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April 17, 2010 at the Wolf Den Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT

by Deb Rao
Staff Writer

Canadian rock band Helix made a rare U.S. appearance at the Wolf Den at the Mohegan Sun Casino on April 17. The band performed a blistering set that spanned their extensive career and also debut two new songs off of their new album Vagabond Bones at the U.S. concert including the title track, “The Animal Inside (Won’t Be Denied).”

Helix opened the show with “Wild In The Street,” and highlights of the set included “Deep Cuts The Knife.” The new material on Vagabond Bones has a great AC/DC vibe and went over very well with the die-hard Helix audience. Singer Brian Vollmer is a great live performer and has a bluesy kind of voice that rocked the house. Brian informed us that he has just got out of the hospital due to a bout with blood posioning that infected his finger and also just got over the flu. Brian gave an outstanding performance due to the circumstances surrounding his week and really held true to the old show biz saying the show must go on.

It was great to see the band perform in The States again. As I mentioned Helix has a new album out entitled, Vagabond Bones. It has their signature bluesy rock sound with great vocals produced by Aaron Murray. Helix conquered The States with a sledge-hammer performance that inspired the old MTV video hits,”Heavy Metal Love”, and “Rock You.” You could tell the band was having the times of the lives onstage that reflected in their attitude and amazing stage presence that rocked the house and took us back to the ’80s for 90 minutes of pure fun.

Helix Set List:
Wild In The Street
Vagabond Bones
The Kids Are Shakin
The Animal Inside (Won’t Be Denied)
Go Hard Or Go Home
Heavy Metal Love
Running Wild In The 21st Century
Make ‘Em Dance
Gimme Good Lovin
Dirty Dog
Make Me Do Anything
Deep Cuts The Knife
Billy Oxygen
Heavy Metal Cowboy
Rock You
Monday Morning Meltdown
No Rest For The Wicked

I had the opportunity to discuss the new Helix album Vagabond Bones with Brian Vollmer.

HRH The new album is out Vagabond Bones. Tell us about the writing process for this album. What was it like working with Sean Kelly?

BRIAN: We wrote all of these songs with Sean Kelly. Five of the songs we co-wrote with Moe Berg from Pursuit Of Happiness, which is a good Canadian act. Moe Berg has a long track record on Canadian radio. We had some very talented people working with us. Right down to Aaron Murray who co-produced the album and engineered it. Aaron is the top graduate of the Fanshawe College audiovisual course in London, Ontario. He was the protégé of Danny Broadbeck, who is the protégé’ of Jack Richardson who produced all of the Guess Who albums. Once again, we had all quality people from start to finish. On this album even though we didn’t have a lot of money. We still got a quality result.

HRH: How is the re-union going?

BRIAN: Great, Daryl and me punched each other a few times. (Laughter) No, it has been great.

HRH What inspired the band to get back together?

BRIAN: It happened by accident. For ten years I had been using rental players. Even though they are quite capable musicians. There is nothing like having the original guys. The end of 2008, we finished touring on the Christmas album and they all walked on me with the exception of Jim Larson. At that point, I went to Brent and said look man why don’t you come back. Touring is a lot different than when you were in the band transportation, money wise, rooming wise everything. So Brent thought about it for a couple of days and got back into it. Then Sean Kelly joined because he wanted to be in the band so bad that even though he is a great guitar player he joined as the bassist. That is how we struck up the writing relationship. On drums I had Rob MacEachern that drummed on the Power Of Rock And Roll. In about three months of Sean playing in the band, he got offered to play for Nelly Furtado for great money. So I give Sean my blessings no worries. As long as we continue to write together I am happy. At that point I went back to Daryl because I knew Daryl wanted to be back in the band and I said jump aboard. At that point it made sense to get Fritz back in. So I went to Rob MacEachern and I said, Rob here is the situation would you be a gentlemen and step aside? He said,” Sure.” Rob is a good guy and great drummer. So he stepped aside and suddenly the band went back together. Jim Larson left the band. He was replaced by Kaleb Duck who is the young kid out there that I call him the chick magnet. He has been great. For a 22-year-old kid, he is mature beyond his years and great player. We have taken him under our wing and he is having the time of his life too.