Well - we left off in Windsor....

Monday was a DAY OFF!  mostly lounged around the hotel, did a little wandering, ended with a little 10 pin to re-establish some male dominance in the band LOL

We got the opportunity to do another open mic @ the Loop building on the tues night - wow, these people were just so supportive - again we sold a bunch of merch (thankfully as the fundage's were getting a little low) and Micky from the restaurant next door again made us FREE food (and the restaurant wasn't even open that day!).  Our new friend Travis Reitsma, host of the Sunday open mic was kind enough to offer up some space at his place to allow us to crash, which was very awesome of him - look him up AWESOME musician!!!

Next we headed off to Burlington on the 23rd to Rawk out The Legendary Red Rooster!  We got to share the stage with SoulBomb from Ottawa and Calculating Collapse from Grande Prairie.  Turnout was alittle lack lustre but the energy was there and the other bands were all very supportive of each other.  Good times :)

We headed out thur/fri for some R&R in Niagara Falls.  Our friends Mojave have some parents that live in the area and were kind enough to let 4 tour weary strangers invade... WOW!!!  I think we found our home away from home!  All we were hoping for was a patch of floor to sleep on - We got beds, breakfasts, dinners, movies, snacks, to-go food, etc., etc. - Such GOOD PEOPLE!!!!  We are so thankful for the generosity of strangers and humbled by the lengths people will extend themselves - just WOW!!

Saturday we were off to Oshawa for a return to The Groove Lounge with our friends from last years tour - Something Worth Saving - and a TO band, the Bastard Child Death Cult.  Some hard Rawkin was had by all - probably the most beer I have seen on the floor in a long time ( I love the look of puzzlement on the guy who brings his pitcher into the pit and then looks confused when it comes out with only 1/8 of its contents LOL)

Sunday we returned to last years tour Fave spot for R&R - Dewar's Inn on the St.Lawrence - for less than $100 you get an entire cottage fully equiped with everything!!!  Home cooked meal, Satellite TV, beautiful Serenity, - highly recommended!  How METAL!

Ottawa's The Rainbow Room hosted us on a monday with locals Stoned Sober - probably the best monday show EVER!  Great Room, Great Sound, and lots of awesome passerby's that wandered in and never left.  Tour Merch sales record - ON A MONDAY!!!  Thank you Ottawa!!

Unfortunately it was at this point that we had to make a pretty big decision - we lost our shows in quebec so we decided to b-line it to Sudbury to lie low at Jess's parents place for some serious freeloadin - Quebec was our FAVORITE place to visit on last years tour so we were pretty dissapointed that we would not be able to afford returning - hopefully next year :(

Now - we wait.....  lots of Rockband, hot tubbin, and late night TV - yeah, life is ruff!
Felt good to set up all the gear in the basement and rock the fuck out - we all missed having the flexibillity to free jam as a group (aside from the 3 minute sound checks on show nights)

tour resumes in Peterburough @ The Spill on October 6th for a full week of rawkin all over southern Ontario - Gonna be GOOD!!!

Cheers

the HELCION's

Hello all - things are going Rad!!!

We started out september 10th for some thursday night rawkin at Vern's in Calgary with The Profits of Doom and Enemyus - Crowd was small but decent for a thursday and the energy was high!  Great way to kick off the tour - always a good time in Calgary.

We drove straight to Winnipeg the next day and crashed at our friend Jenny's house - great to catch up and breakfast was rad.  Then of to Kenora for our Saturday night show.

Shooter's in kenora is a big ass bar.  We were joining our friends Mojave from Vancouver for their second night there as our tours crossed paths (they were on their way home and this was show 2 for us)  At 10:30 pm it was looking like we would be playing to each other and the staff (did I mention this is a big ass bar - tends to look even bigger when its empty)  But the Gods of rawk showed mercy and at about 5 to 11 people started coming in and it never stopped - the place was packed by 11:30 and both our groups had an awesome show.  Thank you Kenora!  And thank you Mojave for the unlimited late night salt and pepper - probably the best pepper ever and served up enthusiastically by lisa Mojave at 3 am.  Breakfast consisted of 2 LARGE servings of the worlds best fries - we could not conquer them between 4 people - mmmmm french fries!!!

Then off to the marathon drive from Kenora to Sudbury - Damn you thunder bay!!!! LOL  We drove through the night and arrived in Sudbury around 11 am - hot tubbin and sleep all around.  tues/wed we did a couple nights at The Nightclub - always interesting playing a strip joint...made some great contacts and sold a wack of merch - yay our gas tank can be fed :)  We had a relaxing day off on Thursday (hot tubbin and 420 ALL DAY)

Friday we headed off to Barrie and the Foxx Lounge - this was a last minute add on show that we were able to pick up - we knew no details of the show coming in.  Probably one of the best shows we have ever had (definitly the best surprise show)  We left with 2 pages of email contacts, way less merch than we arrived with, and an awesome memory of shows and a venue we could only wish we had back at home.  We should have a few pics up soon - seriously cool venue - can't wait to return!!!

Saturday we were off to Niagara Falls for the Ontario rocks festival - alex george was awesome to allow us to play on very short notice (we lost our
Chatham show so we were offered the opportunity to play Niagara)  We got to play 2 sets throughout the day and made a pretty big impact on the locals - looking like we might be back in the next couple weeks before we head out back west (which is awesome - who wouldn't want to return to niagara???)

Sunday we head out to Windsor to play the Coach and horse - unfortunately the show appeared to have slipped through the cracks and the venue was not even going to open that night :(  Fortunately the venue is connected to 4 other venues, one of which - the FM lounge was hosting an acoutic open mic.  The most gracious host Travis - allowed us to set up all our gear and play a set.  WOW!  Totally blown away by the generosity of the people of Windsor - by the end of the night we had been paid/fed/beered - offered places to stay, given more opportunities in the next couple of days to play at a couple more venues and sold a ton of merch ( I think everyone in the room bought something) - we had earmarked the next couple of days to have off but hey- if we can find stages to play we will play them! 

Having a blast!!!  Our shows keep getting tighter (remember as of last night that was Jed's 10th performance with us)  and the band is really enjoying each others company which is pretty awesome being we have to spend almost every waking hour together.

Looking forward to the weeks and shows ahead - remember to try and tell anyone you know in the towns we are hitting up - we won't be back til the spring!!!

cheers

the HELCION's  

Hosted By:
HELCION ~ New Music Video is Up!

When:
July 31, 2009

Where:
Anytime
anywhere
Anyhow

Description:
Looking for the right fit to continue our journey to the Next Level!!! Read the Event for more details!!!

Click Here To View Event

Hosted By:
HELCION ~ New Music Video is Up!

When:
February 18, 2009

Where:
Your Computer
Your house
your city

Description:
Here is the video! It is up on Youtube and our myspace site so go check it out - we are super stoked!!!

Click Here To View Event

Hey Everyone :)
 
Recently (for about the past 4 months) we have been receiving numerous requests from other bands in this area and other areas, requesting help from us to get them a show in this area.  We would love to be able to accomodate everyone but unfortunately we would have to play a show about every 3 days to help everyone out (no lie - in the past 4 weeks we have received 47 seperate requests for help with shows from Kamloops to Penticton - mostly from bands from the coast)
Now - we try to help out others as much as we can - but the other side of this coin is that in the past 3 years we have played over 130 shows with over 250 different bands.  We have received 12 show invites in 3 years (9 shows we were able to play - most of these invites were from bands that we had not already helped out).  EVERYTHING else we have had to arrange or book ourselves.
We have always carried on our band business by the Karma principle (do good to others - good will be done to you)  but the favors are not being returned (especially Vancouver).    Sooo..... we are going to change our approach.....
 
If you would like a show in this area - look at our schedule first - if we are playing in the town you are looking for within 4 weeks of the date you are looking for - we will not be able to play with you (we only play a town once a month maximum - unless they are 19+ and all ages show to get out the different crowds).  
We book months in advance (usually 3 to 4) so if you are looking for a date that is only 6 weeks away - we probably can't help you. 
If you see some holes in our schedule on myspace that means that we have some dates that are not yet confirmed (we are still available).  We are wanting to play all over so offer us up a date (we don't care so much that we might not be able to play the date - but just the OFFER means a lot to us - there are far too many bands that rely on other bands for ALL their shows - we are weening them out of our circle of help, you scratch our back , we'll scratch yours. We are not saying we won't help you out - but we will definitly be prioritizing the bands that work hard and are active in booking their own areas - and motivated to return the favour.
 
So - unfortunately - if you are wanting a show in this area and you would like to go through us - bands look ahead, look at our posted schedule and find something in your neck of the woods that you can get us on (We know how scheduling can go, and the date may not work for us - that will not be held against you - Just the Offer alone is meaningful to us and we appreciate it!!!!)
We spend HUGE amounts of time and effort trying to put shows together and get into other markets - we have always been good to share contacts and help out those who ask - But we simply can't help everyone. 
 
Just wanting everyone to be aware of the situation and please don't hold it against us if we can not help you out - we are outnumbered by the requests by far!!!!!

..

..






..

So Stoked! We just played a crowd of just under 3000!!!!! For those of you that don't know - we entered into a local battle of the bands competition and won the opportunity to be the musical guest

as part of the FMX world tour, allowing us to play the South Okanagan Event Center to just under 3000 people!!!!! What a rush!  This was huge for us! The riders were awesome - the crowd was excited - everyone had a great time! So thank..ful for this opportunity- Can't wait for the NEXT BIG STAGE!!! We should have some new photo's of the event up shortly - so stay tuned....... Cheers the HELCION's

Hails to all

Just wanted to say hi to everyone and fill everybody in on what we have been up to and what we have coming up……

We all just overcame a very big LOW after returning home at the end of summer and dealing with post tour depression. 8 weeks on the road is a long time – trying to get back into the swing of things took some getting used to – and having to throw day jobs back into the band routine really makes you value your time. We all had to re-wire for about a month or so and re-assess our goals both personally and as a group.


All of us devote a huge amount of heart and time into what we are doing, and a lot of family and friends get neglected as a by-product ~ so for that all we can do is thank you profusely for all the love and support {emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually} We are so thankful to all of you that put yourself out there to try and help us live our dream.
We FEEL it – believe me THANKYOU

And all the people out there coming to the shows (we have been getting some great turnouts in a lot of different towns) Thank –YOU. Bodies in the room and the energy you give back to us feels fantastic, this is a huge part of why we do it. Wearing our T-shirts (and we are seeing a lot of them out there!) and buying our CD's helps us out so much, both in helping fund the project and continuing to build our confidence in the project.


The other reason we are so happy with these turnouts is that it is helping give some of these venues confidence to start hosting Live ORIGINAL rock and metal. A special thanks to Kamloops for all of its supportive venues that we have played at and will be playing at in the future ( we are hoping some of these neighbouring communities catch word and follow suit….Vernon??, Kelowna???, Penticton??) Support the live music in your towns, we have been playing with so much fantastic talent in this area it blows me away that there are not more opportunities for them to showcase their talent (particularly METAL in Kelowna…..we have a lot of bands we would love to bring here, just nowhere to play –unless the bands want to pay which is B.
S……but that's another rant lol)

THANK YOU EVERYONE – YOU KEEP US STOKED!!!!


Now – we have not pestered you all for quite a while in regards to spreading the word - but again we humbly ask you to please help us network with people out there. You all collectively know far more people than we do, so we ask that ANYONE/ANYWHERE that you may know that "might" be into what we are doing or you think should know that we are going to their town – please INVITE THEM TO THE HELCION GROUP on facebook.


http://www. facebook. com/s. php?q=helcion&init=s%3Agroup&k=200000010&n=-1&sid=b850b7cb2a5e9b1df7993a3345c6bad4/group. php?gid=17828394696

We are just really feeling that time is precious and that we NEED to expose HELCION to all those ears that might never get a chance to hear us.
This helps us out HUGELY, and we see the results at the shows, and through our Cd baby and I-tunes sales( Texas, Wyoming, Colorado,Denmark, Great Britain, Germany) THAT is FROM Your Word of Mouth!!! Thank you - and keep talkin! :)

As for HELCION…..

We started out our fall as a 3 piece again but really missed the vocal element that Leanne had brought to the band.
So, we put out the word, and we were answered!!!!

We would like everyone to welcome Susie Myers to the HELCION fold!

She is a fantastic fit musically, vocally, and personally – we are all very stoked to be working with her and are anxious to see the new heights we are going to achieve within our sound. We have 2 brand new tracks that we are getting stage ready which we are VERY excited to unveil, and your chance to see them, and Susie, is quickly approaching.




On Friday December 19th HELCION will be returning to Penticton for Susie's first home town show. Joining us will be Pentictons own recently re-banded Hardball and Kelowna metal Tonight…We Burn The Sky Red . Check them out…..

www. myspace. com/hardball
www. myspace. com/tonightweburntheskyred

Voodoo's – 63 nanaimo Ave east / 9 pm / $5 / All Ages/Licensed



On Saturday December 20th HELCION returns to Kelowna for a night at the Fed with The Pit www. myspace. com/songforthepit

500 block of Bernard Ave / The Grateful Fed/ 9pm/ all ages/Licensed


On Saturday December 27th HELCION returns to Kamloops for another whole evening at the Westsyde Pump.
All HELCION, All Night, No Cover


So anyways…..

HELCION is going to be going full bore into the New Year – The release of something super TOP SECRET that only a handful (or 2 or 3) of peoples knows about – all I can say right now is that we are having a blast doing it (it is multi facetted…) and we know it is going to be awesome, and we will get to share it with everyone, so stay tuned for a pretty big announcement!!!!!

We will bringing the Rock back To Brock (Kamloops) when we invade Pogue Mahones on February 27th. Don't know if it still is but Brock was definitely the METAL hub of Kamloops in the late 80's early 90's. I am sure there is still a few Brock headbangers kickin around LOL.


We are saving our pennies and almost have enough together to finally put our new album into production – we are aiming for a late Feb/early March CD release TOUR – again, Stay tuned…….


And before we have even released the last batch LOL, we have plans to do some more recording – a couple new tracks and perhaps a cover…??, maybe…???? We will see what happens but an EP is not far behind I am sure.



Just wanted to also give a big thanks to Derek Meier – some of you at the last few shows may have seen the big happy guy twiddling our sound, lunking our gear, selling our merch, helping with the door - pretty much any of the "real band work".
Thank you so much for helping us with all the behind the scenes stuff that can burden and stress the band – and keeping smiles on our faces when we are tired and grumpy – we appreciate everything you have done for us HUGELY

Hope to see you all at a show

We are ready to ROCK
Susie is ready to ROCK
Derek is ready to make sure the ROCK reaches its optimum potential (and trade you some fabulous HELCION merchandise for Cash….
LOL )

See ya soon

The HELCION's


And if anyone is strapped for a stocking stuffer

www. itunes. com/helcion
http://cdbaby. com/cd/helcion

Thanks for all the support!
YOU RULE!

 

The highs and LOWs of being an indie Rock band and the state of the industry through the perspective of the HELCION's.

 

Thanks to Brian Huntley for taking the time to interview us and letting us curse in a public forum (Cursing is fun:).......

 

This is a pre show interview at The Dirty Jersey in Kamloops, interspersed with Live tracks from the show.

http://podcast.tru.ca/archives/72