From The Citizen, 24th August, 1979

Among the many heavy rock bands  performing in Canada, Triumph must surely rank as one of the loudest and most successful. In the four years since it burst onto the scene, the Toronto-based band cultivated a strong following in the United States first before becoming accepted in its native country.

The trio – bass player Mike Levine,  guitarist Rik Emmett and drummer Gil Moore – pack a dynamic visual and musical  package into their shows and Citizen rock critic Bill Provoke called their NAC concert last January “a rock and roll battlefield and victory celebration.”

While their rock and roll hearts may be in the right place, the members of Triumph do not want their group to be pegged as just another heavy metal band pumping out ear-splitting tunes to hungry rock fans.  They are striving for respectability and longevity in a business that is known for devouring their own. “we don’t pretend that we’re setting the world on fire musically” said bassist Mike Levine earlier this week in a n interview, ” nor do  we compromise whatever we play. We merely feel that what we do is some thing  that is valid, justified and good.” “However, we also think that a rock concert  is a place to have fun. We have a good time on stage and we try to communicate  that feeling to the audience.”

Triumph fans will be able to see them  perform tonight beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Ex Grandstand show. Levine promises the show will be different from their last appearance here. “We will  include songs from out latest album and visually, I think, the show will be more  interesting because we acquired some new special effects and lighting equipment that we haven’t used yet.”

Their booming record sales in Canada can attest to their new-found popularity. Their latest album, titled Just A Game, is reaching platinum status (100,000 copies), while in the United  States, it has passed the 800,000 mark. A single, Hold On is already a  hit in the U.S. and it seems fairly certain it will do just as well here.

The paradox in the Canadian music business is that our bands must  demonstrate their clout south of the border before they can return home and be  acclaimed. Triumph knows that scenario all too well. They cut their musical  teeth as one of many bar bands in Toronto prior to extensively touring in the United States. Two years ago in San Antonio, Texas, one radio station was so  enthusiastic about the band that it promoted a rock show in the San Antonio  Municipal Auditorium which drew thousands of Triumph devotees. “Something like  that would never happen in Canada although the situation is changing slowly”  said Levine. “We’re still not the most played band in Canada by any stretch of the imagination. We tend to get more airplay on U.S. stations.” Levine said obtaining a track record is important in establishing your credentials to  Canadian radio stations. “You have to show them that you’re legitimate before they will support you.”

After the Ottawa concert, Triumph travels  through Northern Ontario for a few dates and returns to the U.S. next month for a series of concerts. They have been and the road since April – with a short break in July – and in November they begin work on another album.

The  rigors of traveling have not taken their toll on the band members. They enjoy touring and Levine summed it up best when he said: “if we stop having fun on  tour, or in our business affairs, of in personal relationships, then I don’t  think Triumph would exist anymore.”

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From Canadian Composer, June 1981

Toronto seems to be Canada’s home for  heavy metal. Rush, the most successful of Canadian bands, is based in the city. April Wine’s lead singer, moving force, and chief songwriter, Myles Goodwyn, makes Toronto his home after years in Montreal. Goddo, finally signed to another label after a couple of years in the wilderness, is a Toronto institution. And  Max Webster, the quirkiest of all bands – and now in the process of going through changes one more time – has always gained its inspiration from the city.

Now it’s time to watch out for Triumph. Every sign points the band to  the top of the heap in a competitive, noisy struggle for the affections of a young audience. If Triumph succeed in the way they want to, they can tank themselves and the hard work of well over a decade in the music business. The  bands three members – Rik Emmett, Gil Moore, and Mike Levine – are hard-working  optimists. They live the spirit of their music, say the hell with failure, and  push for success in every way they know how. If this means, from time to time, that they’re abrasive with agents, with managers, with their record company, or  with promoters, it doesn’t really matter – they simply want no one in their way.

It wasn’t always a success story. Gil Moore had started a group, originally called Abernathy Shagnaster’s Wash and Wear Band, back in  1969. The group went through any number of directional changes, and musicians  came and went with regularity, before the group finally came to the point where it played cover versions of everyone else’s material. Moore remembers the final  gig, in 1965: “I had the flu; the club owner hated the band. To make it worse,  his office was behind the coat room under the stairs and I almost had to get  down on my knees to get into there. He paid us very grudgingly, and when I left I really gave some serious thought to packing it all in.” Mike Levine, the  band’s bassist, felt very much the same way, but after some soul-searching, the  pair decided to give themselves one last shot.

So they went looking for a guitar player. After some unsuccessful trial runs, they discovered Rik Emmett, 21 years old, brash, loud, noisy, and hammering out the sort of sounds Levine  and Moore wanted. They watched Emmett perform, and finally convinced him to quit  the trio he was working with and join them. Everything, from the name of the band to the material they would write and play, would be “success motivated” they decided. Against the odds, they embarked on the course. “At the beginning,  our biggest problem was that we were too honest,” Emmett says now. “We’d sit down with journalists and say ‘now this is how we put our show together, and  this is how we have our finances set up, and this is how we plan to get from point A to point B.’ They couldn’t believe we were so articulate, or so  determined. Maybe we should have told them we were just a bunch of dumb clucks who didn’t know nothing – instead, we told them we intended to put on a big  flashy show and make money. And from then on we had to fight reviews that either  knocked us as ‘corporate rockers’ or ridiculed us for hiding behind a big light show and a lot of theatrics. It was uphill, and don’t let anyone tell you it  wasn’t.”

There have been four albums, so far – the fifth is due in  mid-July. The first, Triumph, went gold, and the three since, Rock and Roll Machine, Just a Game, and Progressions of Power, have all gone  platinum in Canada, and selling close to 400,000 copies each in the U.S. All the albums have been produced by Levine – and their success has led to several  requests to undertake productions projects for other major acts – requests he’s declined, so far, to devote his full energies to his own band. “The material we  create has been a key factor in establishing ourselves. We all contribute to the  development of the songs. It generally starts our with Rik – or sometimes Gil – coming in with an outline, some lyrics and a basic musical structure. We then go  over the various parts, and we all add our own ideas.” Levine explains. “Very  often, what happens is that we come up with something that’s good, but isn’t  really right for the band – so we demo it and send it our, and hope we can  persuade someone else to use it.” “We work very hard to come up with songs that  both reflect the Triumph image, and can be reproduced well by the band on stage.” Adds Moore, “We try to keep it as ‘hard’ as possible. But sometimes  we’ll throw in an exotic vegetable for our audience to digest!” Moore feels the band owes something more than a one-dimensional product to its fans: hence the inclusion in each album of what some critics might call an esoteric indulgence,  or else a spotlight for Emmett’s guitar virtuosity.

The growing success  of the band has given them a considerable income – certainly the group has a  degree of financial leeway that was unthinkable in the days of Abernathy  Shagnaster. The group has expanded its warehouse and office facilities in  suburban Mississauga to include a 24-channel recording studio, which they claim has one of the best ‘live’ sounds in the business. And although Doug and the Slugs produced their best-selling Cognac and Bologna album in the  studio last year, the premises are primarily Triumph’s private domain. The  upcoming album, provisionally titled Allied Forces, was entirely recorded at the studio, which they’ve christened Metalworks. Levine believes that each  record has been a progression. “I think we’ve matured with each record. I’m  using more keyboards now, and we’re trying to get some different vocal sounds.”  Having its own studio has been of enormous help – “we can create something  without worrying about the time it takes, or studio costs. We have the  opportunity to experiment until we get it exactly right.”

With the fifth album out in mid-July, the band will take off on the road again – its success is firmly based (as is that of Rush) on the productions and performance of a good  stage show in support of a good new album. Emmett, Moore, and Levine write the songs, produce the records, design the stage presentation, manage most of their own business endeavors, and play the gigs. They’re firm believers in the old principle that to do it right means you have to do it yourself. So far, they’ve  also proved that you can be very successful. And they’re not worried for a second that they can’t keep the momentum growing and growing.

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By Perry Stern, Canadian Musician, October 1986

Whoever invented the term “Rock -n- Roll Machine” must have had a band very much like Triumph in mind. In the face of radio programmers that have gone  soft-headed with yuppieism, against an ever-changing backdrop of fashion  conscious video personalities calling themselves musicians, and in the wake of a  tidal wave of pseudo-disco and stadium anthems, Triumph relentlessly churns out a style of music that the experts regularly pronounce to be deader than a doornail. And if it weren’t for the millions of people who regularly buy Triumph  records and attend Triumph concerts, the experts would be right.

Mike Levine, Gil Moore and Rik Emmett have been making records for ten years now  (“eleven in September,” Emmett corrects). The Sport of Kings is their  ninth and, though they’re loathe to admit it, its importance in the future of  Triumph’s career is pivotal. It’s not so much a matter of how well the record will sell, a band rarely has had so solid a base of fan support as this one, rather it seems really to be more important that the album be appreciated. And it’s not as though the band will crumble if things don’t work out as well as they hope, but the prospect of making the tenth album will be that much less attractive. Recording, on any level, is hard work, but for Triumph, The Sport of Kings may just as well have been called The  Record From Hell.There’s something milquetoast about seeking  “appreciation” (a word the band would never use), but in the context of heavy rock music, being appreciated by one’s peers, by the press, by record companies  – or, rather, not being appreciated is the albatross around many a guitar-star’s neck, People just don’t seem to take the art form seriously, But the fans do,  and one of Triumph’s greatest triumphs has been the ability to look their  critics squarely in the eye and wait for as long as it takes for them to blink. And the critics always have to blink first because, in the end, they have to admit that Triumph is one of Canada’s, if not North America’s most successful  rock acts. We’re talking consistency here, and endurance.

A  year-and-a-half ago, after many months of litigation, Triumph made the move from  RCA to MCA. The album Thunder Seven (which went platinum) was released  almost immediately, and the double live set Stages (which is now close to  double platinum status) followed after about nine months. For the band, and for  the record company, the next release would actually be the “first” MCA / Triumph  release because, as Moore describes it, the other two albums were more or less “inherited” from RCA. “They made only one request in the entire first  year-and-a-half of our relationship, ” Moore says of MCA, and it was to, “use a producer and have it be Ron Nevison.” Now while that may seem an innocuous request, especially with Nevison fresh off the success of his efforts with  Heart, Survivor and Ozzy Osborne, the fact of the matter was that Triumph never  had more than a co-producer on any of their previous albums. Even still, the  band met the request with enthusiasm. The prospect of working with a hot  producer piqued the boys’ interest and the possibility of getting radio airtime with the help of Nevison’s expert ministrations was a key factor in setting the  deal. You didn’t hear heavy rock on AC radio until Heart’s last album with  Nevison at the helm came out, and with the door broken down MCA wanted Triumph  to get inside, quick. “They were looking for the guy with the magic wand,” Moore  says. The plan was simple. Starting in January, Nevison and his partner Mike  Klink, would start working with the band in pre-production. After the bed tracks  were laid, Nevison would split to record Night Ranger (a project he never completed), and Klink would be in charge of the overdubs of vocals and guitars.  When that was through, Nevison would return for the final mix and mastering.  Nevison said he had some songs, exclusive songs, that he would bring with him into the project. Everyone wanted this record to be he band’s most popular and  they felt that more variety in the song writing would be desirable for embracing  a larger, broader audience. “It was an effort,” Klink says, “predetermined by  the record company and the band, to get a commercial sound.”

The plan was simple. Get some good tunes, get some expert outside input, get a real tight sound, then run the flag up the pole and see who salutes. After eight albums done their way, Triumph was prepared to give the other way a shot. They  would even do some recording in LA. What the hell, they thought, maybe a change of location will do some good. But even the best laid plans, especially simple ones, sometimes go awry.

All three members of Triumph are quick to point  out that they hold no grudges against Nevison professionally. Levine, who worked most closely with him, calls Nevison a “brilliant recording technician,” but in the insular world of a three-piece group, Nevison was like a bull in a china shop. The role of the producer is to take charge, give direction, make decisions, and there are a number of ways you can go about it, You can cajole,  seduce, or demand, and Nevison opted for the latter. “It was his way or the highway,” Emmett recalls. Levine would add later, punctuated with wry laughter,  that it was an ineffective way to deal with “a bunch of old farts like us.” During pre-production there was plenty of talking, lots of room for discussion, but that all changed and, as Levine says, “you have to be consistent. ” When it  came time to actually lay the bed tracks, Nevison took complete control and the  band felt shut out. Levine said it was as though Nevison was “changing horses  midstream. ” Moore is more colorful; “It was like the full moon came out and  hair started growing out of his face and hands.”

Up to a point the band was more than willing to take it all in stride. They had made their commitment to Nevison, and there was his track record to consider (let alone a contract),  and he did get an excellent drum sound for the beds, so everybody grinned  and bore it. Feeling a little stepped-on was probably a “natural reaction” for Emmett. As far as being even slightly resentful about the temporary loss of  control, he says that, “I think if you’re artistic and conscientious about your work you feel that way” when someone else is in charge. “Ron was the first guy  in eleven years to be let into the family circle,” Emmett explains, “and this  guy wants to be the patriarch.”

Everything was fine until someone heard  “One Chance,” one of the “exclusive” tracks Nevison brought to the project, on  the radio. And then the video was seen on TV. Emmett gives Nevison the benefit  of the doubt by allowing that the producer had his eye on the American market and that a domestic release by the song’s Canadian writer, Stan Meissner, wouldn’t effect a Triumph version, but Moore says, “We felt it hurt our integrity somewhat.” Arguing over the practicality of keeping the song, and the  reasoning behind Nevison’s claims of “exclusivity” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Nevison cited “artistic differences” and never returned to the project after his initial involvement with the bed tracks ended. “Producers leave records all the time,” Levine explains with a shrug, and Nevison’s departure was hardly treated as a catastrophe. He is even philosophic about it. “When I heard about “One Chance” I knew we needed a new song right away. I  phoned Ricky and told him we needed a good Triumph rock -n- roll tune and that he should go away and just woodshed `til he got one. The song ‘Somebody’s Out  There Somewhere’ turned out so good it’ll be the first single. Out of all  negatives comes something positive.” The problem wasn’t so much that Nevison had  quit, it was that the record was set up to accommodate his working style, It was  too late in the day to re-schedule and re-locate the recording of an album that was half finished. It was already mid-May, and the record was to be finished in  June.

The guys in Triumph aren’t the kind of people who spend a lot of time kicking themselves if they think a mistake’s been made. Not with studio time booked. When Mike Levine talks about the band “united”, you know he means  it, and that, as a rock -n- roll machine, there would be no stopping the Triumph  train once it go back on track. With Nevison gone, Klink was now the nominal producer – a situation that no one had a problem with. “It started out as a 50/50 proposition with Ron,” says Klink, “and then it became 100 per cent mine. It was only hard as far as the hours were concerned.” Without Nevison, Levine  had to re-gear his thinking about his role in the project and play catch-up with  Klink. Now at the overdub phase, he had to hear all the tracks and all the takes  so that he could be sure that he was satisfied with the work so far. Separated by the according process, the band had not been communicating with each other  about how they thought things were going. With Nevison gone, they were free to vent their frustration about the “experiment,” and rallied around each other.

Because Nevison and Klink wanted to work on their home turf, the recording and mixing of The Sport of Kings was done primarily at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. None of the band was pleased with the situation (if you  owned the best recording studio in the country, would you want to record  anywhere else?) but they were resigned to it. The person who found it hardest was Levine, who returned to his traditional band role as man-behind-the-console  with Klink. Moore says that it was hard for Mike because he had “no point of  reference” for how the rooms in LA could sound. For example, while Triumph  usually records their drum tracks in the empty warehouse next door to  Metalworks, this time Moore played in LA. “The room was interesting because of its volume, ” Moore recalls. He estimates its dimensions as 65x65x241 “The room  had a controlled ambiance,” Emmett adds. “There were ambient mikes that were  high up in the back of the room so that it sounded like the kick was already gated. The delay it had sounded like gated reverb with ambient sustain.” Unfortunately, though, Moore felt that there was “no value in the close miking.”

For his part, Klink held up admirably and hung on to the basic plan he and Nevison had for the album from the beginning. A fastidious engineer, and a stickler for detail, Klink wanted to give Triumph a “tighter sound, more  structured than it was before.” While recording the drums he had the snare heads  changed daily. He made Emmett retune his guitar after every take (“It drove me crazy,” he confesses.) “It was a little difficult at first, but I think they  need that outside input. They’re not used to working as hard as I pushed them, doing parts over, getting them right,” In the end, during the arduous mixing process, he and Levine worked together, eighteen hours a day for thirty days.  Laughing, satisfied with the final product, delighted to be finished, Levine  states categorically that, “There’s no way I’m ever going to record or mix a record in LA again.”

If The Sport of Kings was, in fact, The  Record From Hell for Triumph, it was a hard time born from a great idea.  With a new label behind them, and a fresh outlook on the music scene, they  wanted to break out of the cubbyhole that most of the industry had slotted them  in. “Radio is ridiculously tight now,” Moore explains. “It’s really unfortunate for new talent. Shrinking playlists do nothing but destroy an industry that  radio helped to create. ” For some time now it’s been be rigueur to trash bands  like Triumph in the press. “The fortunate thing for us,” says Emmett, “is that  we’ve got a base of fans who believe in us and who know they aren’t going to get  short-changed no matter what media shifts there are. ” Ever mindful of this Klink explains that while they may have gone for a more “pop” oriented sound he  knew that, “to take a band like Triumph with a heavier rock sound, you have to make sure it still represents the band. ” No one involved with the project  thinks even one Triumph fan will be disappointed, and that, to a certain extent,  is the bottom line. “A learning experience” is how everyone, Levine, Moore,  Emmett, and Klink, regards the making of Triumph’s ninth album. If nothing else,  the band learned how strong their bonds were to each other, and how well they  could pull together when the going got tough. Levine says: “The bottom line for any band on the success ladder (if you want to climb it) is you have to trust  some people, but you have to trust yourself first. You have to at least think you know what you’re doing and not let anybody convince you that you don’t. As  soon as you become insecure about what you’re doing you’re not going to be able to perform properly no matter what your task is. If anybody is allowed to  instill any self doubt in you, it will affect your performance. ”

The  plan was simple, and though the course may have been rougher than they expected and they changed jockeys mid-race, Mike Levine, Gil Moore and Rik Emmett are  happy to be standing in the winner’s circle with The Sport of Kings.

The post Record From Hell appeared first on Triumph.

Back from the edge

By Richard Chycki, Canadian Musician, February 1993

For over a decade, Triumph has carved a  successful and innovative path through the heavy rock market, not only in Canada, but throughout North America. Attacking the market with what were  considered iconoclastic concepts, Triumph was the forerunner in Canada of the  self contained operating unit, housing the band, a very fruitful Metalworks Studio, and management company under a single roof. Marking them as “corporate musicians”, many successful organizations have finally found this methodology to be an excellent way to survive the harsh economy of the Nineties.

Yet, the foundations of the band seemed to be crumbling when suddenly, guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett decided to leave the band. The last studio effort for Triumph was the Surveillance album back in 1987. Discounting the 1989 Classics package, it’s been five long years since the band has released any product.  Enter Phil X. A fiery and charismatic player fresh from an Aldo Nova tour, Phil joined band mates Gil Moore and Mike Levine early in 1992 and completed  Triumph’s Edge of Excess release. At the time of this writing, their  first single from the album, “Child Of The City”, is the number one add in three  out of four U.S. tip sheets. We had the chance to speak with the band at their  own Metalworks Studio in Mississauga, Ontario.

CM: Five years is a long time. It’s time for a lot of change. I guess we should start with the most obvious change – personnel.

Gil: Rik wasn’t  happy with the last record. In retrospect, none of us were. The first few  Triumph albums really had an element of co-operation that was completely nonexistent by the time Surveillance rolled around. We weren’t writing  together at all. It was very much like I would come in to record my parts and  then Mike would come in to record his parts and then Rik would come in to do his parts. So the material ended up having a very segmented quality which, in the  end, hurt us. And it got to the point where we realized that these were no  longer rock and roll records, they were just productions. Rik just decided to  give up. He really wanted to be a solo artist, so now he has the opportunity to do it.

CM: Guitarist  Phil X is known to many as the player with Frozen Ghost and Aldo Nova. He has also worked with Jon Bon Jovi. How did you get involved, Phil?

Phil: It was a complete fluke. Gil saw me playing in a club in Mississauga. This was about the time that I had  agreed to work with Aldo Nova but hadn’t started touring quite yet. GiI was there to see some other muso about some production work. Gil approached me about  his situation at that time, but I had already committed to Aldo Nova.

CM: You already have a fair amount of touring experience. Are you comfortable stepping off the road  into a recording situation?

Phil: The Aldo Nova gig was great because it gave me a lot of  experience touring throughout the U.S. Plus, it was a real blast. You know –  American money –laughs-. I met a lot of interesting people and got to jam  with some of my guitar heroes. Frozen Ghost was a great gig, too. But gigs were generally restricted to Canada. Now that I’m back home, I had to put on the  brakes and slow down a little. I was a real hack when I got home. I had to have time to pick up my guitar and practice, because when you’re out on the road, it’s easy to turn into a robot, playing the same songs and the same riffs over  and over, night after night. Coming home, I felt like I had forgotten how to  jam. And I felt like I wasn’t a part of anything anymore. So I talked to Gil  again. I really got the feeling that this was a genuine group effort and I would be involved from the ground up. The first day I came in, I was in writing with the guys and recording; I felt like a big part of the organization.

Edge Of Excess is the first Triumph album where Gil Moore handles  all of the vocal chores, previously split with ex-axeman Rik Emmett. Gil commented on the inherent changes:

Gil: I certainly feel my voice is stronger than ever before. I trained a fair bit, and the enthusiasm of finally getting out a new release  added to the fire, definitely. We haven’t worked out what our situation will be for live per-formances. We had Rick Santers (sideman with Triumph on previous  tours) who could match Rik’s voice, so he’s a viable alternative for any  material that Rik sang in the past.

CM: Mike, you’re back into producing the band rather than having external input. Why?

Mike: I produced all of the earlier records. Even when we brought in external  people in the past, I was still the appointed band liaison. So, we went back to  our proverbial roots and cut out all the middle men. It’s difficult to divorce yourself from the artistic side of the project and mediate, but it’s necessary.  Everybody hears the same thing a little differently, and it’s important that we  come up with an interpretation that’s a good compromise for all of us in the end. –Whispers– And then you do what you want anyway.

CM: I understand Edge Of  Excess went through several remixes.

Gil: Some songs were remixed a ridiculous amount of times. Well, not just remixed. Because of the way we approached recording, we  experimented with taking demo cuts and reworking each individual part over and  over until it was album quality. Eventually every-thing was replaced, but it  would maintain the same fire that’s often lost in the recording of demos for an  album. We also had a lot of rerecording for Phil’s guitars. Songs like “Edge of Excess”, “Love in a Minute”,and “Riding High Again” were recorded in a more conventional sense because those songs came together after Phil became involved  with the band. They didn’t go through the same reworking stages that some of the  other material was subjected to.

CM: Let’s talk a little bit about Mladen. He’s “the mystery guy” that seemingly appeared out of nowhere to do a fair chunk of writing for this album with you. Was he to be the new Triumph guitarist?

Gil: He pushed us into a different writing direction, absolutely. There were two or three failed writing attempts at the beginning of the record. Being creative with another person is such an  unpredictable element. Our system that we had loosely assembled is as follows: I usually started writing with Mladen and then Mike would get involved to clean  things up. We didn’t have a guitar player at the time and you really need to write with a guitar player in a rock -n- roll band. A friend of mine recommended Mladen to us because he knew I was very frustrated not writing songs. Mladen was working with a few local acts and was writing material on his own. We got  together and jelled right away. He’s the type of guy that comes up with original riffs and I finish the material off. It’s a great combination. So if it wasn’t for his initial seed of inspiration, we may not have gotten this album off the ground. One of the problems I felt Triumph had was that we had very little  external input in a creative sense. I wanted that outside influence because I  thought it may result in better harmony within the band over the course of time.  That was yet another of my band theories – #346B to be exact –laughs-. Mladen was the “guy not in the band”. We became great friends and we teetered on the idea of him joining Triumph, but he formed another band, Von Groove, and  we found Phil – so everything worked out great. At first, I had my reservations about writing with Phil because of theory #346B. The first day we sat down together, we compiled the basis for three tunes that are on Edge Of  Excess. Phi I and Mladen also write together very well.

CM: Rik is regarded as somewhat of a guitar hero in some music communities. Are you uncomfortable with the thought of  “filling another’s shoes”?

Phil: You can’t stop the comparisons that will be made. I guess  that’s only natural. I don’t look at Triumph like it’s a competitive situation. I’m just doing my thing in another band. Coming into this band so quickly, and  seeing that everybody involved with the band are just regular, easy-going people, I’ve had no reason to think that I was a replacement for somebody. I’ve had some people tell me that I’ll never fill Rik’s shoes, but I’m not here to fill them. I’m a whole new set of shoes. And this feels like a whole new band to  me.

CM: Outline some of the gear you used to record this album.

Gil: We’ve experimented with so many methods of recording drums. We’ve done drums completely live. We’ve done drums completely with computer. We’ve played live samples to tape; and we’ve combined  the two technologies together. We have every sample library known to man. I use  Tama drums exclusively for all my recording.

Phil: A lot of Marshalls, JCM 800 heads and  cabinets. I don’t really like the 900 series. I also used a Peavey 5150 stack  for some leads. Guitars – several tracks were cut with a Strat. I had a custom  guitar made for me by a Iuthier in Kitchener, ON named Freiheit. He does  unbelievable work. His guitars are like a Les Paul meets a Tele meets a Strat. My guitars are equipped with the Flip Stick.

Mike: Fender Jazz basses, Warwick basses. SVT  up loud, shaking the place. Couple that with a DI line. Very heavy.

CM: Triumph’s concept  of a self-contained music system is a role model formed ten years ago for bands that are copying it today. You have external management now?

Gil: At the time, we weren’t deliberately trying to set any standard or do anything out of the ordinary. We simply developed a system that worked for us. Although it’s a great con-cept to  run the whole show yourself, we simply don’t want to bear the responsibility of managing a band at this time. A lot has changed with respect to the  responsibilities we each carry and our priorities. We simply want to create music right now. All of us have enough experience to know which direction to take the band from a business perspective, but none of us really want to do the immense amount of legwork that’s always involved bringing management concepts  into reality.

CM: What about you Mike? I recall you were involved pretty heavily in Triumphâ€s promotions, some of them taking you across the country in a bit of a rush.

Mike: That was our Canada In A Day promo for the United Way. We started in Halifax at 6 a.m. and  had to make it to Vancouver before midnight. We would stop in all the major  centres across the country, do a few radio promos and interviews. Then it was off to the airport. We raised about $30,000 for the United Way. I still get on  the phone to deal with promotional ideas.

CM: A new album. There must be tour plans on the horizon.

Gil: We plan on  having an even bigger visual extravaganza for our fans. After all, you’re paying  to go to an arena, heavy-rock show. And that means both sight and sound. If you just want sound, buy the CD. Or better yet, buy the CD, and come to the show  –laughs-.

Mike: It will be huge and bombastic. Our policy is: if there’s no show, why  go.

Gil: When we were looking for a guitar player back in the pre-Emmett days, Mike and I already had the concept of huge light shows. It’s something that we use simply because we like it. It’s an added incentive for our fans to come see us. We’re looking at moving light and laser technology. Our lighting director, Paul Dexter, is  already itching to put plans together for the live rig. Actually, we were fortunate enough on our last few rounds through the U.S. to pick up some of the finest live crew. They all seem to understand the concept of the road being a series of events not happening the way they’re supposed to. That’s just the  nature of the beast.

CM: Future plans for Triumph?

Mike: Touring. We want to go right across Canada rather than just  the major centres. Hopefully, we’re looking at 20-25 dates sometime in the new year. We’ve always played a lot in the States and I’m sure we’lI continue that  trend. After all, they have Denny’s.

Gil: I’d like to do more recording as well because we’ve never done enough of it. And even when we did record, it was more of a vehicle to carry us to the next tour. The tour should be the result of the record, not  the cause.

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‘The man behind the moustache’!

From 1979 tour book

During that summer, Mike was 26 years old (making him a ripe ol’ 44 at this moment in 1997)  and is a Gemini. Previous to Triumph, he spent a few years in New York and some time in England (no mention of what he was doing – but I’ll guess there was the odd party). He’s been playing bass since the age of 10 and has been influenced  by Richard Davis, Sly Stone and Phil Spector.

According to the concert program, Mike likes, “money, sex and room service” (so, who doesn’t?). He also likes his old Fenders, JBL speakers, Crown amps, Reflex cabinets and Hammond B3’s. Let’s remember, this list was compiled in 1979, so a bit must have changed (does anyone still use B3’s anymore?..) .

Here is Mike’s 1979 list of  Favourites!!!

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Triumph Do It Their Way

By Phillip Bashe, Circus Magazine, 31st March 1981

Burly Triumph drummer  Gil Moore isn’t one to shirk the responsibility of insuring his band’s financial  well being. Take the time the Canadian hard rock trio was stuck in a stalemate  with a Clinton, Ontario high school principal who refused to award the band its rightfully earned share of the door receipts.

“I think the guarantee was only two hundred dollars,” remembers bassist Mike Levine, “but word on the band had spread, and we drew about one thousand people.  So our end of the gate was about fifteen hundred bucks.

“And they just didn’t want to pay us. The money was laying on the counter, so  Gil picked it up. The principal said, “Would you sign a receipt for that?” then  added, “If you can write.”

“And Gil just went crazy. You know those big ‘Out’ baskets they always have  in school offices? Gil took it, pushed it off the counter, and hit the principal in the balls with it,” Levine says with the chuckle of a man who regards such incidents as minor. “Then this teacher grabbed Gil and spun him around. Gil  suckered him – knocked the guy flat. I picked up the money, grabbed Gil, and we  walked out of the school.”

The 29-year-old Toronto native has never had much luck with high schools; he remembers his own experiences there as being “boring, horrible” a sentiment  probably shared by a good majority of Triumph’s largely teenage audience. It’s something the group sings about in its song, “I Can Survive” – after all, this  is a People’s Band.

Of all the bands playing the People’s Rock, Triumph is certainly the most  self-made, adopting a policy to headline concerts only, and to build up an audience whether it received assistance from the press and radio or not. The  group’s music – cement-hard rock – guaranteed no sympathetic ear in radio, not  even Canadian stations, who are legally required to air a certain amount of local music. “They opted to play the wimpy Canadian groups, which totally precluded us,” Levine says with a snort.

Scorned as outmoded, the trio (Levine, Moore and Rik Emmett) harks back to the late ‘60’s rock, relying on Emmett’s lightning-quick, blistering guitar vamps, and an energetic, prop-laden stage show to attract fans. Evidently there  were enough hard rock listeners tired of the spud-digging Marin County cowboys  singing out of wheelchairs who dominated the mid-70s, for Triumph to lay the groundwork of an audience with its very first U.S. LP. Rock & Roll Machine (RCA) (actually a compilation of its first two Canadian releases) sold 100,000 copies, “without anybody even knowing about it.” Skilled musicians all, Triumph  filled the void left by the demise of Cream and its imitators, much to the dismay of the rock press.

Subsequent records, Just A Game and last year’s Progressions of Power, were  less raw, featuring more songs and less histrionics. As a result, Levine says,  “Our relationship with AOR radio now is very strong.” The bassist is in the band’s own Toronto studio, the Metal Works, working on Triumph’s fourth American LP, tentatively titled Allied Forces. He promises the new album will “transcend  the things we’ve done up to now. I think this album will be a true  representation of Triumph.”

Still, none of that is likely to alter the band’s constant grappling with the  press, who’ve been put off by the group’s music, “because Triumph made it very clear from the beginning that it was going right to the top,” says writer Wilder Penfield III of the Toronto Sun. Notes Penfield, “They’ve done just that,  without any intellectual pretenses, or anything like that.” Penfield is an exception among journalists – he “loved the spirit of the band right away,” and  is one of the few writers regarded as a comrade by the group.

More typical is Triumph’s clash with critic Jim Farber, who last year blasted  the group in Britain’s Sounds magazine. Levine claims, “We sat around with him in a hotel room in Seattle, and the interview was basically over. We started kidding around, and that’s all he wrote about, the kidding around. We were off the record as far as we were concerned.” Despite foreign relations with the  press that even Henry Kissinger would be hard pressed to patch up, Triumph does  not keep a hitlist of writers.(“I know a lot of others that do,” says Levine.) However, the group claims it would be happy to “forward Farber to Afghanistan.”  (Writer Farber graciously declined Triumph’s all-expense paid trip, adding, “They’re giving me great press, so as far as I’m concerned I hope they keep  talking me down. I can’t think of anything more flattering.” So much for  diplomacy.)

A theory is put to Levine that perhaps the reason the writers are so intolerant of Triumph’s music, and heavy rock in general, is because they are writers, they tend more toward the lyric-oriented artists. “That’s an interesting theory,” Levine laughs. What he finds happens to the band a lot is that many papers send out reviewers “who write sports or women’s features. They’ve got a house in the suburbs with one-and-a-half cars and two-and-a-half  kids, and they absolutely hate anything over twelve decibels. So they’ll get sent to a Triumph show, or an REO show, whoever’s show, and rather than report what happened, they’ll take it that “I hate it, and that’s all there is to  it.”

“And meanwhile,” smirks Levine, “there were fourteen thousand kids going crazy.”

But, he insists, “let them say what they like, because their opinions don’t  mean anything anyway.” (To which the Sun’s Penfield counters that the group reacted bitterly to a negative review he had written of Just A Game. “I received some long letters back. It was interesting. It showed they obviously cared what  people think despite the cocky attitude.”)

Most writers remain cold towards Triumph’s fiery stage act, which, stresses  Levine, is an integral part of the band. Even when the group was struggling on  the Toronto circuit, “We were the only band with a tractor-trailer parked out front. Whenever we played a club it was a big extravaganza, and they’d line up around the block for it.”

The strategy backfired but once, when one of the flashpots onstage flared  unexpectedly, almost taking Rik Emmett’s face and eyes with it. (Levine assures  that their pyrotechnic system is now fail-safe)

Ultimately, says Levine, the most important thing for his band is to “play for the people. If all artists spent their lives playing for the critics, I’m afraid no records would sell.” His logic is perfect:

“Because they don’t buy records; they get theirs free”.

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Power and Glory of Triumph

By Karen Hepburn, Toronto Sunday Sun, 4th September 1988

“This one’s for you!” said singer Gil  Moore from behind his raised drum kit before Triumph broke into the walloping  rocker Allied Forces in the Kingswood Theater last night.

And he obviously spoke for vocalist/guitar hero Rik Emmett, bassman Mike Levine and keyboard player/guitarist Rick Santers, who gave the audience of  about 10,000 a unified power rock punch.

From the moment the local trio-cum-quartet hit the smoking stage along with a  few heart-stopping explosions, their youthful fans were on their side, cheering and clapping in acceptance.

The gold and platinum record holders offered material from their latest LP Surveillance and such older releases as Rock and Roll Machine, Just A Game,  Thunder Seven, The Sport Of Kings and Allied Forces.

Somebody’s Out There, Tears In The Rain, Never Say Never and Lay It On The Line were just some of the beautifully executed highlights.

Rik Emmett delivered stinging, biting, and electrifying guitar breaks  throughout the show; and soared in a long, but eventful mid-show solo.

His fingers were fret dancing and his facial expressions funny as he presented a tapestry of colourful lead pieces, demonstrating his talent and instrumental maturity. It wasn’t a surprise when he received an instantaneous  standing ovation.

Emmett, Levine, Moore and Santers all shone in their effort to give their  supportive Toronto fans an unforgettable event.

Concert openers Brighton Rock also packed an emphatic rock punch, showcasing tracks from their upcoming second album Take A Deep Breath.

The local quintet, fronted by the handsome, charismatic Gerry McGhee was well  received, but didn’t return for the encore the audience demanded. However, the  spirited band did depart with an entertaining Power Overload, which McGhee sang  carrying a small boy on his shoulders.

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Gasworks Crowd Responds to Triumph’s New Original Sets

By Wilder Penfield III
From The Toronto  Sun – September 10, 1976

Triumph is getting ready for a career  worthy of the name.

The power-rock trio made its dance-and-dive  reputation slugging out effective carbons of Deep Zeppelin and Led Purple. This week, though, for the first time, whole sets of original material are being  included. Not only does the new music sound like it belongs in the same league with the metal masters, the Gasworks crowds are also responding to it just as  eagerly. After their last set Wednesday morning, even the house lights and loud  closing-time music didn’t deter the inmates, who banged and pounded and whistled and shouted for almost ten minutes total to win themselves a couple of encores from the band.

Part of the acceptance undoubtedly comes from the release  of a first-rate debut album of home-cast ingots call (wait for it!) Triumph. Inevitably, Triumph makes its maximum impact live. Digestion is  short-circuited while the threesome beat their ploughshares into swords; beer disappears like magic in the shadow of their wall of sound. But this is one of  few such bands which delivers on record what it promises in concert. Guitarist  Rik Emmett, a mane-waving sex-appealing punk of 23, is the visual focus of the  trio. Musically, bassman Mike Levine and drummer-vocalist Gil Moore are tight  and equal partners. Mike also served as producer on the album, and he deserves special credit for capturing their live vitality on vinyl; all three contributed  to the nine-song selection.

Other performers were part of the audience.  Singer Geddy Lee from Rush, checking out the competition while he awaits the  release of his own band’s live-at-Massey Hall album, brought a couple of members  of Blue Oyster Cult with him. The Dishes dropped by, Shirley Eikhard was  introduced from stage, and Artful Dodger caught a set before catching up with  the Kiss entourage. Triumph is a relative newcomer to such company, barely a  year old. It is still shopping for a manager, an agent, an American deal, and an  opening slot on a national tour.

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Gasworks Crowd Responds to Triumph’s New Original Sets

By Wilder Penfield III
From The Toronto  Sun – September 10, 1976

Triumph is getting ready for a career  worthy of the name.

The power-rock trio made its dance-and-dive  reputation slugging out effective carbons of Deep Zeppelin and Led Purple. This week, though, for the first time, whole sets of original material are being  included. Not only does the new music sound like it belongs in the same league with the metal masters, the Gasworks crowds are also responding to it just as  eagerly. After their last set Wednesday morning, even the house lights and loud  closing-time music didn’t deter the inmates, who banged and pounded and whistled and shouted for almost ten minutes total to win themselves a couple of encores from the band.

Part of the acceptance undoubtedly comes from the release  of a first-rate debut album of home-cast ingots call (wait for it!) Triumph. Inevitably, Triumph makes its maximum impact live. Digestion is  short-circuited while the threesome beat their ploughshares into swords; beer disappears like magic in the shadow of their wall of sound. But this is one of  few such bands which delivers on record what it promises in concert. Guitarist  Rik Emmett, a mane-waving sex-appealing punk of 23, is the visual focus of the  trio. Musically, bassman Mike Levine and drummer-vocalist Gil Moore are tight  and equal partners. Mike also served as producer on the album, and he deserves special credit for capturing their live vitality on vinyl; all three contributed  to the nine-song selection.

Other performers were part of the audience.  Singer Geddy Lee from Rush, checking out the competition while he awaits the  release of his own band’s live-at-Massey Hall album, brought a couple of members  of Blue Oyster Cult with him. The Dishes dropped by, Shirley Eikhard was  introduced from stage, and Artful Dodger caught a set before catching up with  the Kiss entourage. Triumph is a relative newcomer to such company, barely a  year old. It is still shopping for a manager, an agent, an American deal, and an  opening slot on a national tour.

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Triumph is blazing a trail across Canada this summer in preparation for an assault on the United States in the fall. Its second album, Rock and Roll Machine, has already sold 100,000 copies and the first one is selling briskly in the wake of the concert appearances.

The group is made of three Torontonians, drummer-vocalist Gil Moore, lead guitarist and singer Rik Emmett and bass player Mike Levine, the group’s spokesman, who is candid in discussing the business of music.

“It’s unfortunate that it has become a huge business run by accountants and lawyers,” he says, “It probably was more fun in the days of Hendrix and Woodstock when guys would be playing for $35,000 or $40,000 one night and the next week they’d be in a bar in Atlanta.

“Then it was a young, haphazard scene. People made $1 million and went bankrupt a year later. Now it’s so sophisticated and everybody watches the money very very closely.”

It becomes evident that Levine, in describing the kind of band Triumph is, is reciting the cardinal rules to follow if you want to make it in rock’n’roll.

Rule No.1: Get you priorities straight. It’s fine to start a band with some friends but make sure you pick them like business partners and remember that the music you play had to be tailored for strict commercial appeal.

“We’d decided we were going to take the hard-rock route for a couple of reasons,” Levine says. “First, a hard-rock trio is a democracy in which the majority always rules. Four guys and you end up with a split over some dumb thing. Second, we thought we could probably have longevity with this kind of music formula.”

Which leads to Rule No.2: Know the audience you’re trying to reach. Triumph aims hard and heavy at the 14-to 20 year-old fan with a thundering sound and sense-attacking array of effects that rock critics have declaring passé for years.

“Nothing ever dies in the business,” says Levine. “Those critics who word the straight press grew up with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. They’ve seen it all and at the end of the day they just want to go home to the wife and kids and listen to Fleetwood Mac.

“But there’s a whole new group out there and for them it’s still a real buzz to go on a hockey arena and have a good time.”

Next comes Rule No. 3: Be prepared to invest heavily in the business if you want a big return. “We have about $350,000 invested in Triumph right now,” Levine says. And how did they come by the cash?

“We have a very understanding bank. We sat down with the lawyers and the accountants and went to our bank as a professional operation. They decided we were a together business and they took us on as a business risk, just like you buy a car or a house, only bigger.”

Triumph travels with a road crew of 10 to handle the lighting, sound and staging, leaving the accountants and managers at home during its gruelling string of one-night stands.

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