HELIX's BRIAN VOLLMER Hasn't Given Any Thought To Retirement: Writing And Performing 'Is What Makes Me The Happiest In Life'

In a new interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM, vocalist Brian Vollmer of Canadian hard rockers HELIX was asked if he and his bandmates have ever given serious thought to retirement. Brian responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Not really. You always have your bad days when you get up out of bed and you go, 'What the hell am I doing this for?' But no, not really. This is what makes me the happiest in life, performing, writing, doing the same thing I've done for 50 years. But a lot of bands are quitting just because the lead singer's losing their voice; they can't sing anymore, especially with rock and roll. It's a distorted sound."

Brian continued: "I was lucky because I lost my voice in 1976 and I was told I would never sing again, and my manager sent me to a voice coach by the name of Edoardo Johnson, who was the youngest member of the New York Metropolitan Opera, and he taught out of a basement of a church in Hamilton, Ontario. And I went, and Ed took me aside, put his arm around my shoulder and went, 'Just stick with me, kid, and do what I tell you to do, and your nodes will go away.' Because I had nodes, polyps. And I didn't take any time off. I was still playing six, seven nights a week. And by the end of that year, I got rid of my nodes. And I never looked back. And I kept going to Ed until he died. He was like a father to me. And I started teaching myself around 1989. I have some successful students. The girls from KITTIE went to me. Tim Hicks, who's a country star. He's had two or three top 10 hits. He studied with me."

In a separate interview with the Heavy Metal Mayhem radio show, the interviewer noted that HELIX never broke up in the five decades since the band's inception. "That's correct," Brian concurred. "The closest we came to breaking up, I think, was probably when [former HELIX guitarist] Paul [Hackman] died in a car accident in 1992. He was my writing partner, and so the question obviously came up: 'Are you gonna continue on?' I went, 'Well, I don't really know how to do anything else.' And we got heavily criticized for that decision. And I just said to people, 'What am I supposed to do? I haven't done anything else for 15 years. And I wouldn't know what to do, except maybe dig a ditch or something.' And so we continued on, and I did a lot of independent albums. And once again, we got heavily criticized because people would say, you'd have a half a million dollars to work with when you did a Capitol album, and now you're doing 'em for fifteen thousand dollars. And I kept putting them out. And then we got signed to Sanctuary in — it was about 2004 or something like that, in 2006. And Sanctuary came to me and gave me money for each one of those albums. And then I went and bought my first rental house, and I ended up selling that a couple years ago. And that's my pension today. So the story does have a happy ending."

Asked by Super Cool Radio how important it is for him and the rest of HELIX to continue to make new music and not just rely on performing the band's classic songs, Brian said: "It's one of the main reasons that I'm still around. I got into this business to perform and write music. And I've never understood my peers that go, 'Oh, there's no money in this. I'm gonna quit putting up new music' and blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. For me, that's what it's all about: putting out new music. I love it. That's where I get my biggest charge in life. Or being on stage. And so if I can keep doing this, like I said, and make money, I'm doing it. I wanna be like Johnny Cash. You're in bed dying and writing songs."

He added: "Well, here it is, too: it's also a financial thing. If you're spending, say, twenty thousand dollars on an album, which is probably what I spend, it's all a tax deduction, so you might as well invest in yourself because if you can't invest in yourself, who can you invest in? So that's what I've done over the years. I told my students that as well: invest in yourself. Take money that you've made at the end of the year and sink it back into the live act or recording or something that's gonna further your career. If you're just taking all the money and spending it, you're limiting yourself. And that's why I've continued to make albums over the years."

HELIX's new full-length album, "Scrap Metal", will be released on January 23, 2026 via Perris Records. This will be the 14th HELIX release on the label.

"Scrap Metal" features five previously unreleased tracks that retain the "classic" 1980s HELIX sound. The remaining five songs were previously made available on other releases such as "Old School", "half-ALIVE" and "B-Sides".

The new LP's first single, "Stuck In The '80s", features Sean Kelly (Gilby Clarke, CONEY HATCH, Lee Aaron) on guitar.

HELIX recently finished playing shows with NAZARETH as part of the "Bending The Rules" tour, the latter band's farewell trek of Canada.

HELIX was formed in 1974 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. In 1976, the twin-guitar attack of Brent "The Doctor" Doerner and Paul Hackman joined the band, helping shape the group's signature sound. After releasing two independent albums, HELIX signed with Capitol Records, launching their major-label career with "No Rest For The Wicked" (1983),featuring the breakout hit "Heavy Metal Love". The band gained further international success with "Walkin' The Razor's Edge" (1984),driven by their iconic anthem "Rock You", which received major MTV airplay, along with a controversial X-rated version of the video.

Throughout the 1980s, HELIX continued to release acclaimed albums and tour worldwide, sharing stages with KISS, ALICE COOPER, MOTÖRHEAD and Ian Gillan. Despite the tragic loss of guitarist Paul Hackman in 1992, Brian Vollmer carried the HELIX torch forward, working with various top-tier musicians, including members of BRIGHTON ROCK, KILLER DWARFS, HAREM SCAREM and CRASH KELLY.

HELIX's legacy was further cemented in 2003 when they were humorously featured in an episode of the "Trailer Park Boys" television show sparking renewed interest in their music. In 2005, Vollmer released the book "Gimme An R!", documenting his life on the road and in the studio. In 2010, Vollmer released "Smash Hits…Unplugged", an acoustic reimagining of HELIX classics.