Brian Vollmer interview/Helix band footage on Hard Rock Heroes

I interviewed lead singer Brian Vollmer of Helix in the downstairs lobby at the Windsor Park Inn in Winnipeg, MB the day of his Helix show at the Inn's Night Moves Cabaret on June 15, 1992. I avoided uploading this interview for a while, because in my mind this was the biggest star I had interviewed up to this point, and I was a little nervous about it, but my nerves didn't show up on camera as much as I thought they did. I did screw up my listening when Brian talked about guitarist Brent Doerner's brother Brian filling in on drums when I said, "Fritz's brother?" It feels compounded now that I've read more about Brian Doerner in Brian Vollmer's Helix bio, "Gimme An R." And what's with that damn mic cutting out all the time? It always did that occasionally, but it did it too many times here. Good thing the dialog never really gets lost. But the most remarkable thing about this video and this time period is this: After the interview we see a brief portion of Helix doing "No Rest For The Wicked" from their Night Moves gig. Upon completion of this tour, guitarist Paul Hackman died in a tragic tour bus accident in the British Columbia mountains. If Helix was not videotaped any more during the remainder of this cross-Canada tour going west after Winnipeg, this, then, would be the last footage shot of Paul Hackman alive and playing with Helix. On a subsequent Helix tour, I caught up with Brian Vollmer again and gave him a tape of this footage. He used the band footage in the Helix history DVD, "30 Years Of Helix: No Rest For The Wicked" that he released in 2005. Wow. It was cool for me to see a part of Hard Rock Heroes being used on a band's DVD, but I sure never would have wanted that to happen because of a band member's death. What mixed feelings. In fact, this footage aired on HRH on the July 3, 1992 edition (#43), and Paul died two days later, on July 5, 1992. Very, very sad.

Added 24 Aug 2026