TRIUMPH

Former TRIUMPH Guitarist Talks About Recent Guitar Plus Workshop With RUSH Guitarist


In the latest newsletter from RIK EMMETT, the former TRIUMPH guitar legend answers fan questions regarding his time spent this summer at the Guitar Plus Workshop in Oakville, ON with RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson.

Says Emmett:
"He talked about his upcoming Greek holiday [we were in a Greek restaurant]: his love of good food and wine: his friendship with PINK FLOYD crew people: how he shares Leaf tickets with Geddy (Lee - Rush frontman), and is amazed at how people are rabid for them [even though he can take it or leave it, mostly leave it]; he chatted about opening act friendships he'd struck up with ERIC JOHNSON, STEVE MORSE, about the time he met JIMMY PAGE, and how he was like a nervous schoolboy, and he also spoke of when Geddy met ROBERT PLANT. We also had to discuss the planning of the evening agenda, and he was a bit nervous as to how it would go, since he so rarely does these kinds of 'workshop' things. (We) talked a lot - a LOT - about golf, since Alex plays a lot but is also a part owner in a course now north-east of the city. Lots and lots of shop talk about guitars and amps, etc. Alex has a new raft of endorsement deals."

Q:
What did you guys jam?
Emmett:
"We played an extended jam on a D tuning he's been writing in, which morphed into a version of 'Norwegian Wood'. After a lengthy Q & A, we played a 12 bar blues-y funk thing [loosely based on the groove of STEELY DAN's 'Home At Last' feel] ... and then we did a jam for the whole audience [about 160 guitars] on the chord progression of the old Rush classic 'Working Man' - and Alex launched into a Geddy Lee vocal impression which brought the house down."

Q:
Any chance that Uncle Rikky would show up on a future tour for a few shows????"
Emmett:
"I dunno ... I kinda sorta doubt it, to be honest. When he talks about stadium shows in South America, and playing the huge halls all over the world: when he [gently, not with any bragging or anything] gives you insight into the privileged world of mega-wealth, and mega-success, the circles that he can travel in, the kinds of choices that Rush makes for itself, because it can afford to pretty much do whatever it likes, in whatever kind of creature comfort surroundings it chooses, you realize that it's a different league, a different set of rules.
When they sometimes take on an opening act, an Eric Johnson, or a Steve Morse, it's because the double-bill makes sense in a kind of 'prog' way, or in a high-end Pink Floyd-ish kind of "technical" way: they tend towards the 'monster' musicians who dominate aspects of the guitar magazines. Because I am more of an eclectic singer-songwriter, it puts me into a different category.
Besides, they don't really need an opening act in most markets. And if and when they do, they'd probably choose one that enhances their ticket sales by thousands [not hundreds].
A lot of music lovers would like to think that they are very open-minded and liberal in their tastes, but when you get them together in their respective groups, they tend towards a mob mentality of 'exclusion'. And Alex said, more than a few times, that Rush fans are very dedicated, very loyal, and very opinionated about what they don't like. To my perception, the 'core values' of their music [and any 'bill' they might put together for a gig] has to include the gymnastics of odd time signatures, of virtuoso ensemble playing, of lengthy intricate solos, of big riffs and themes, of esoteric lyric writing along social and political themes, etc. It's weird, in a way. They've used cartoons to open shows. They've openly engaged in pure shtick [the washers and dryers on stage instead of amps is a good example]. But they are also a very serious, conscientious band about a very narrow kind of quality, and it's the kind that has to say 'progressive' to a fan of that music."

TRIUMPH Frontman Comments On Canadian Music Industry Hall Induction - “This Is About Honouring Good Memories Of The Past
As previously reported, Canadian hard-rock trio TRIUMPH, will be inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame during Rogers Wireless Canadian Music Week. Music veterans Gil Moore (drums/vocals), Mike Levine (bass/keyboards) and Rik Emmett (guitar/vocals) will accept the honour Saturday, March 10th during the Canadian Radio Music Awards at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

“This is about honouring good memories of the past, and respecting the spirit of fans and industry friends,” Rik says. There are no plans for a reunion, and the former members will not perform together at the event. A video montage retrospective will cover highlights of Rik’s 13 years in the band, from 1975 to 1988.

Naturally, this announcement generated a lot of questions from the Rik Emmett Network. Here are his replies:

Question: Will this induction be open to the public?
Emmett: "I don't know. I think people buy tickets to different events during CMW: I think you can buy different levels of passes that qualify you for different events during CMW. I think the luncheon is an industry kind of event, but I don't know if they sell some luncheon passes to the public."

Question: Can you share any of the events leading up to this recognition and how it was bestowed upon you and your former band members?
Emmett: "I don't know for sure what led to the invitation. The guy who owns and runs the Canadian Music Week franchise, Neill Dixon, is a guy who used to manage Triumph. for a while in its development days (early Canadian success and the inking of the RCA deal). And he used to manage me for a while back when I was in Act III, before I even joined Triumph. So I think it's fair to say that he's a supporter, and it was his idea. He also acted as the diplomat that brokered the 'peace' talks (and he also has his own interests at heart, obviously. It gives him a legit kind of p.r. headliner for his event, I think it's fair to say.) The honour hasn't been "bestowed" yet. That officially happens on March 10."

Question: Does this mean you can associate your name with the name Triumph again?
Emmett: "As part of the reconciliation, I am now legally clear to associate myself with the name. I now have the freedom to refer to myself as a former member of Triumph, and as "formerly of Triumph", in association with my own promotional activities. It doesn't necessarily mean that I want to go hog-wild about it, but at least a dark cloud has been lifted."

Question: Have you or will you be talking to your former partners before the event?
Emmett: "I went to a meeting earlier today (November 20th), yes. There was paperwork that got signed and exchanged last week, including official apologies. But that was the first face to face, which cleared the way for me to go public with you people here first, then with the general public in the "What's New" feature on the home page. I'm not sure that another meeting is even necessary, but I guess it could happen. We are on speaking terms, and we shook hands at the beginning and the end of today's meeting."

Question: I know you said it will not lead to a reunion, but will you finally be able to use the Triumph name and benefit from all that is attached to the name?
Emmett: "As I said above - yes. I have entered into an agreement whereby I am making myself available to my former partners, to help them promote their Triumph brand and products, for a 24 month window of potential industry awards. I'm not sure what you mean by "benefit from all that is attached to the name": I am deriving benefit, yes, but I think my answer "benefit from all that is attached" would have to be no. I am not in a position where I benefit from everything. I did not seek to be reinstated as a partner, and that's not what's happened. I've agreed to go to an award luncheon. If some other awards and recognition for the past history of the band arise in the next two years, I'm obligated. Other than that, the only other result is that I am free to associate myself for the rest of my life as a guy who was formerly in Triumph. Officially, there are no plans for any reunion gigs, and I have no interest in that."

TRIUMPH's Gil Moore On Live Reunion Possibility: "We'd Have To See How It Works Out In The Future"

Launch Radio Networks has issued the following report from Bruce Simon:

When TRIUMPH is inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame tomorrow (March 10th) in Toronto, it will mark the first time that singer-guitarist Rik Emmett, bassist Mike Levine, and singer-drummer Gil Moore will appear together in almost 20 years. There was a fair amount of bad feelings on both sides when Emmett left the group to start a solo career back in 1988, but that's all in the past now.

In fact, Moore told us that he and Emmett have become fast friends again: "I felt badly that it went off the rails, you know, when it did a long time ago, and I, you know, I've always wanted to try to get back to talking, and this provoked it, and it's been great, you know? I spent four hours last Sunday (March 4th) with Rik Emmett, just sitting (and) drinking coffee (laughs), talking, and it was like, 'Where's this been for the last 15 years? 'It was great."

Now that everything's OK between them, people have started to wonder about the chances for a Triumph reunion tour. Emmett's got a full plate with his career, and Moore is deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of his Metalworks recording studio complex in Mississauga, Ontario, so it would take a lot to get the band on the road. But Moore told us that promoters call regularly, and he expects to get more pressure at the ceremony tomorrow from a band insider: "We've been getting them (calls), you know, every year, and, you know, of course, it's always the same thing: 'You know, we're at odds with Rik, so there's no chance of that.'But now that we've reconciled with Rik, I think the prospect of playing is just something that we'd have to see how it works out in the future. Our, our agent's flying up from L.A., so he's gonna be here for the ceremony. I'm sure he'll be twisting all three of our arms really hard."

Triumph, along with songwriter and producer David Foster, will be honored during the Canadian Radio Music Awards at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, which is part of the annual Canadian Music Week.

TRIUMPH Comments On Canadian Music Hall Of Fame Induction
Special Report by Martin Popoff

Picture by Jacki Short

Earlier today, Triumph was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, as a career accolade handed out during a swank set up at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the highlight of Canadian Music Week. This week in fact marks the first time Gil Moore and Mike Levine had gotten together with guitarist Rik Emmett in 17 years. Already calls are on from a myriad of industry heavyweights for the band to mount a triumphant reunion tour. On that question however, the band was quite reticent, figuring getting the relationship through this week intact was the first priority – a happy likelihood, given the hours of reminiscing the guys have gone through in the last few days.

BW&BK spoke to the band an hour before the radio awards/induction ceremony was to begin, first asking the guys what, in fact, made Triumph a 10,000,000-record selling success, during their ten year heyday, beginning with the 1976 self-titled debut and ending with a lawsuit-fired meltdown in the late ‘80s.

“I think we brought a level of songwriting to hard rock that maybe it didn't have before,” reflects Emmett. “And that may be a Canadian kind of thing. A lot of those songs worked if you just sat down with an acoustic guitar and played them. You know, obviously, the Triumph thing, when we Triumph-ized the material, it turned into, ‘How will this work in an arena?’ So it sort of became larger than life when it went through the production phase. But at the heart, they were good songs, and that was part of the process. So that might be something.”

Adds Mike, “As well, I think like the bands that were around before us, April Wine for example and Rush, we took the touring aspect of our career very, very seriously. And that's how we established a fanbase to start with, just being on the road and playing. So I think, our work ethic was something that we can hold up as something as an example.”

“And Gil had this thing about production,” interjects Rik. “So I think we had production standards that set a pretty high bar for other people. I think other acts saw us, even when we were playing bars… but by the time we were touring the States, we had production that was sort of second to none. We had more lights in the air, we have more flashpots, we have more specials effects, more lasers, more anything. So we had committed on the production level. And it may be more of a Canadian sensibility to say pooh-pooh to that. We don't like that sort of thing. We like it when it's honest and has integrity and is just simple and it's punk. Like whatever. And we always said, well, that's not our idea of fun.”

“And you could never translate that across the border,” points out Mike. “They would never buy into it. We could've spent our entire career touring Canada, and we would have been burnt out and our career would've been a year and a half old and that would be it. So that was from day one. I mean, that's when we decided that we were going to have a great show and be a great band and just be headliners, and that's the way it is. Although early on, we didn’t really think about it, per se.”

“But we had all the junk,” recalls Rik. “We had the lights and the PA… one time we played in Pittsburgh, and The Babys opened for us. Oh man, John Waite did not like the fact that we had all these tracer strips; they were like chaser bulbs, all over, like in Las Vegas. He didn’t like that one bit. He kept kicking them off and breaking them. And then a huge fight ensued, between crews. And in the newspaper next day it said, 'Triumph spanks Babys.’ Yeah, we always had the stuff, so we couldn't be an opening act, because we couldn't really see ourselves play without all our stuff.”

So things didn’t always go according to plan. “How many hours have you got?” laughs Rik, asked about pyro misfirings and the like. “Oh god, I mean in the early days when we first started out playing high schools, a flash was would go off, and if the mix of the powder wasn't just right - and of course, often it wasn't - there was a little more concussion than there should be, and we would knock ceiling tiles out of the gym. Etobicoke, Scarborough… they weren't going to let us into any more high schools. We had to become a concert act, because we were slowly but surely getting banned out of every place. Do you remember the night, Richmond Hill, what is the name of that club?”

Mike: “Geronimo’s.”

Rik: “Geronimo's! We had a propane torch, and it went off, and the sprinkler heads… you know, if they sense too much heat, the wax melts, forget about it, they all go. And the water that was in the pipes has all this black crap from sitting waiting for these things to go off over several years. And this place had nice couches and rugs, and there was black on everything. And before you know, there's three or four inches of water all over the room.”

Mike: “The place was packed, and it was the first song, I think, wasn't it? First or second song. So we’re sitting in the dressing room going, ‘We’re not going to get paid now. This is a disaster area.’ And Ernie Miller, the guy who owned the club, we’re in the dressing room and we're phoning the agent, I think Ralph did, and he's going, ‘Oh shit, I don't know, but it's okay, I'll talk to Ernie.’ So Ernie comes in with a bottle of scotch, and some glasses and says ‘Congratulations, this is the best night this club has ever had.’ He was in love with it, the fact that he was going to make the newspapers and all that. And he paid us.”

Rik begins to get suspicious of Mike’s version of events… “We did have to go back. You make it sound like you guys didn't turn that one. You spun him pretty good. He came in and he was ready to kill somebody. But you were the guys that got a bottle and said ‘Sit down, let me explain it to you!' That's the story that I always tell. I always tell that you guys spun him. You said, ‘No, no, buddy. You're going to be out on the front of the newspapers and… we’re coming back. We'll be back in a month.’

“I've heard Mike's version of the story so many times,” chuckles Gil, “I don't know what the real story is anymore!”

Rik: “We'll ask Ernie Miller.”

Mike: “We'll ask Ralph, because Ralph was on the phone.”

Rik: “I think we spun him, man. And we went to play. That is true though; we got paid. That is a miracle. I always tell that story, because I always want to impress people with your acumen, your ability to take the worst situation…”

Mike: “What about the girl’s sweater though?”

Rik: “Yes, there were some dry cleaning bills (laughs).”

Mike: “And it wasn't good enough that her sweater got cleaned. There were some damages.”

Gil: “Oh yeah, we got this really nasty letter from one girl. And she said that she got her shirt dirty or sweater dirty, or whatever it was, from the sprinkler. And what were we going to do about it? So Susan, so who was sort of our office manager at the time she said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you think? Send her a fan club application.’ So she got the fan club application in the mail. The letter comes back, you know, ‘I don't think you understand. I'm not interested in the fan club. I'm interested in compensation for my dry cleaning bill, and I want a new sweater etc.’ And Susan says to me, ‘What do you want me to do?’ And I said, ‘Send her another fan club application.’ (all laughing). She sends another fan club application. Third letter comes in, really mad now, uppercase, her father's a lawyer, ‘I'm going to talk to my lawyer’ and whatever. And Susan says, ‘What should I do?’ I say, ‘We've been through this twice.’ So it's now a routine… ‘Send her another fan club application.’ And I think we went back… I think we sent her about four or five fan club applications. So we gave her the impression that we were just a conveyor belt at the other end. Ingoing and outgoing. It didn't matter what the letter said.”

Rik: “We never paid for dry cleaning?”

Gil: “No, we were scoundrels.”

Rik: “I think we played for dry cleaning.”

Gil: “I think we paid her back with humour. We taught someone who is humourless to have a sense of humour. That's worth the price of dry cleaning.”

Rik: “That's going to look good in print!”

Gil: “Would you trade your sense of humour for a dry cleaning bill? Come on, think about it. She got a good deal.”

Rik: “She got her dry cleaning paid for.”