HELIX Christmas CD

HELIX Christmas CD Slated For Mid-October





HELIX frontman Brian Vollmer has issued the following update:

"The day after Halloween we will be releasing the first-ever Helix Christmas CD entitled Helix - Heavy Metal Christmas. The CD will be available in Wal-Mart stores across Canada, and we have been told it will be front racked, along with the soon-to-be-released AC/DC and METALLICA CDs. The CD will be distributed by Fontana/Universal.

We are very excited about this project, and with good reason. We’ve done some different versions of traditional Christmas songs, as well as taking a few contemporary numbers and jazzing them up, ie. 'Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time' by PAUL MCCARTNEY. We also found a gem in BOB SEGER’s 'Sock It To Me Santa' and even penned one of our own, a MOTÖRHEAD-sounding ditty entitled, 'It’s Christmastime Again'. The CD is being recorded at “A” Studios in London, Ontario. Gord Prior is producing with Aaron Murray engineering.

The release of Heavy Mental Christmas will coincide with a western Canadian tour in November. We also hope to play our hometown of London around the same time period. We will announce our tour dates as we get them."

HELIX - A Heavy Mental Christmas CD In Production

HELIX frontman Brian Vollmer has issued the following update:

"When I left you last I was waiting for the master of A Heavy Mental Christmas to be back from Sterling Sound in New York City. As it happened, Aaron found a little distortion on one track and as a result we couldn’t fix the problem until Tuesday of this week, because of the long weekend. Not to worry however; we still had it to John Ball by Tuesday afternoon and so we’re still on schedule to get the finished product by mid September. Walmart is very pumped about the disc and so is Fontana/Universal, our distributor. We’re asking all Helix fans to spread the word. Everyone can help by hitting their local Walmart the third week of October and buying the disc. If Walmart sells out the first week they have told us that they will not only re-order the CD but will also front rack it with the new AC/DC and METALLICA. On our end we’ll be listing the song on DMDS for radio, as well as personally contacting radio and print media to generate as much publicity about the disc as possible."

As previously reported, on Thursday October 30th, 2008 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, Helix, ANDY CURRAN & SOHO 69, BRIGHTON ROCK and RUSS DWARF will perform a concert to benefit Carl Dixon (CONEY HATCH) and his family. Click photo to view a flyer for the event.

Proceeds from the event will go to defray the costs associated with Carl Dixon's near fatal car accident that occurred four months ago in Australia.

Andy Curran along with Brighton Rock has assembled their original line ups. Both Brighton Rock and Andy Curran & Soho 69 have not appeared live in over a decade. Joining Curran will be his original drummer Glenn Milchem now of BLUE RODEO who will help Andy perform songs from his Coney Hatch catalog and beyond.

Russ Dwarf was the lead vocalist and co-founder of the KILLER DWARFS formed in 1981. Russ is now fronting his new solo band for the first time in Toronto (tricycle TBA??).

Helix is currently supporting their latest release The Power Of Rock N Roll. Brian Vollmer’s band is still going strong after 30 years and has 2 Platinum records and 4 Gold records to their credit.

We call this line up the "Full Metal Package" says Brighton Rock lead vocalist Gerry McGhee.

Russ Dwarf warns us.... "It's going to be a cool evening of some really heavy all Canadian hard rock and metal from yesteryear.... and it's for a great cause, Carl is good friend of all four bands"

"If you survived the 80's, chances are you will want to be there"!! Adds Curran. "October 30th is not far off and all of us always dressed like it was Halloween everyday!"

Tickets are only $20.00 and go on sale September 5th at www.ticketbreak.com. Tickets are also available at The Phoenix Box office 410 Sherbourne Street or for more info go to www.libertygroup.com.

Doors open at 9pm.

If you cannot attend but would like to donate to help Carl and his family during his long road to recovery please visit www.fullmetalpackage.com.

HELIX - "Spread The Word - Santa Is Coming!"

HELIX frontman Brian Vollmer has issued the following update:

"Next Thursday (September 18th) we will be releasing our 12th full length studio CD A Heavy Mental Christmas which features new arrangements on nine cover songs plus one brand new Helix original.

The idea came about this summer when I was in Montreal, during a meal with (BW&BK scribe) Mitch Lafon. We were eating at an outdoor café; it was a beautiful sunny day and the sidewalks were full of locals and tourists. Not exactly the kind of day you would associate with Christmas. That’s where the idea was born. From there I made a deal with Wal-Mart and we don’t even have the songs picked! I decided to use my live band on the recordings for the first time in many years (*note: Cindy and Rainer Weichman played on Rockin’ In My Outer Space but it was before they were actually in the band) and I was not to be disappointed. The guys played great and although it’s a Christmas CD I believe it sounds like Helix. And it rocks!

Here’s the song list:
'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer'
'Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree'
'Santa’s Back in Town' (ELVIS PRESLEY)
'Wonderful Christmas Time'
'Jingle Bell Rock'
'Happy Christmas War is Over' (JOHN LENNON)
'Sock It To Me Santa' (BOB SEGER)
'Jingle Bells'
'Silent Night'
'It’s Christmastime Again' (original: Vollmer/Prior/Georgakopoulos)

The last piece of promoting A Heavy Mental Christmas is to back it up with as many live dates as we can muster between here and the end of the year. Next month we’ll be in Toronto, Whitby, and Hamilton and in November we re-visit my hometown of Kitchener at Molly Blooms on the 1st, followed by 12-15 dates across western Canada. All along the way we’ll be trying to gain as much publicity as possible by radio and through the print media."

Read Vollmer's entire update here.

HELIX Mainman Brian Vollmer - A Heavy Mental Christmas "Is An Important Evolution For Us As A Group"

HELIX frontman Brian Vollmer has issued the following update:

"Next week A Heavy Mental Christmas hits Wal-Mart stores across Canada. We’re asking all Helix fans to request or buy it at the store to get things off to a running start. Please ask as many of your friends as you can to request it as well. Response so far to A Heavy Mental Christmas has been overwhelmingly positive, so we’re crossing our fingers. I’ve already talked to several radio stations that are going to add one or more of the tracks, and the DMDS hasn’t even gone out yet. DMDS is the service that sends that actual songs to the radio station. Whereas in the past they would receive “hard copy” (that is, an actual physical disc or album), nowadays they are sent a code to download the song onto the station’s hard drive.

The lone original on A Heavy Mental Christmas is the song 'Christmas Time Is Here Again', which we wrote as we recorded it. The song was one of several we were already working on for the next studio CD, which we hope to have out by next fall. (although we will probably release “one-offs” to Itunes before then, or even free digital downloads to fans who come to our sites, ie. Planet Helix, Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube.) The original title was 'Your Love’s A Heart Attack'. You could possible see a bonus track in the future with this chorus and different verse lyrics. Stay tuned...

A Heavy Mental Christmas is also the first disc since 1989’s Back for Another Taste which utilizes my live band. This is an important evolution for us as a group. Everyone’s performance was above and beyond expectations and the whole experience was a fun, positive one. This bears well for our next studio release and I really believe involving the guys is going to kick it up a notch. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle to building a successful team are falling into place. Gord and I have already been discussing what our next recording project in the spring is going to be, with a few left turns and a couple of twists. That’s what I like about the guy; his ideas are fresh and outside the box. I hope to see all our Toronto fans out at The Phoenix Thursday, October 30th for the Carl Dixon (CONEY HATCH) benefit. If it isn’t packed, I’ll be disappointed. Carl Dixon is a guy who has given his life to enriching the Canadian music scene, so here’s the chance for Canada’s musical community to give a little back. Even if you’re not going, please dig deep into your pockets and give a little cash for Carl. Show you care."

HELIX Mainman To Guest On The Mitch Minute Tonight

HELIX legend Brian Vollmer will be live at 7:45PM EST on the Mitch Minute tonight on Majic 100 FM in Ottawa, Ontario. For those outside the Ottawa region here it live at www.majic100.fm. The Mitch Minute is brought to by BW&BK scribe/photographer/radio personality Mitch Lafon.

Helix recently released their new festive album, A Heavy Mental Christmas. The album features the following tracks:
'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer',
'Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree',
'Santa’s Back in Town' (ELVIS PRESLEY version),
'Wonderful Christmas Time',
'Jingle Bell Rock',
'Happy Christmas War is Over' (JOHN LENNON version),
'Sock It To Me Santa' (BOB SEGER),
'Jingle Bells',
'Silent Night',
'It’s Christmastime Again'.