HELIX Frontman BRIAN VOLLMER Slams Lack Of Support For Canadian Musicians - "We're Being Swept Out The Door With No Help Whatsoever From Government, The Press, Or Our Useless Musician's Union"

December 14, 2018, 5 years ago

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HELIX Frontman BRIAN VOLLMER Slams Lack Of Support For Canadian Musicians - "We're Being Swept Out The Door With No Help Whatsoever From Government, The Press, Or Our Useless Musician's Union"

Helix frontman Brian Vollmer, who has been a musician for most of his life, has checekd in with the following justified rant:

"Lately, I've been booking flights for our many gigs across the country and abroad. Could someone please explain to me why the price of flights is so high if the price of oil is so low? The other day for instance, I was looking at flights to Prince George, where we are playing a festival in August. The flights are over $900 each! Then there's luggage... everyone has a guitar plus pedal boards and their clothes and toiletries. You can almost forget taking merch on these shows as well. By the time the time you pay for two check on bags of merch plus pay the venue their 20%, the government their GST and HST, plus the price of merch itself, you are left with didilly squat. Why bother?

If you look at the price of an airline ticket, a lot of the price is GST or HST. Then there's fuel charges, airport improvement charges ...basically 'charges' up the ying yang. When Trudeau brings in his beloved carbon tax, that'll be the final nail in the coffin. The air will be much cleaner because everyone will be out of a job. In France they are now having riots in the streets over this. The elites in downtown Toronto and Ottawa can beat their chest in moral superiority while the rest of the country suffers immensely. A lot of this stuff is not only virtue signalling; it's to point out how bad 'we' are as compared to 'them.'

If I sound mad as f**k, I am. I've worked my whole life as a musician and survived some of the worst stuff the government and the economy has thrown at me, but lately it's just getting to be a bit much. It's bands like Helix, Killer Dwarfs, Lee Aaron, Harlequin, etc. who have been the meat and potatoes, bread and butter acts over the years who have kept the music business alive. We've slept in buses where you wake up seeing your breath in the air, drove insane miles to get to the next gig, lived on Kraft Dinner, and made shit money to boot. We broke down a lot of doors for younger Canadian musicians who followed us and kept the music industry alive. Now we're being swept out the door with no help whatsoever from government, the press, or our useless Musician's Union, who seem to care more about the local symphony orchestra or knob twiddlers at the CBC."

Vollmer checked in on November 12th to report that Helix drummer Greg "Fritz" Hinz had been hospitalized and put into a drug-induced coma after falling from the roof of his house. Vollmer recently checked in with news on the benefit concert for Hinz, to be held in London, Ontario on Friday, January 18th. Helix, Killer Dwarfs and Syre will perform at the event.

"Yesterday, the tickets for Fritzfest sold out. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets. We'll also be having an auction that night. I know that the Trailer Park Boys, Al Harlow of Prism, Sean Kelly, Peter Ammonn, Dave Southen, Jackie Wetlaufer, and Andy Curran of Coney Hatch have all contacted me to donate items. If I forgot anyone, my apologies. I'll be throwing in stuff as well, plus we'll probably have a raffle for a bottle, 50/50, stuff like that...it's gonna be a good night. I leave for Florida early next week and will be flying back for the gig."

A GoFundMe page has been launched by Vollmer to aid in paying Hinz's bills, as he is self-employed. Check out the campaign here.



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