My Fellow Countrymen, I’ll Lend You My Ears Metal Mayhem My Fellow Countrymen, I’ll Lend You My Ears “Take off eh, you hoser.” A phrase made popular by Bob & Doug McKenzie who were played by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas on the 1970’s comedy/variety show SCTV. The specific recurring skit and the characters Bob & Doug were developed in response to the CRTC (Canadian Radio Television Commission) demanding more Canadian content from the show. Canadian rock and metal God Geddy Lee, singer and bassist for RUSH even appeared on the song TAKE OFF from the 1981 album The Great White North spawned by the show’s popularity. But there’s so much more to the Canadian music scene than Geddy and RUSH, so ride along with me this week as I touch briefly on some “Hoser Heavy Metal” with some bands that are making waves once again. This genre of music is in a big resurgence of late, assisted by the European market, which never abandoned the heavy metal music scene as we did here in North America. Some of Canada’s premier hard rock and metal bands are dusting off the equipment, re-uniting and recording new material. My passion for hard rock and heavy metal has been re-awakened in the past couple of years and I’m obviously not the only one, cheers, “EH”. Helix has been one band that never totally left the Canadian music scene, many times with vocalist Brian Vollmer as the sole original and member of the classic line-up. Once known as the hardest working band, Brian has kept the Helix name out on the road touring (playing Sweden Rock in 2007 among others) and recording and producing music. In 2008 Helix also appeared at the Carl Dixon Benefit concert in Toronto. Several years ago in 2009 Brian was able to re-unite with the entire “classic” line-up excluding guitarist Paul Hackman who had passed away in a tour bus accident in 1992. Brian recruited young guitar wizard Kaleb “Duckman” Duck to fill the void left by Hackman. Helix received a boost in popularity with the song HEAVY METAL LOVE being featured in the first Trailer Park Boys movie and Brian himself having a cameo role in the sequel. After successful touring, recording and an appearance as the lone Canadian representation on the inaugural voyage of the Monsters of Rock Cruise, guitarist Brent “The Doctor” Doerner has once again left Helix. I personally spoke to Brent at one of his last Helix shows at The Rockpile Bar & Nightclub in Toronto and he cited the fatigue of the touring grind and a desire to concentrate on his company, Red D Films, as reasons for his departure. John Claus has stepped into the role and Helix surges forward with extensive Canadian touring. Helix has just released the video for their latest song, CHAMPAGNE COMMUNIST, and while it’s not as heavy as their classic metal the Skin In The Game EP from 2011 is a great listen. Former guitarist Brent Doerner’s Red D Films put the video together and they’re out on the road touring this summer. I’ve met all the guys on a few occasions and shared a beer or two with them, but if you run into drummer Fritz Heinz make sure to ask him about the police man who pulled him over on the way to the gig in Sudbury, Ontario. HELIX on FACEBOOK | HELIX’S WEBSITE Hard rockers Coney Hatch, who unleashed their self titled debut album in 1982 are now back together after a seventeen year long hiatus with the original line-up featuring Carl Dixon on vocals and guitar, Andy Curran on vocals and bass, guitarist Steve Shelski and drummer Dave “Thumper” Ketchum. The reunion came about after Carl Dixon was in a near fatal car accident in Australia in 2008. While he was in a coma in the hospital the band members were contacted and spoke to him via phone held to his ear, encouraging him to get well soon as there was a lot more rocking to do with Coney Hatch. Two years later saw him back on stage with the original band for a show in Hamilton Ontario before being added to the Firefest England line-up of 2011. They are now poised to release an album of all new material entitled Four on September 29th, 2013, their first in 27 years! I was hoping that my friend Carl Dixon would be kind enough to advance me a copy for review, but I guess I may still be in the bad books a bit. You see, I was able to catch Coney Hatch live for the first time back in June 2012 and it was a thrilling experience being front row leaning on the stage for the event. Many fans love to grab a souvenir from the concert experience such as a guitar pick, set-list or drumstick and The Meister is no exception as I laid eyes on the perfect memento. The band had debuted a new song that evening and it was so new that Carl had just written the lyrics the day before and didn’t have them memorized as of yet. As a result he had them written on three sheets of lined paper and taped to his monitor. What a great souvenir for a long time fan such as myself in his first time seeing them live! Who knew that that was the only copy of the lyrics in existence and that there would be a search and plea for their safe return sent out over Facebook and other social media? Whoops! I of course scanned them and sent them back to Carl immediately, so remember The Meister when you listen to the song Blown Away! Here’s a fan made video of the song played at the June 2012 show at The Rockpile Bar & Nightclub, the scene of the crime if you will BLOWN AWAY and pre-order the new Coney disc here: FOUR. CONEY HATCH on FACEBOOK | CONEY HATCH’S WEBSITE Brighton Rock made the airwaves in 1986 with their full length debut Young, Wild & Free producing such radio singles as We Came to Rock and Can’t Wait for the Night. The second record, Take a Deep Breath, was hoped to break them wide open in the coveted US market, but poor label support held them back. The third album saw them taking more control of their own record, making the album that they wanted to make, their heaviest and also most profitable. Still not achieving the success they sought, they disbanded amicably after the Love Machine tour. Reforming after ten years for a reunion tour in 2001 and again in 2008 for a benefit concert that they played (among many other Canadian rockers) for Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch. In October 2012 they played to a totally sold out crowd at The Rockpile Bar & Nightclub in Toronto before their appearance at that year’s Firefest in England the week later. They are still touring, having just played The Rockpile again in April and are working on new material as well. I was able to catch up with guitarist Greg Fraser recently and he had this to say: “The reunion show in Toronto and a week later playing in England at Firefest was such a blast we decided to use that energy and make a new record. The last record we made was over 20 years ago. The new songs we’re recording now are sounding great and that old spirit is back. It’s going to rock!” In the meantime, while I anxiously await that new material, they were involved with the Cancer Care charity album A World Without Heroes. The double CD album celebrates the 40th anniversary of KISS, features a whole host of well known rockers covering KISS songs from every era and boasts a whopping 40 tracks! The CD was released on July 30th, but here’s a link to Brighton Rock’s chilling and creepy re-imagining of CREATURES OF THE NIGHT and the link to purchase the CD: WORLD WITHOUT HEROES. You can catch the boys at Firefest England again in October 2013, Rock Harvest 3 in Baltimore in November 2014 and many other dates in between. BRIGHTON ROCK on FACEBOOK | BRIGHTON ROCK’S WEBSITE Also appearing on A World Without Heroes is Russ “Dwarf” Graham of 80’s rockers Killer Dwarfs. Killer Dwarfs stormed the Canadian musical landscape forming in 1981 and entertaining us with their wacky humor throughout the music, videos and the entire band even took on the name “Dwarf” as their surnames. I remember watching this video for their song STAND TALL from the album of the same name on MuchMusic (The Canadian version of MTV). All their videos featured the same tongue in cheek humor especially with singer Russ trapped in a wooden crate stamped WARNING: KILLER DWARF in a couple of them. I’ve seen Dwarf skin basher, Darrell Millar, perform with his new band several times, Auto-man.ca where he has left his seat behind the kit and ventured to center stage and the vocalist/front-man position. During one of those meetings Darrell had eluded to the possibility that there was something in the works of a possible Dwarf reunion. Having had a few beverages myself that time I let it slip from my memory, not thinking much of it. Russ Graham released Wireless on March 18th, 2013, which is an acoustic recording of his favorite Killer Dwarf songs. I was excited when Russ was announced as a part of the second voyage of the Monsters of Rock cruise and it was great to hear the Dwarf classics live once again even though it was not plugged in. I chalked Darrell’s comments up to this being what he meant by hearing new Dwarf music in the future. But before long it was announced that the Dwarfs would be remastering and releasing the album that was to follow 1991’s Method to the Madness with Start @ One in the fall of 2013. The album was recorded in 1993, but never saw the light of day until now. Along with that the Dwarfs were preparing to tour with the first stop at The Rockpile on October 4th, 2013. This will be my first venture in seeing the entire Dwarf band live and it may well become the event of the year for me, but we’ll see how it goes. For sure I’ll bring you my thoughts on the live performance, but let’s see if we can’t secure an interview with one or two of the boys as well……..stand-by. KILLER DWARFS on FACEBOOK | RUSS DWARF on FACEBOOK There’s a ton of great rock and metal up here in the great White North, but these are just a few of my favorites. Anvil has just released a new album and is out playing shows. Harem Scarem has reunited and is touring…….now if Kick Axe would only join the trend! If not there’s plenty of new blood carrying the torch such as Diemonds, J’nai, West Memphis Suicide and 40 Sons to name a few, the Canuck rock scene is alive and well, check it out. If you know of a great Canadian band I may have left out or not yet discovered, don’t hesitate to inbox me at themeister@therockrag.com. Cheers, The Meister Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
