Triumph frontman, Rik Emmett, published his new memoir, Lay It On The Line - A Backstage Pass To Rock Star Adventure, Conflict And Triumph, on October 10 via ECW Press.
In the latest part of an exclusive interview with Greg Prato for Ultimate Guitar, Emmett discusses if Triumph can reunite again, his upcoming projects, and his beloved Loucin Telecaster. An excerpt follows...
Ultimate Guitar: Under what circumstances would you consider working or performing with Triumph again?
Rik Emmett: "Well, first of all, I don't think it's going to happen. I was talking with Gil [Moore] a few days back on the phone, and he's having some issues with his back. He's just trying to get healthy again. I just think the health of the other two guys would be sort of an issue. I don't think there would be any way they would be able to sustain any kind of… like, a one-off is maybe a possibility. Which is not to say Live Nation didn't come sniffing more than once. Like, 'Hey, how about this? Hey, we can do this?'
"Whenever there's events that occur – the Walk Of Fame did a lot of rock n' roll stuff this year in Canada, and people come around and go, 'Hey Rik, will you sing this part of the medley? We think you'll do a great job of singing 'Battlescar' [a tune credited to Max Webster, but also includes all three members of Rush]!' I go, 'I'm going to pass.'
"But I will say this – I am going to go to Sweden for New Years, as a contingent that does the Regina World Hockey Championships, and they're in Sweden this year. They have a New Years party, and they have a Canadian band that plays a lot of cover material, and they go, 'Hey, we want to do some Triumph tunes. And we're going to have a string section and a horn quartet. Would you like to have some arrangements of 'Hold On', 'Magic Power', and 'Lay It On the Line'? We can put them in any key you want.' I went, 'This might be fun. Yeah! I'm in.' So, it's not like I've retired from everything. Every now and then something will draw me back out of my studio here."
Read more and find links to Ultimate Guitar's previous Rik Emmett interview posts, here.
