Page 11 - ISSUE 21

ROCKNATION ISSUE 21 PAGE 11

is a great addition to the line-up-he’s from Fritz’s home- Eventually I might get around to it, but right now I just
town of Cambridge, Ontario, a seasoned musician/singer don’t have enough time.
and a guy with a sameness of attitude that the rest of us Rocknation: Let’s flashback here and tell us about a
have. That’s vitally important, because this is a marriage Eddie Van Halen incident of him jumping on stage with
of 5 people, so you don’t want 4 guys going one way and Helix.
one person turning left. Unlike The Sweden Rock Brian: The Eddie Van Halen incident...yes, I’ve been
Festival, which was a one-off, this time around we’re in asked to recount this story many times. We were on tour
Spain for 3 dates in May (Barcelona/Pamplona/Madrid) with Heart when, during Brent’s guitar solo, some guy
and in Sweden and Norway for 6 dates total in October. jumped onstage and grabbed Anne Wilson’s handmade
That tour is through Live Wire Booking and they tell me acoustic guitar and started air-guitaring behind Brent.
there will also be dates added in Finland & Denmark. Brent didn’t even realize anyone was there-wondering
Rocknation: Have you had many fans been contacting why the crowd was going crazy. After we came off stage,
you about how excited they are to see you for the first we were greeted by Alex and Eddie at the side of the
time in Europe? stage. Brent was dumbfounded, but finally spit out the
Brian: A lot of fans that have contacted me about request, “Hey, wanna come up to the dressing room for a
returning to Europe are fans that saw us for the last time beer?” To which they both agreed...
on either the KISS tour in 1983 or in 1988 with Ian Gillan. (continued on page 12)
Some are even flying in from other countries. I’m im-
pressed.
Rocknation: You are one of
the many famous
Canadian musicians
involved with the Metal on
Ice project. Please tell us
about that project.
Brian: The Metal on Ice
project is the brain child
of Sean Kelly, with whom
I write. Sean wrote a best
seller book for Indigo by
that name. The book was
about Canadian heavy
metal/heavy rock bands
from the 80’s who
influenced his career.
Accompanying the book
was a CD featuring Lee
Aaron, Darby Mills of the
Headpins, Carl Dixon of
Coney Hatch, Nick Walsh
of Slic Toxic, Russ Graham
of the Killer Dwarfs, and
myself singing our biggest
hit songs re-recorded. On
May 10th we’ll all be getting
together (except Russ-who
is on tour) for a live show at
The Opera House in Toron-
to. Tickets are now on sale.
Rocknation: You are a very
busy guy with Helix and
Vocal teaching your last
solo CD “When Pigs Fly”
was in 1999. Will the fans
see a solo release from you
in the future?
Brian: I’m always talking
“solo release” but Helix al-
ways gets in the way...LOL.