Early years: 1974–1982 Helix were formed in 1974 for a
battle of the bands contest in
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada by drummer Bruce Arnold. They were originally a six-piece, consisting of Arnold, lead vocalist
Brian Vollmer, guitarists Ron Watson and Rick "Minstrel" Trembley, keyboardist Don Simmons, and bassist Keith "Bert" Zurbrigg, who always wore his trademark
tuxedo on stage. Their original name was
The Helix Field Band, soon shortened to simply Helix. Trembley left after a few months, making the band a five-piece. Soon after, Helix scored some crucial shows as
Del Shannon's backing band on some Canadian dates. However, the original lineup dissolved by 1976, and three new members entered the fold. Replacing Simmons, Watson and Arnold were guitarists Brent "The Doctor" Doerner and
Paul Hackman, who would both remain with Helix through the 1980s, and drummer Brian Doerner, Brent's twin brother. Brian Doerner only stayed four years, but returned as a member and a guest several times before joining
Saga in 2005. With new management under Kitchener's William Seip, Helix released two
independent albums on their own H&S Records, entitled
Breaking Loose and
White Lace & Black Leather, in 1979 and 1981 respectively. During the sessions for
Breaking Loose, Helix recorded a
cover of the Del Shannon hit "Thinkin' It Over", unreleased until the 1999 Helix CD
B-Sides. Their second album,
White Lace & Black Leather, brought more lineup changes with drummer Leo Niebudek taking over for Brian Doerner.
Michael J. Fox auditioned to replace bassist Keith Zurbrigg but the job ultimately went to Mike Uzelac. With Zurbrigg gone, Brian Vollmer was now the last remaining original member.
Commercial success: 1983–1989 Changing their image from that of a standard bar band to a more image-conscious metal band, Helix finally signed to
Capitol Records after being rejected by them three times. In 1983, they released
No Rest for the Wicked, with Greg "Fritz" Hinz (ex-
Starchild) on drums. This album featured the Canadian hit
video "Heavy Metal Love," which featured their new look. Under Seip's advice, Helix dropped their T-shirts and jeans in favour of leather clothing in order to stay current. The tour for this album cycle was not without drama. Mike Uzelac, whose drug use had become problematic, left the band to be replaced by a bass player named Peter Guy from
London, Ontario. Guy was unable to travel to the United States due to a previous drug conviction, and Uzelac came back to finish the tour. When Uzelac had fulfilled his commitment, Mark Rector of
Kitchener was hired on bass. He was let go at the conclusion of the tour. With the addition of bassist Daryl Gray completing the band's classic 1980s lineup, they released ''
Walkin' the Razor's Edge'' in 1984. It sold over 100,000 copies in Canada, and over 400,000 internationally. The album included their best known song "
Rock You" and a cover of
A Foot in Coldwater's "(Make Me Do) Anything You Want". However, based on the Swedish chart history, the album peaked at No. 14. The following year, their song "It's Too Late" was featured in the movie
Iron Eagle and its
soundtrack album (this was a completely different song than the track "It's Too Late" that appeared on their second album).
Long Way to Heaven was followed by the release of
Wild in the Streets in 1987, featuring the title track and a cover of "
Dream On" by
Nazareth. One song from that record, "She's Too Tough" was written by
Joe Elliot, lead singer for
Def Leppard. Leppard also recorded their own version of "She's Too Tough" and released it as a
B-side and on their album
Retro Active. The recording of
Wild in the Streets, done in England with producer
Mike Stone, was plagued by extensive takes and remixes. Still, the album went
gold in Canada, but only managed a disappointing No. 179 on the
Billboard 200 in the
United States. Capitol released the first Helix
compilation album Over 60 minutes with... at the end of 1989, which featured new and unreleased material as well as the hits. At the end of the decade, Brent Doerner quit the band, tired of the grind of touring. Helix was left as a four piece. Recovering from the shock of his death, Vollmer regrouped with Brent Doerner once again, and also recruited former
Brighton Rock guitarist Greg Fraser. Vollmer took the songs he had recorded for his solo album, and released them as the next Helix record, ''
It's a Business Doing Pleasure'' (released on
Aquarius in 1993, their Capitol contract now finished). He included the song "That Day Is Gonna Come" as a tribute to Hackman, and the video for the song featured unique
Super 8 and
video footage shot by Vollmer on the road over the years. Brian Doerner played drums on the album. Brian Vollmer would later call the album: Brent Doerner left the band for the second time after a few shows supporting ''It's a Business Doing Pleasure''. Helix were forced to carry on with a rapid succession of replacement guitar players: Gary Borden (ex-
Ray Lyell), Mark Chichkan (ex-Mindstorm), and Rick Mead (ex-Sire), a rotating cast who played at shows when they were available. By 1996, both Greg Fraser and "Fritz" Hinz had departed as well. Brian Vollmer and Daryl Gray carried on with new drummer
Glen "Archie" Gamble in 1997, who took on some of their workload such as road managing duties. In order to keep the new Helix product in stores, five new studio tracks were recorded and released in 1998 on
half-ALIVE, produced by Daryl Gray, which compiled these with live tracks from previous tours. Vollmer also released compilations of hits and rare tracks, as well as his first official solo album (
When Pigs Fly, 1999) through his website. The band continued to play live through this period, recruiting new guitar players as they were available. At various times, Mike Hall and Gerry Finn, who were both in
Killer Dwarfs, joined Helix on the road, as did Darren Smith, the former
Harem Scarem drummer, who had switched to guitar. Periodically, the surviving members of the classic 1980s lineup would reform, as they did on the
B-Sides CD to record three new songs including "Danger Zone", which were again produced by Daryl Gray. This was a song that Paul Hackman had been working on shortly before his death. At the beginning of the new decade, Helix had to endure another major lineup change. Daryl Gray left the band in 2002 due to an increasingly strained relationship with Vollmer, leaving Brian as the sole member from their 1980s heyday.
30th anniversary In 2004, the 30th anniversary of Helix, the band released several titles to mark the occasion. Their first new studio album of all-original material in over a decade came out, titled ''
Rockin' in My Outer Space. Two compilation CDs were also put together, Never Trust Anyone Over 30
in the US, and Rockin' You For 30 Years
in Canada. These albums were marked by a new Helix lineup, and for the first time since 1974, a six-piece: Vollmer, Gamble, Fountain, and new members Jim Lawson (ex-Cherry Smash, guitar), and the husband and wife team of Rainer (guitar) and Cindy Wiechmann (acoustic guitar and vocals). Vollmer first encountered the Wiechmanns in Newfoundland when their band, KAOS, opened for Helix on the Long Way to Heaven'' tour. The band played a special 30th anniversary concert at
Brantford Ontario's Sanderson Centre. The show featured the current band and past members. Guests included members of the original 1974 Helix lineup (Ron Watson, Bruce Arnold, Keith "Bert" Zurbrigg, and Don Simmons), as well as Brent Doerner, Brian Doerner, Leo Niebudek, and Greg "Fritz" Hinz. The night was released on
DVD as the
30th Anniversary Concert. Released at the same time was the documentary DVD
30 Years of Helix: No Rest for the Wicked. Helix experienced a slight resurgence in popularity at this point thanks to a third-season episode of the television series
Trailer Park Boys ("Closer to the Heart"), in which
Bubbles and
Ricky discuss the merits of Helix compared to
Rush. Vollmer also filmed a
cameo during that season which was included as a DVD deleted scene. Helix was mentioned in several other episodes; it's revealed that Ricky especially favors attending, and selling
marijuana at, their concerts. In July 2005, Vollmer announced that Helix would be entering the studio to record another new album of original material as well as a
cover album. The cover album was intended to be released in spring 2006 and consist entirely of
Canadian rock songs. The tentative title was
Many Are Cold But Few Are Frozen, but it never materialized. Finally, Brian Vollmer published his
autobiography,
Gimme An R, in December 2005. The book covered the numerous lineup changes and ups and downs of Helix through their 30-year career, along with many rare photos.
Increased activity: 2005–July 2009 In late 2005,
Glen Gamble left Helix to form his own band, The Joys. Gamble was briefly replaced by a returning Brian Doerner, who stayed with the band for several months. Finally, bassist Jeff Fountain left and was replaced by Paul Fonseca. VanDyk, Fonseca, and Niemi had all played together part-time in a
Metallica tribute band called Sandman. With these musicians on board, Helix began augmenting their live setlist with Metallica's "
Creeping Death" riff to segue between songs. Recording for a new album began. In October 2006, the song "Heavy Metal Love" was to be featured on the soundtrack for the
Trailer Park Boys movie
The Big Dirty, however, at the last minute, the track was pulled by Dean Cameron, president of
EMI Canada, as distribution of the soundtrack was being handled by
Universal, and not EMI who owns the track. To make up for this, Helix re-recorded "Heavy Metal Love" and included it on their next release, the 2006
EP Get Up!. The original song was still included in the movie even though it did not appear on the soundtrack CD. The
Get Up! EP itself was hyped by Vollmer as "...very reminiscent of the
No Rest for the Wicked album." In 2007, Helix re-released all the tracks from
Get Up! along with four new studio tracks on a full-length studio album called
The Power of Rock and Roll. Unlike the EP, this album received both US and UK releases. In June of that year, Helix played the 2007 Sweden Rock Festival. A new song from
The Power of Rock and Roll called "Fill Your Head With Rock" was chosen as the theme song of the festival. Following this, in October 2008 Helix produced their first
Christmas CD. Although Brian Vollmer has recorded Christmas songs before on a charity CD for his church called
Raising The Roof on Mary Immaculate,
Sean Kelly, singer and lead guitarist of Toronto's Crash Kelly, joined as the new bass player. Brent Niemi was replaced on drums by former
Sven Gali member Rob MacEachern, who had actually played drums on
Get Up! and
The Power of Rock and Roll in Niemi's absence. Jim Lawson remained on guitar, VanDyk having departed to make room for the returning Brent Doerner. Work on the new studio CD progressed with Sean Kelly co-writing and co-producing. In February 2009, Vollmer reunited the surviving members of the
No Rest for the Wicked lineup (Brent Doerner, Mike Uzelac and Greg Hinz) to record a new version of the
AC/DC classic "
It's a Long Way to the Top", to be included on a compilation album. Concurrent to the new Helix lineup and CD, Brent Doerner formed his own band,
My Wicked Twin, featuring Brian Doerner, Mike Uzelac, and Shane Schedler (formerly of Kitchener's Martyrs of Melody). They released their debut CD in January 2009.
Current and 1980s band reunion: July 2009–present In an unexpected turn of events, after their July 10, 2009
Rocklahoma performance,
Sean Kelly amicably gave notice that he was quitting Helix to be the new guitar player in
Nelly Furtado's band. His first date with Furtado was in
Mexico City in September 2009. After Kelly's departure, Brian Vollmer reunited the surviving members of the classic 1980s lineup: Daryl Gray, Greg "Fritz" Hinz, and Brent Doerner. At their first rehearsal together, Hinz reported, "…it was like we had never left. We all fell right into the groove." In regards to reuniting the old band, Vollmer cited fatigue of the rotating Helix lineups: Daryl Gray was the first member to play live with the band, appearing August 9, 2009, in Lewisporte,
Newfoundland. Jim Lawson's departure was announced on August 30, 2009. According to Vollmer, "Unfortunately, the long distance between where he lives (
Sudbury, Ontario) and where the band operates became a factor in Jim staying with us."
Orangeville's Kaleb "Duckman" Duck (of BraVurA), who played on Brent's My Wicked Twin CD, was hired on second guitar. Rob MacEachern amicably stepped down for Hinz to return. The new Helix CD was tentatively titled ''It's Rock Science, NOT Rocket Science!
, before being changed to Vagabond Bones'' after a song co-written by Kelly. Doerner, Gray and Hinz all appear on the album, along with Sean Kelly, Brent Niemi, Rob MacEachern and Russ "Dwarf" Graham of
Moxy and
Killer Dwarfs. The songs were described by Vollmer as music "which harkens back to our roots, yet sounds contemporary." A western Canadian tour was played in October 2009. Brian Vollmer had a cameo appearance in the second
Trailer Park Boys movie
Countdown to Liquor Day, released September 25, 2009. Helix also performed at the opening gala of the premier of the movie at the
Halifax Metro Centre. The reunion tour has lasted into 2010 including both Canadian and US dates. Brian Vollmer also implied that he would like to continue writing for future Helix albums with former member Sean Kelly. In regards to Kelly's departure in 2009, Vollmer stated, "I give Sean my blessings, no worries. As long as we continue to write together, I am happy." The second album is a compilation called
Running Wild in the 21st Century, containing Helix and Vollmer solo material from 1999 to 2010, including two unreleased tracks ("
The William Tell Overture" and a new unnamed original song.) It was originally scheduled to be released in October 2010 but was delayed until 2011, due to problems getting permission to include the
AC/DC cover "
It's a Long Way to the Top". It will be replaced by a new original song instead, causing the delay. In November 2010, Vollmer announced that the band were filming a
pilot episode for a Helix-based
reality television series. In 2012, Helix toured across eight cities in southwestern/southeastern Ontario for a mini Heavy Mental Christmas Tour. Performing classic Christmas songs but with a twist of heavy metal, and they played their hit songs such as "Rock You", "Heavy Metal Love" and their own song "All I Want for Christmas... Is the Leafs to Win the Cup". Drummer Greg "Fritz" Hinz died of cancer on February 16, 2024, at the age of 68. On December 5, 2025, the band announced their new album,
Scrap Metal, would be released on January 23, 2026. == Outside Helix ==