Helix frontman / founder Brian Vollmer continues his trip down memory lane, looking back at the band's "Good To The Last Drop" video from the  1990 album, Back For Another Taste.

Vollmer: "This was a song I had written with Mark Ribler in New York. The song had come together quickly; I believe we wrote and demoed it in about an hour.

When the Back For Another Taste album came out I had had about enough of the music business. I told my manager William Seip that I was hanging up my microphone for good. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we had a European tour with Ian Gillan booked. Seip pointed out that a lot of people had spent time and money to make it happen and that I was obliged to make it happen. So off we went to Europe. Little did I know it at the time, but going there would radically change my life. That was because it was the tour where Lynda and I solidified our relationship and we decided she would come to Canada for a visit.

And so I was all ready to leave the band after 26 years. The Gillan tour took us from Hungary (which was still Communist) to Austria, Italy, Luxemburg, and many more before ending in East Berlin. We had some English dates - one being in Redding for the Hell’s Angels - and then we were supposed to return home and that was to be the end of it. I was staying at Lynda’s flat in Shepherd’s Bush in London when Seipy phoned me to say that 'Good To The Last Drop' was becoming a huge radio hit. The record company wanted to do a video and our booking agency had a tour all lined up across western Canada. Seipy said, 'Why quit now when you can do this tour and make lots of $?'

Well, he did have a point. I was almost broke, had no car, and was living on $200/wk. I ended up doing the tour, from which I made enough money to buy a used car, an Oldsmobile with a big V8. I also ended up marrying Lynda, which changed my life. This week we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. I’m still friends with William Seip and he frequently reminds me that if he hadn’t talked me into doing that tour I would have never ended up with the wife I have. Good point. And I forgot to quit the band!"

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.