Lookng back at the interview: Brian had so many things going on all at once. This many years later, he still does. He has a work ethic second to none. Nothing comes easy. Brian is living proof of that. We were very happy that he chose to participate in our signed CD program. He autographed a large amount of “Rockin’ in My Outer Space” cds for us. Artists like Helix are exactly why we started our previous company. While many artists from our genre did indeed retire for a period, Brian never did. It was our mission to ensure that people knew these classic metal artists were still grinding it out and working hard to keep rock n roll alive. We recently found another box of the autographed “Rockin’ in My Outer Space” cds. If you would like to purchase one contact us. Good while supplies last.
Brian Vollmer (June 2004)
So Brian here we are in 2004. Helix is now celebrating 30 years of rock n roll history. If we jumped back in the time machine to 1974 and told you Helix would still be alive and kicking in 2004 what would your reaction have been?
This is a question I’m asked frequently. No, if you had asked me that in 1974 I would never have said I’d be in the music biz! It’s been a long winding road, but I feel now that it has been my destiny.
Well since we’re on the topic of the big anniversary, what plans do you have to commemorate the event?
My life for the past six months has been mostly working on the anniversary concert. We’re holding it at The Sanderson Centre in Brantford, Ontario. Brantford is half way between London and Hamilton, Ontario. It’s a little out-of-the-way but the hall is so beautiful that I couldn’t resist. I wanted the perfect setting for such a momentous occasion in the band’s career.
The show is actually three part. Part one will be the lobby where we will be exhibiting mounted Helix posters from over the years, all our records-rare, radio released only, picture discs, singles on the H&S label, etc, and other Helix mementos, and vintage Helix t-shirts. The shirts (60 in total) will be auctioned off on Ebay the week after and all proceeds will go to The Tim Horton Children’s Foundation. There will also be two 40″ TV screens with a Power Point Presentation put together by myself and Ron Kingyen’s (our planethelix webmaster) set up. The pictures run on “a loop” and cover the band’s career. Also on display is a quilt made of Helix shirts (donated by longtime fan Jay Wetlaufer) and the backdrop from the Wild in the Streets album which was hung from the Capitol Tower Building in L.A.
Part Two of the show will be the world premier of “3 Decades of Helix-No Rest for the Wicked”, an hour-long rockumentary I’ve been putting together for the past 6 months with Northpost Media. It’s basically a walk through the history of the band using interviews, home movie footage, video footage, etc. from the band’s personal archives. Pretty interesting and rock n’ roll historical stuff. It shows a period of rock n’ roll history not likely to ever be repeated-and for that reason alone I think people should buy it. Copies of the DVD will be available that night. It will also contain “tons” of extra bonus footage. E.M.I has already expressed interest in putting this out-a bonus.
Part Three of the show will be the actual live performance. I have the original lineup coming back to do one song as well as Fritz, Brent, Brian Doerner, and Leo Neibeduk. Background singers for the night are Cheryl Lescom ( a great Southern Ontario blues singer who guests on “Lint and Pennies” from the new CD) and Cindy Weichmann. As each different lineup of the band appears on-stage they will be introduced by a short film clip projected on a screen. These will be super 8, still shots, etc. from the time period. The show ends with a private party at The Holiday Inn.
Who do the fans need to contact regarding tickets for the anniversary show?
You can buy them from me at www.planethelix.com at the merch section or by sending $35 Canadian to:
Brian Vollmer
52 Terrence St
London, Ontario
Canada N5Z 1C4
The new album “Rockin’ In My Outer Space” continues the Helix tradition of old school rock n roll. We know the cd wasn’t just a quickie 2 week recording endeavor. How did this album came together?
In the late 90’s I had a vocal student by the name of Rob Long. He was putting a weekend cover band together with Bill Gadd (guitar) and Tony Paleschi (bass). He couldn’t find a singer so I volunteered. The band was called 7 Year Itch. We played throughout Southern Ontario for about 5 years. Eventually we wrote some songs and the result was my first solo CD When Pigs Fly (released 2000). That writing relationship continued and the result was Rockin’ In My Outer Space. Once the writing relationship with these guys was established my next step was to find a studio and producer. One of my students who was taking a recording course at Fanshaw College had recorded an album at Mole Studios with Reiner Weichmann, so I phoned up Reiner and asked if we could try out the studio. The first session resulted in “It’s Hard to Feel the Sunshine When Your Heart Is Filled with Rain”, “Panic”, and “The Ballad of Sam & Mary” and I was very pleased. It took us three years to put it all together; the writing and recording was all done in 4 hour spurts between all my “real” jobs-teaching, playing, and running Dirty Dog Records. In a lot of ways, this album reminded me of the first Helix album Breaking Loose-our first indie album.
Tell us about some of your favorite cuts of the new cd. Describe some of the highlights.
My favorite song is Six Feet Underground. I think the song is well written and has a lot of interesting parts in it. It was the song that took the longest to write.
The cd wraps together a really strong combination of tempos and feel. From the title track “Rockin’ In My…”, “It’s Hard To Feel The Sunshine…”, “Ballad of Sam and Mary” “Lint and Pennies” on through the closer “Sunny Summer Daze”. Did you plan it out this way or did the collection sort of take on its own life in the laboratory?
The CD took on a life of it’s own as we went along. There are a lot of different tempos and feels on this CD. To me the songs are my influences from the 70’s and 80’s combined with the new stuff I learn when I go out on weekends with my “cover” band Alliston Flyte. People frequently ask why I would want to play cover songs, but as a writer I believe it’s essential in keeping up your writing chops. I can hear influences in the songs from Zeppelin to Bowie to Offspring.
The world lost an extremely talented artist when Paul Hackman passed away. Knowing the contributions Paul made to the Helix legacy, how did you deal with the loss of such a phenomenal talent?
Undeniably Paul was a huge part of the Helix sound and when he died part of what Helix was died with him. At that point I had a choice of doing my own thing or continuing on with the Helix name. I decided to go ahead with Helix for personal and business reasons. Paul, Brent, and I had decided very early in our career that if anything ever happened to any one of us that the band would continue on. How did I cope? I kept going.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome during your career?
I think my biggest challenge has been learning how to motivate and deal with people.
Let’s jump into the “Music Video Time Capsule”. What’s your favorite music video you’ve been in and why? What’s your least favorite music video you’ve been in and why?
My favorite video is Running Wild in the 21st Century. I like the “look” of this video; especially with Snake the Tattoo Man in it.
Least favorite: Deep Cuts the Knife. Corny
On the Vollmer release you had quite an interesting video for “I’m Alive Like Frankenstein”. How’d you put this particular video together?
I was extremely limited with what I could spend, so Ray Lyell suggested we do a parody video playing off the old Ed Wood horror movies, which were absolutely the worst. We used all our friends in it and cut costs wherever we could.
The cd “Cherry Street-Buster Cherry” is a cult classic. What do you remember about the recording of this cd?
I learned the songs for this album in two weeks from a tape Tom Mathers sent me to learn. I flew to Austin and sang my tracks in two days without looking at a lyric sheet once. I think Tom and Tazz were impressed with that. It turned out to be a real fun album.
Quite honestly here in the USA the current music scene is sh@!. We’re pretty much caught in a wholesale slaughter of indie labels, big money corporate money machines are taking over the radio airwaves more and more for the “alternative sound” etc. Anybody remotely associated with old school classic metal/hard rock is persona non grata. How’s the music scene in Canada?
I’ve been getting great support on Six Feet Underground here in London, Ontario on The Hawk, a great classic rock station. Leigh Robert, the program director has gone to bat for the band as has the station’s ad-getter Scott Curran. Out in western Canada Citi FM in Winnipeg (Gordo) in a huge supporter of the band as well. Whenever we play a gig we always do the advance publicity ourselves and that includes phoning the local station, offering to do interviews, etc. A lot of times the station is only too happy to help out, especially if they are promoting the concert you’re playing, or are somehow tied into the promoter. I guess what I’m saying is that to get airplay at this stage of the game you have to get out there and dig and give the station a reason to play you.
A Few Quick Hits:
First concert you ever saw:
James Gang/Edgar Winter & White Trash
Favorite TV shows growing up:
Hockey Night in Canada
When visiting Ontario be sure to:
come in the summer
The thing most people would be surprised to know about Brian Vollmer is:
Sundays at noon you’ll find me at Mass.
What’s the best decision you’ve made during your career?
Following my intuition.
What’s the worst decision you’ve made during your career?
Not following my intuition.
“The Life and Times of “Brian Vollmer” is being made into a multi million dollar movie. Who plays Brian and how does the movie end?
I do. The movie ends when I have a massive coronary in the big “rock ending” of Rock You.
With all the ups and downs of being a musician,
we’ve all had to have a few “odd jobs” along the way.
What was your worst “struggling musician” job?
Working for a demolition company tearing out the old Brass Rail, a local London club. The air was so thick with dust you could hardly breathe. I stayed on that job for over a year until finally I got a job working in a variety store.
What’s the greatest life lesson you’ve learned over the years?
To follow your gut and believe that God will take care of you if you believe and do not give in to fear.
Every musician has their personal favorite “Jam” songs. Whether it be the last call, open mic
night, or buddies show up at a gig.
audience, let’s jam”!! So what are your top 5 all time
“Jam Songs” ?
War Pigs
Crazy Train
Born to be Wild
Mama I’m Coming Home
Tush
You have 5 songs (spanning your entire recording career) to put into the “Brian Vollmer Time Capsule”. What 5 songs are in the time capsule?
Rock You
Heavy Metal Love
Dirty Dog
Deep Cuts the Knife
Six Feet Underground
What was your “Spinal Tap Moment”?
My favorite Spinal Tap moment happened in Germany when we toured with Motorhead, Mercyful Fate, and Girlschool. I jumped from the top of the P.A. stacks to the stage during the show and went right through! I took off the skin under my armpits and when I came back up out of the hole there was Lemmy shaking his head in disbelief. Never missed a note however; I had a cordless microphone.
You have only 5 albums you can listen to for the
rest of your life. What are they? no greatest hits,
live albums, or box sets
Love it to Death(Alice Cooper)
The Entrance Album (Edgar Winter)
Aladdin Sane (Bowie)
Monster(Steppenwolf)
Led Zeppelin 1
You get to put together the “Brian Vollmer Dream Band”. Dead,alive or otherwise. As an added bonus no lawyers or agents are involved in the formation of this band
Who is in the band?
John Bonham
Zakk Wylde
Rudy Sarzo
Steve Stevens.
Thanks Brian. You are another Warrior keeping the spirit alive. Keep Defending the Faith !
ARTIST UPDATE 2019 Since the Interview
The Helix Anniversary Concert was a huge success. We worked to get many of the tracks on “Rockin’ In My Outer Space” in the programming rotation at XM Radio”Boneyard”. 15 Years after this interview Helix is still making music. A new cd “Old School” is getting ready to be released in 2019 ! For the latest news on Helix check out their official website Planethelix.comPlanethelix.com
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