've never had that grab the money and run attitude. We've been true to ourselves and true to the people who listen to us."

\\It's that kind of purposefulness, despite enough setbacks to shut down the strongest of musical machines, that has enabled the Charlatans to continue making fresh records in the face of adversity. "'Stories' is our most complete album to date," Collins says. "It's like a chess board. It's got pawns, a king, a queen, a knight and a castle."

\\Both members agree, it's the title track that holds the position of King on "Stories" but it's "One to Another," "North Country Boy