Former HELIX Guitarist BRENT DOERNER Talks About New Band DECIBEL

Sleaze Roxx recently conducted an interview with former HELIX guitarist Brent Doerner about his new band DECIBEL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Sleaze Roxx: How have sales for DECIBEL been, and are you happy with the way it turned out?

Brent Doerner: "Sales have been the shits. Let's face it, since the Canadian government said people can download music for free everybody downloads music for free. That really killed sales of all records everywhere, except Germany, where downloading is illegal and sales at record stores are very healthy. Am I happy with how our sales have turned out? Of course not. But what can I expect in the future? Not much I don't think, not unless the laws change, and I don't think that's gonna happen. Even if it did, what can anybody do about it anyway? I feel that downloading tunes is like stealing from my friends. I still buy CDs, but I'm guilty too. I've downloaded tunes as well. But the majority of the tunes I've downloaded are of LPs that I bought 10 to 15 years ago. They either got ripped off, or scratched too much to play anymore. I've got boxes of LPs in my place, but no turntable. Who has a turntable anymore?! A sign of the times. In the end, I'm not doing this for money, it's 'cause I love writing/recording and playing tunes. If I did it for the money, I would have quit 10 years ago."

Sleaze Roxx: What do you remember about the day Paul Hackman (HELIX guitarist) passed away due to the tour bus accident?

Brent Doerner: "I remember the last thing I said to Paul was 'have a safe drive home.' It was the last words I ever spoke to him. We just finished on Saturday night at the Commodore Ballroom, the last date of the tour in Vancouver. I decided to fly home with some of the other guys, but Paul wanted to do the drive through the mountains one more time. Our flight left Sunday afternoon, but before we even checked out of our hotel the police called and told us about the crash. That's when he said 'your friend Paul is longer with us.' I still miss him as I'm telling you this."

Sleaze Roxx: I hadn't heard from you in awhile and then you popped up on the HELIX anniversary DVD. What was it like getting back together with everyone for that show?

Brent Doerner: "It was really, really great. All the HELIX fans came out of the woodwork and were still digging it after all these years. HELIX certainly has loyal fans. I noticed some of the previous members had less hair than 30 years ago. Everybody was just as forking crazy as they were all those years ago. Nothing's changed. Brian Vollmer went to great lengths to put that gig on, and it showed. I was really out of practice at the time so I rehearsed the tunes 50 times at least, just to get my chops up. But it's a buzz when you get up on a big stage. The whole thing kick started my enthusiasm, I had the time of my life."

Read the entire interview at this location.