On a recent interview with The Hook Rocks podcast, Rik Emmett discussed his departure from Triumph. An excerpt from the chat follows...
The Hook Rocks: Is there ever any regret of ending Triumph or leaving Triumph when you did - when you look back of all the things you've done since then?
Rik Emmett: "No, and I think the truth of that is, I probably should have been trying to figure out a strategy to get out. The switch from RCA to MCA, which happened sort of 84, 85.
"Like, I maybe should have done one record with MCA and then I should have maybe said, 'look, guys, remember when KISS did a thing where they all made solo albums?' I think I probably should have tried to figure out something to do within the political structure of Triumph where I went, like I said, I've got to separate myself somehow so that I can start doing some things on my own, you know, maybe I'll still be in, but I couldn't figure out how I could extricate myself.
"And so it took me years, three years to sort of figure out. Well, I guess the only thing I can do is light the stick of dynamite and, you know, uh, blow it up, you know, and it was messy and it was unhappy and it was horrible. But I didn't see any other way. So, I couldn't stay in, but I, I kind of wish I'd got out a little earlier.
"The last couple of albums with Triumph, they weren't comfortable, fun things to do, you know, whereas once I started making my own records, I was going, 'Oh yeah, okay, this is fun. I like this process,' you know, and then eventually in my life, I got to the point where I had a little digital studio in my basement.
"I went, I don't care about the music business. I don't care about the charts. I don't care if anybody buys this, I'm just going to make my little classical guitar record. And it's going to be, you know, what I've always dreamed about doing. And then I'm going to make a blues record. And then I'm going to make a jazz record. Then I'm going to make a singer songwriter record.' And I got no record company guy telling me what to do. I got no bandmates telling me what to do. I'm figuring out. What I can do is, you know, it's not like I had 100, 000 budget. It's 200. And I think at our heyday, Triumph was getting 250, 000 advance to make an album.
"You know, I didn't have things like that. I was doing it on my own nickel, you know, I had figured out a way to be able to do it. And I never lost money, you know, making my records. I did all right. They, you know, they broke back even, or made a little bit of money and I went, great, got enough money that I can do it again, you know, so...."
Listen to to The Hook Rocks podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon.
Canadian label, Music In Motion Ent, has released Diamonds: The Best Of The Hard Rock Years 1990 - 1995, a new compilation featuring Rik Emmett's hand picked rock tracks from his three Duke Street releases, Absolutely, Ipso Facto and The Spiral Notebook, plus two previously unheard songs.
Remastered with the most up to date technology at Iguana Studios in Toronto ON, Diamonds provides Rik Emmett fans with a new listening experience. The Diamonds cover art features the work of renowned photographer Andrew MacNaughtan.
