There has been no rest for the wickedly talented London based metal band Helix who have been all over the world in the past 40 years.
They have just released their most recent album of original music “Bastard of the Blues.”
“ Album sales aren’t much. Live gigs are where the money is at. But you have to release new material because it gets your foot in the door for getting into print media, radio and webzines. So I release new albums whenever I can afford them,” observed Helix frontman Brian Vollmer, who has a lot of fond memories of the band’s early shows at the Alec Arms Hotel under several different owners and has since cultivated strong friendships in Lethbridge.
When they wind up Whoop Up Days on Aug. 23 with DNR, they will be playing songs from it and many of their other classic hits like “Rock You,” “ Wild In The Streets‚ “ No Rest for the Wicked,” “Don’t Get Mad Get Even,” and “ Make Me Do Anything You Want.”
“ A lot of it is personal preference. Live we’re playing two or three of the new songs “Even Jesus” and the title track and “Metal at Midnight” are played a lot. This is the 40th year of the band and the 30th anniversary of “Walking The Razor's Edge.” We have over 200 songs to choose from, so it is hard to play them all,” he said.
“ We play the hits because that's what people pay to come and see and some songs we haven’t played for a while and we let fan response determine it too,” he said adding he keeps close contact with the band's fans.
“ I send a personal email response to everyone who buys something from us on the website and in the early days, we used to answer all of the fan mail,” he said.
The band includes most of the “classic line up” of the band including drummer Fritz Hinz, lead guitarist Brent Doerner, bassist Daryl Gray and guitarist Kaleb Duck, who joined the band a couple of years ago after sharing a bill with Brent Doerner, who was impressed with his talents and convinced him to join Helix.
Vollmer wrote most of the new material with Sean Kelly, who plays guitar with Crash Kelly and Nelly Furtado, and who briefly played bass for Helix.
“He was offered the Nelly Furtado gig and left with my blessing,” he said.
“He noted the new material sounds similar to Helix's classic material.
“Fans might disagree, but I’ve never changed how I look at songs. So the new music sounds like it a band that was influenced by ’80s bands like Alice Cooper,” he described.
He noted the band has never concentrated on one market.
They played a tour of Spain in May, their Lethbridge gig will be on the same weekend as gigs in Calgary and Saskatoon and they will return to Europe in October to play several Scandinavian gigs plus gigs in Munich and in Switzerland.
“ We’ve developed a lot of different markets,” he said. All the while the band members hold down day jobs.
Vollmer has been teaching Bel Canto opera style singing since 1991.
“And I just formed a new cover band called Jukebox to keep my chops up, so that will take away some of our weekends,” he said.
He takes good care of himself which is why Helix is still going strong 40 years later.
“ I keep myself in good shape. I go to the gym six days a week and I don’t smoke or drink,” he said.
“I think my voice is at it's peak which sounds funny as I’m almost 60. This is Helix’s fortieth anniversary and I hope to be doing this for 40 more years and I’ll be 100 then,” he laughed.
“It’s the love of music. I still get excited about writing and recording songs though it becomes more difficult the older you get, he said.
Country star Aaron Pritchett is excited about opening up Whoop Up days this year on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
Pritchett has scored a long string of hits since emerging onto the country music scene about 10 years ago. Lately Pritchett has a knack for choose and releasing the perfect summer song.
Last summer he released the hit “Sunset City” just in time for summer. This summer “Boat On the Water” is all over the airwaves.
“This summer ATV Cross Keys, they are a publisher in Nashville who pitch to a lot of Canadian artists, pitched me the song and I said I have to hurry up and record this song for summer,” he said.
“ I can really relate to it because I live on Gabriola Island by Nanaimo and everybody I know has a boat. My father-in-law has a boat.
“We have a boat though I don’t spend a lot of time on it during the summer though my family does,” Pritchett said.
“And it's different than the tailgate down thing that everyone is doing now,” he observed.
So he got the job done and even completed a new video for on July 31 which features a cameo from fellow country star Dallas Smith.
“He’s a good buddy of mine. So I asked him if he wanted to be in the video. And it worked perfectly. I caught him a day after he got home and a day before he left for somewhere else. And I got to be on a boat with a beautiful girl,” he enthused.
“The concept was my wife’s idea. I liked the twist at the end where I’m dreaming of being Dallas Smith,” he laughed.
He noted the girl in the video isn't his wife, but a model friend of the director.
He said he is busy working on and EPK and a greatest hits package which will include his summer hits “Boat On the Water” and “Sunset City,” plus some of his favourite songs recorded since 2 breaking out in 2002 plus fan favourites,and some new material.
“ I have a lot of hits. I’ve been pretty lucky, especially when I started when I was a little older. I didn’t get my first hit until I was in my early 30s,” he said.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” he continued adding being a more mature artists means he has a real appreciation for his fans.
“ I keep in touch with my fans through Facebook and on Twitter, I like to have conversations with them,” he said adding they tell him which one they like the best.
“ And the songs that are the most popular live,” he added.
“ They make me feel special,” he said.
He has fond memories of his last performance at Whoop Up Days, in 2009.
“I remember it started raining a lot. I’m from B.C, so I’m used to it, but the crowd braved it and we had a great time. I hope we don’t get it again though,” he said.
“ We’re opening it on a Tuesday this time, but it should be okay,” he continued.
He has had a busy summer of playing festivals and fairs.
His highlight this summer was getting to open for one of his idols, Tim McGraw in Duncan, in a close to hometown show.
“You hear a lot of stories about Tim being difficult, but they couldn’t be more wrong. He’s a super nice guy. He spent time talking to me and he took the time to say hello to my wife and my sons. So that was really special because I grew up listening to Tim McGraw and playing Tim McGraw songs in nightclubs,” he continued.
“So it was pretty special to talk to him and find out how he is so gracious,” he said.
Whoop Up Days also features classic rockers the Headpins with local rock band Who's Yer Daddy on Aug. 22,Toronto with Fast Times on Aug. 21 Loverboy with Texas Flood, Aug. 20 and Aaron Pritchett who opens this year's Whoop Up Days with Treeline and Shaela Miller on Aug. 19.
Whoop-up Days concerts are free with admission to the park.
