Helix frontman / founder Brian Vollmer takes another trip down memory lane, looking back at the band's "Heavy Metal Love" video from the 1983 album, No Rest For The Wicked.

Vollmer: "'Heavy Metal Love' was the first video we ever filmed and we really didn't know what to expect. There weren't any such things as video shows then. In fact, it turned out to be the first year for MTV in the US; MuchMusic would start the next year in Canada. As a result, 'Heavy Metal Love' went into heavy rotation in the States, something that would be impossible today. We had no idea of the huge impact of TV but we were about to find out. We were pulling into places like Washington, D.C. and there would be line-ups to get in and see the band. We were overwhelmed.

The video was shot at the Massey Ferguson plant in Toronto by director Rob Quarterly with Champagne Productions. Rob Quarterly had a great feel for how the band was to be presented. He also shot vids for 'Don't Get Mad Get Even', 'Rock You', 'The Kids Are All Shakin'', 'Wild In The Streets', 'Dream On', and 'The Storm'. I wished we would have used him for more, but probably money was a detriment. This video cost $26,000 Canadian.

Years later, when I was sitting at the AOR awards in Los Angeles with Weird Al Yankovic, he told me that he had used a clip from the video for his video called 'The Heavy Metal Olympics'. In it was a clip from the end of 'Heavy Metal Love' where they inverted the film and made it look like I was jumping in the air upside down.

'Heavy Metal Love' is a song, which, in the music business they say, 'has legs.' This means that the song isn't just a flash in musical history. The song can be heard in the last Trailer Park Boy's movie and also in the upcoming CBC Egypt series Trickster, from the book Son Of Trickster."

Helix recently released the Eat Sleep Rock CD on Perris Records, a compilation album with some of singer Brian Vollmer’s personal favorite songs recorded since leaving Captiol/EMI in 1990. The album was recorded at bassist Darryl Gray's own Dawghouse Studios, mixed by Siegfried Meier and mastered by Harry Hess (Harem Scarem). The artwork was done by ex-Helix guitarist Brent Doerner with photos by Victor Azziz Studios. "Brent is a very creative guy," states Vollmer. When he was in the band writing songs, he was with us for I think 16 or 18 years. I've always found him as a person who thought outside the box when it came to creativity so it's great still having him involved with Helix projects. He's like a 6th member."

Eat Sleep Rock adds the new track "Eat Sleep Rock" and includes "The Story Of Helix," a rap that Brian wrote a couple of years ago to kick off the acoustic show. "Eat Sleep Rock" is the first to feature new Helix guitarist Gary Borden, a veteran of the Canadian music scene who has played with Sass Jordan, Toronto and The Guess Who, worked with Gowan, and fronts his own original act Blood Of VanGogh. Brian continues, "Kaleb left last year, he was a solid member for over 10 years and he is still involved with the band writing for the next studio album. Gary is a great guy and he fits right in. It's great having guys with personalities like Gary and Chris (Julke, guitarist) to bring you up as it's tough when you are out there doing it all weekend long, travelling, playing, getting up early and flying. I got a great bunch of guys behind me."

Keep up to date with all things Helix in their newly designed website at Planethelix.com.

Be sure to tune in when Helix debuts their new video "Eat Sleep Rock" on Friday, August 14th at 9pm EST during an episode of Friday Night Live, a local London, Ontario based streaming show. The video was shot and produced by ex-Helix member Brent Doerner. Brian and Chris will stop by for an interview and also perform a special acoustic version of "Eat Sleep Rock" with "Coronavirus oriented lyrics." Join Facebook event notifications here.

The show will also announce a special Helix merch bundle that includes a band signed copy of Eat Sleep Rock, a special coronavirus-themed shirt, a mask and koozie. BraveWords followers can go to RockPaperMerch.com and apply the special discount code BW10 at checkout for anything ordered on the Helix webstore throughout August.