Yesterday I spent about 2 hours writing something appropriate for the launch of the new HELIX band photos and then I inadvertently erased it all, just as Mike Hackman showed up at my door.
I talked to Daryl on the phone this morning and he mentioned that the post had disappeared, so here I go again...(that's a HELIX song off the 1st album, by the way)
We're moving into a another phase of the band with the passing of Fritz. No one can realize how close you become after living 4 feet away from each other for a good portion of your life. That's what we did for most of the 80's, travelling in that shitty old school bus, but having the time of our lives. We all had our own bunks, some being stinkier than others. There was no air conditioning, and the port-o-pot at the in the back lounge frequently over-flowed with piss onto the carpet, much to the chagrin of our bus driver, Gordy Reimer.
One morning Fritz was sleeping and I decided to let a big fart go in his face for a joke. Sick, huh? Not really...more like "par for the course" back then. Humor helped brighten up the moment, no matter how juvenile. LOL. Anyway, Fritz woke up, swung around in his bunk and put his feet on my bottom back and started pushing me against the bunk on the other side of the isle until it was hurting. He was pissed off. But like I said before: "Par for the course" . The moment lasted 5 minutes and we were brothers again.
We were that close, ya know what I mean? It was a different era, a different music scene, and our bodies could take the abuse.
When Fritz got sick after our gig last April at the Ottawa Hard Rock Casino, Jamie Constant stepped in to fill the spot. Jamie comes from the band SYRE, and we've all been friends for years. Ironically, the reason Jamie got into music as a profession was because of seeing Fritz & HELIX at his local high school. So he's known Fritz for years and took over Fritz's spot with Fritz's blessing. Jamie and Chris were some of the last friends to visit Fritz before he died.
During this tumultuous period last year Mike Hackman came to the rescue to play percussion for the Aeolian Hall and Princess Theatre shows. The next weekend Brent "The Mayor" Niemi came back to play for us in Edmonton at Rockin' the District. They saved my/our asses on those gigs!
Jamie has actually been filling in for Fritz ever since Fritz fell off the ladder a couple of years ago. In that accident Fritz permanently lost his hearing in his right ear, & his sense of taste and smell. Yet with all the damage he endured in that fall he was back playing for us in six months! I think he hid a lot of what he was going through. He told me after his first gig back at The Hard Rock in Vancouver, at the end of the night when he stood up to acknowledge the crowd, he nearly fell face first through his kit. He had terrible vertigo, and all the flying we did made it worse.
When Fritz was side-lined from the fall, Jamie stepped in and did a great job. He played until Fritz came back, and then graciously stepped aside, although he did end up playing with us in Sweden at
SKOGSROGET w/The Darkness, Glenn Hughes, Airbourne, & Uriah Heep. This was due to not being able to change the airline ticket and have us all on the same shuttle from the airport, which was hours away. As it turned out, the guys ended up going to Belfast for a day and then home to lost luggage, but I digress. Thanks Air Lingus.
This time when Fritz bowed out it was different. The big "C"...
All the while Fritz made us all promise not to tell anyone what was going on. He also didn't want anyone to come see him, although once Traci told me, "Just come down. If you're here he won't tell you to go away." So that's what I did. However, another time I got all the way to Brantford and phoned Traci, only to have her say, "Sorry-not a good day." So I'd drive home. It was really tough on Traci 'cos I think if people would have been able to visit she might have gotten a break (she was a 24/7 nurse for Fritz) but I think he wanted all his strength to fight his disease. During my visit he could barely talk. A constant flow of visitors would have wiped him out.
Jamie has really been filling out since last April, but now it's official that he's drumming for us. He's got a great personality and he's a people person, which is a prerequisite for being in the band. On Wednesday we all met at Victor Aziz's photography studio in London and set about to shoot new promo shots. We also did a photo session for our upcoming acoustic shows
@The Blythe Theater and The Capitol 33 Theatre in Delhi on September 13th & 14th respectively.
Our next gig is in Chicago with Honeymoon Suite on May 11th and then the next weekend we'll be in Edmonton at the Cree River Casino with Aldo Nova.
#rocknroll #rockmusic #rockstar #canadianrock #canadianclassicrock #seankelly #KiLLeRDWaRfS #aprilwine
Below are two shots: One is of the new HELIX rip-yer-face-off live line-up and below it the acoustic show line-up. In that picture, the lineup is: From left to right: Mike Hackman (Paul's brother) on percussion, Mark Chichkan, Kaleb Duck (former Helix guitarist for over a DUCKADE!) myself, & Daryl. The top shot, from left to right is: Jamie Constant, Chris Julke, me, Daryl Gray, Mark Chichkan
