HELIX Completes Recording New Album

Canadian hard rockers HELIX have completed recording their new album, "Vagabond Bones", tentatively due before the end of the year. Singer Brian Vollmer has been collaborating with Sean Kelly (CRASH KELLY) on material for the CD, which is being mixed by engineer Aaron Murray.

Commented Vollmer: "We had recorded the last three tracks in Toronto at Pocket Studios the week before we left, and so there was just the mix to take care of and then off to the pressing plant.

"We usually get out of the studio and let [engineer] Aaron 'do his thing' when it comes to the mixing. It usually takes a day to mix one song and then Aaron sends the mix to Sean and I by e-mail."

"Vagabond Bones" tentative track listing (not final sequence):

01. The Animal Inside (Won't Be Denied)
02. Go Hard or Go Home
03. Vagabond Bones
04. Monday Morning Meltdown
05. When The Bitter's Got The Better Of You
06. Hung Over But Still Hanging In
07. Best Mistake I Never Made
08. Make 'Em Dance
09. Jack It Up

Vollmer's track-by-track description of "Vagabond Bones" can be found on the band's official web site.

The classic '80s lineup of Canadian hard rockers HELIX — Brent "The Doctor" Doerner on lead guitar, Greg "Fritz" Hinz on drums, Daryl Gray on bass, and Brian Vollmer on vocals — recently reunited and is planning to hit the road throughout western Canada in October.

Regarding his collaboration with Kelly, Vollmer previously said, "We hit it off as writers right from the start, and the tunes we've produced so far have been getting great feedback. I've been playing them not only for industry people but to fans as well. One thing for sure — whether you love or hate this CD, you'll find it very different from anything we've done in the past. In particular, 'Monday Morning Meltdown' is a real stretch for us. It's BEATLES/CHEAP TRICK-influenced, which led Rudy Blair of 680 News to comment to me that '…if he hadn't known who it was us, he would have thought it was a young band.'"

"Writing with Sean Kelly has really brought out some of my other musical influences, like DAVID BOWIE, T. REX, and ALICE COOPER. You can hear traces of them in different songs we've put together."

HELIX has been active in the past several years with several releases. The band's most recent collection of original material, "The Power of Rock and Roll", came out in 2007. Their latest CD, "A Heavy Mental Christmas", was made available in all Canadian Wal-Mart stores last November and received airplay worldwide. The CD also received great reviews from the critics.

HELIX was interviewed by "Wyldside Radio" on July 10, 2009 prior to the band's performance at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. Watch the question-and-answer session below.