Helix Rips Ottawa a New One

In the words of Bubbles of Trailer park boys, “Gimme a F’n R”! The Brass Monkey had a packed house again on Saturday for another legendary band, London Ontario’s own true rockers, the one and only Helix.

Before moving forward, we should mention that last week the Helix drummer Greg “Fritz” Heinz, who joined the band in 1982 until 1996, only to return back 13 years later, suffered serious head, back and rib injuries after falling off the roof while working on repairing shingles. Heinz has been in a medically induced coma since then, and will have a long road to recovery ahead. The GoFundMe campaign to help him with the costs associated with his injury is currently underway, and showing true heart, the Brass Monkey owner Skotti Ruffo, and the rest of his crew were going around all night selling 50/50 tickets with all the proceeds going to Heinz. The Helix front man Brian Vollmer delivered some good news during the band’s set, and mentioned that Heinz was brought out of the coma the day earlier by the doctors, and is off the breathing tube which is obviously great news. We wish Heinz all the best! The GoFundMePage can be found by following the link here.

The band did not want to cancel the last two shows of the year as I’m sure neither would Heinz, so to make the shows happen, the Syre drummer Jamie Constant agreed to fill in. Helix busted out the gates with the 1985 song House on Fire, with guitarist Chris Julke holding his guitar high, with his tongue sticking out, while playing blazing leads, and put a solid foot hold onto the night to state that Helix was here to tear the nation’s capital a new one!  

Long way to Heaven was next, followed by their 1987 hit Wind in the Streets, which back then sold gold in Canada. This being one of my favorite tracks, besides the obvious hit and the first time seeing Helix live, got me stoked. These first three songs lit the Brass Monkey up like a stick of dynamite, and got the crowd loud and rowdy.  

After a quick breather from the first onslaught of metal, Vollmer spoke how back in 1979 no label would touch the band, claiming that they were dinosaurs and would never go anywhere. Thankfully the band did not listen to the masses, and put their first two albums Breaking Loose and White Lace/Black Leather out independently, after which they were signed to Capitol Records.

Before breaking into Even Jesus from the 2014 release Bastard of the Blues, Vollmer told the audience that the song was about touring the world and getting great turn outs. He also mentioned back in the day,  one of the band’s first shows in the Ottawa area was a pack show at Chaudiere Club in Hull, QC, but in their home town in London, ON, the band would get no love and not much of turn out at all.  I have always considered London a rock town and have been to many great show there, so this was a surprise to me, but goes to show that sometimes home isn’t always the best place to play.  

Throughout the set, the band continued to kick out a variety of tracks from their catalog, each one a sing along anthem. Julke, guitarist Kaleb Duck and bassist Daryl Gray did a spot on job belting out backups to every chorus, with the likes of Deep Cuts the Knife, Gimme Gimme Good Lovin and Heavy Metal Love.

Gray played a gut busting bass solo, which riddled the audience’s ears to pieces. Julke and Duck’s guitars are as heavy as a ten ton semi-truck barreling down a two lane highway, melting faces off as they chugged these classic riffs.  Up and coming bands thinking they are heavy, should really see Helix play and take note. The definition of the word “heavy” would be summed up in the tone coming from their Blackstar amplifiers, proving you don’t always need a micro processed rack system to get a great sound, but just a great tube amp and the ability to use it. 

With what had to be minimal time to prepare, drummer Jamie Constant proved to be a true player and did a right bang up job filling in for Heinz. After over forty years in the business, the legendary frontman Vollmer can still wail out lead vocals all while looking as cool as ever.  As the set came to an end, it was very apparent which song the band was going to end with. Rock You is a staple in the Canadian rock anthem world, and Helix’s most famous song, which put the band on the map for rock and non-rock fans alike.  Once Constant started into the beat, everyone in the crowd knew instantly their job was to belt out the words along with Vollmer and the band, and what a job they did! Even as the ending chorus rang out Vollmer passed the mic to the crowd and everyone finished it off.  It was a perfect ending to a great night of heavy rocknroll. 

“Gimme an R! O! C! K!”

By Brian Vince