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In a brand new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett of Canadian rock legends TRIUMPH was asked about the possibility of the band reuniting to play a special one-off show in the future. He said (see video below): “I doubt it. And there’s several reasons. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m not sure I could sustain singing a rock show for 75 minutes, 90 minutes, whatever it would have to be. But the bigger thing is the drummer Gil [Moore]. I mean, he sang a lot of the material too, and drummers, once they get to the other side of 65, they start having back problems and elbow problems, and it’s really difficult for drummers to keep it going.
“It’s not like it hasn’t been done,” he continued. “It’s not like you don’t see QUEEN, and it’s really only two of the original guys, and then there’s this host of other guys. There’s four or five other people that are helping [out]. And, of course, they’ve got Adam Lambert out there singing. And it’s, like, okay, it’s amazing, and it’s great, but the roles… Brian May plays a pretty heavy-duty role in it, and he’s amazing. But Roger Taylor, there’s another drummer that’s kind of helping him out back there. He is singing some of the harmonies, but I’m not sure he’s singing the really, really, really high ones that he used to sing back in the day. I don’t know.
“And the other thing is… I hate to age myself, but I like having the opportunity to sit around the pool with my grandkids,” Rik added. “I think I’ve had a fairly eclectic, prolific kind of a life, and even though I’m still being creative, I think of the creativity now as a hobby. If I had to go back out on the road and go through the grind of hotels, airplanes, Ubers, limos, all that stuff again, I think that would just — it would probably kill me. I don’t wanna die yet. [Laughs]”
Asked if there is a chance of TRIUMPH writing and recording a new song at some point, Rik said: “That’s possible. I think I wrote a song once on an album, ‘Never Say Never’, and I still hold to that philosophy. You never know what’s going to happen, and you never know what kind of opportunities will arise. So, I would never say never, but I would say it’s unlikely. Maybe one song. Maybe a TV thing, or if it was something for a movie or something, it’s possible. But I don’t know.”
TRIUMPH‘s classic lineup of Moore, Emmett and bassist Mike Levine reunited for an invite-only event last November at Moore‘s MetalWorks studio in Mississauga (a suburb of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. The reunion — which was taped for the forthcoming documentary “Triumph: Lay It On The Line” — stoked discussion whether the band would join the ranks of other veteran rockers for a reunion tour.
TRIUMPH hasn’t released a studio album since 1992’s “Edge Of Excess”.
Back in 2016, Moore and Levine reunited with Rik as special guests on the “RES 9” album from Emmett‘s band RESOLUTION9.
After 20 years apart, Emmett, Levine and Moore played at the 2008 editions of the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma. A DVD of the historic Sweden performance was made available four years later.
Moore, Levine, and Emmett formed TRIUMPH in 1975, and their blend of heavy riff-rockers with progressive odysseys, peppered with thoughtful, inspiring lyrics and virtuosic guitar playing quickly made them a household name in Canada. Anthems like “Lay It On The Line”, “Magic Power” and “Fight The Good Fight” broke them in the USA, and they amassed a legion of fiercely passionate fans. But, as a band that suddenly split at the zenith of their popularity, TRIUMPH missed out on an opportunity to say thank you to those loyal and devoted fans, a base that is still active today, three decades later.
