2001 saw Gerry Finn leave the band to play for David Usher. There were no hard feelings to this split; we wished Gerry all the luck in the world. Gerry was replaced by Darren Smith, ex-drummer for Canadian recording artists Harem Scarem. Darren joined Helix as a guitarist however.

Most of 2001 I spent writing with Bill Gadd and Tony Paleschi with whom I had written my solo CD When Pigs Fly. Slowly we started to come up with material for the next Helix CD. Towards the end of the year I joined a house band with Archie and started gigging on weekends in downtown London. Archie started jamming with Bill, Tony and I on Thursday nights at my place.

In the spring Lynda and I returned to England to see her mother before she died. While we were there we stayed with Dave and Gillian LeBon in London. In Blackpool we connected with Phil and Sue Ashcroft of Fireworks Magazine. Later that summer they came and visited us in Canada. We finished up the year with a two week tour of western Canada in December. Lee Aaron played with us on several of the shows.

Throughout the year my knowledge of working with mail order companies and putting together CDs grew. In October I released Live! in Buffalo, N.Y. which immediately sold out of the first pressing. In December I started to lay the groundwork for the recording of the next Helix CD, our first complete studio CD since It's a Business Doing Pleasure.