PHILIP WALKER
RECORD STAFF
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll and vegetable soup. That last item is a relatively recent addition to the diet of drummer Brian Doerner , best known as the skin-pounder for hard rock stalwarts Helix and Saga. But vegetable soup is precisely what Doerner orders for lunch at a bustling Kitchener coffee shop one dreary winter afternoon.
"You have to watch what you eat," he says between slurps, speaking more like a dietician than a drummer. As for drugs, Doerner's intake is purely prescription medication these days, and nothing remotely mind-altering. And sex? Well, that's none of your beeswax, and surely his loving wife Rose would like to keep it that way. Rock 'n' roll and the gritty lifestyle that usually accompanies it -- nearly brought about Doerner's downfall. And, in a lovely paradox, rock 'n' roll may also be his salvation.
Health scare has former Helix drummer living clean.
Brian Doerner is watching what he eats and getting plenty of exercise after suffering a heart attack in October. He is currently laying down drum tracks for the new CD by his brother Brent's band, Decibel.
Brian Doerner is watching what he eats and getting plenty of exercise after suffering a heart attack in October. He is currently laying down drum tracks for the new CD by his brother Brent's band, Decibel.
He wondered if the drums and the gold records would be the last things he'd ever see. "I was fading to black," he recalls. "I was going away, maybe for good. I've never felt pain like that before." He could hear his wife on the phone, telling the 911 dispatcher to send help, fast. Within minutes a fire crew arrived and whisked Doerner to St. Mary's Hospital, where he was wheeled into the operating room for an emergency angioplasty.
Less than 45 minutes after polishing off that fateful greasy onion ring, Doerner had a stainless steel stent in his chest and a second chance at life - a chance he doesn't intend to squander. "I'm so much healthier now than I used to be," he says.
He picks up buttered roll that came with his vegetable soup, scrutinizes it, and puts it back on the plate for the moment. He's wondering if it's too liberally buttered. "I used to eat the worst crap. I didn't exercise. Now I'm always reading food labels and I exercise every single day."
Doerner had an exercise bike in his house for years before the heart attack, but never used it. It was more like an expensive coat rack "to hang my drinking clothes on. "Given that he had "drinking clothes," it's safe to say that his beer intake before the heart attack was not within healthy levels either.
These days, on any given morning, 50-year-old Doerner is pedalling the recumbent bike and drenched with sweat before most folks roll out of bed. Doerner swallows the last spoonful of his vegetable soup and pops a toothpick into his mouth. It's a surrogate cigarette. After the heart attack, he went from a pack-a-day to nothing, cold turkey.
"I also chew a lot of gum now," he says. Maintaining such a healthy lifestyle isn't always easy, especially since Doerner is still fully immersed in rock and roll. Saga will likely record a new album in 2008, and Doerner is currently laying down drum tracks for the new CD by his brother Brent's band, Decibel. Drumming is great exercise too.
Since a lot of Doerner's band mates drink and smoke, his willpower will surely be tested. But perhaps, he says, his positive influence will outweigh their negative influences. "Maybe the reason I'm still here, the reason I survived, is to become the voice of reason to people who don't eat right and exercise. Maybe I'm supposed to be the health spokesperson for the band." Doerner philosophizes about his destiny for a moment longer, until his concentration is broken by a strikingly beautiful young brunette sashaying past the table. His eyes follow her until she rounds a corner -- not leering, but definitely looking. It seems there's still a bit of bad boy rocker left in him.
He grins unapologetically. "Hey," he says, "I'm not dead yet!"
