HELIX READY TO ‘ROCK YOU’
Veteran Canadian metal outfit performing at Whoop-Up Days
Brian Vollmer has played in them all — from noisy and smoky dark clubs to massive arenas. And decades after he started with the Canadian rock legends Helix, lead singer Vollmer is still rocking and rolling even in his 60s.
Vollmer and the current iteration of Helix will be among the entertainers at this year’s Whoop-Up Days in Lethbridge. The annual exhibition runs Aug. 21 to Aug. 25 and will feature a wide range of musical talent.
Helix will share a bill with Lee Aaron on Aug. 25 at the Gas King Stage in Pioneer Park. Helix opens the show at 7 followed by Aaron at 8:30 p.m.
Helix was formed in 1974 in Kitchener, Ontario. Original members included Vollmer, drummer Bruce Arnold, guitarists Ron Watson and Rick Trembley, bassist Keith Zurbrigg and keyboardist Don Simmons.
Within two years, the band lineup had changed with only Vollmer and Zurbrigg remaining from the original group. They were joined by guitarist Brent Doerner, who played with the band until 2012, his brother brother Brian Doerner and guitarist Paul Hackman, who would tragically die young in a 1992 accident.
After years of touring, the band hit international acclaim in 1983 with the recording “No Rest for the Wicked” which included Greg “Fritz” Hinz on drums. That album featured the Canadian hit “Heavy Metal Love.” In 1994, with bassist Daryl Gray in the lineup, Helix recorded “Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge,” which sold 400,000 copies and included the band’s now legendary tune “Rock You.”
Today, Vollmer, Hinz and Gray continue to carry the Helix torch along with guitarists Kaleb “Duckman” Duck who joined in 2009 and Chris Julke who has been with the band since 2014.
And while classic Canadian rock artists seldom get their new music played on rock stations, the veteran Vollmer is still plugging away.
From one-off gigs to tours, Helix is still an active force in the music scene.
But gone are the days when the band had legions of support staff. Now Vollmer is pretty much a one-man publicist and tour organizer, as well as frontman. And he’s been busy with numerous dates through the summer months in Canada.
He also keeps fans in touch about Helix events through a mailiing list and has done a voiceover for a video game.
Vollmer got into the music business to create original tunes and he gets satisfaction out of the fact that for 45 years he’s managed to survive and help keep many people people employed.
“It doesn’t seem that long,” Vollmer said in a recent interview before hitting the road for a series of dates in Alberta.
Vollmer is a huge fan of the singing style of Bel Canto and teaches it himself in his home of London, Ont.
“I’ve had a lot of successful students. The proof is in the pudding,” he says of the singing style, which he started learning in 1976 after the Helix manager sent him to see a teacher named Edward Johnson in Hamilton.
“It’s the only way to sing without tension in the vocal chords.”
After four decades of performing, Helix still has a strong fanbase across the country, including here where it played a packed house at Casino Lethbridge in 2013.
Vollmer has many fond memories of Lethbridge, thanks to gigs at the old Alec Arms Hotel in the 1970s.
“I miss the old days of Lethbridge, those were heady days,” says Vollmer.
The Whoop-Up Days entertainment kicks off on Aug. 21 with Joey Landreth and The Sheepdogs hitting the Gas King stage.
Other acts scheduled to perform include The Road Hammers on Aug. 22, Prism on Aug. 23 and Harlequin on Aug. 24.
Ryan Lindsay will perform in the Heritage Hall saloon Aug. 22-25 from 7 until 10 p.m.
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