Rik Emmett has never been shy about giving Triumph bandmates Gil Moore and Mike Levine credit for the vision that drove the Canadian trio to sales of more than 15 million albums worldwide. And he says that spirit remains intact as the group prepares for a 50th anniversary reunion tour this spring.
“How many times did I say ‘never?’ ” the guitarist says with a laugh via a joint Zoom with his bandmates. “I think about the fact that it’s the 50-year anniversary, but for almost 20 years I didn't even want to talk to these guys. It’s a really interesting thing to be in the middle of.
“What’s creating the gravity of the orbit is Gil never kinda gives up the idea of Triumph as this rock and roll machine that’s gonna be bigger and better than ever.
“And then there’s these songs. They never die, they never quit. I’m in a state of grace for the fact there’s this music, these songs that just never stop regenerating.”
It is indeed a large history. Drummer Moore and bass guitarist Levine launched Triumph in 1975 following a short run as the quartet Abernathy Shagnaster. After the other two members left, they met Emmett that summer in Toronto, joined forces after jamming and spent 13 years together. During that time they released nine albums and enduring hits such as “Hold On,” “Lay It On the Line,” “Magic Power,” “Fight the Good Fight and “Never Surrender.” The ride came to an end with Emmett’s acrimonious departure over musical differences in 1988.
Emmett says the allure now, as it was then, is the ambition of his bandmates. Their drive to success was evident even before he joined. Intent on saving promoters significant costs — in return for higher pay — the duo took out a loan from Canada’s Musicians Credit Union to buy their own lights, sound, staging and pyrotechnic equipment, as well as a tractor trailer to haul it around.
“It’s just classic bootstrapping,” says Moore, who also built Metalworks recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario. “‘We’re gonna do this! We’re gonna make it happen!’ — just very hard-headed and determined and a little bit of a knucklehead factor in there.
“But we couldn’t find a gular player and thought, That’s gonna sink the ship right in the harbor. Then we got lucky and we found Rik.’”
“That was the most attractive thing,” Emmett recalls, “that they were smart and they were ambitious. My own ego felt that I was also smart and ambitious. It was something that we shared.
“We also realized it was like an adventure — that element of you try something and it might fail at any given point in time in time, but we've got to give it a shot. We’ve got to give it a try.”
He adds, however, that while Moore and Levine “promised me from the get-go I was gonna be an equal partner in this,” it took a minute before he felt that was the case.
“As it grew,” Emmett remembers, “I was the one that said, ‘Okay, you’re gonna have to trust me. I know how to write songs that are gonna be part of the formula — that it’s not just about these things that you guys have been dreaming about. Come with me with these songs, trust me.’
“And I got to a point where I went, ‘We have not had the right name. The band's name has not been right yet, but I’m gonna write some songs where the name of the band is gonna be the right name. So 'Hold' to your dreams, 'Lay It On the Line'—those were songs that meant the band now had this spine that was gonna service us for five decades. It was gonna work.
“So then I felt like I was on equal footing with these guys. I may not be as smart, I may not have the knuckleheaded ambition as much as they do, but we’re on equal ground now.”
That unanimity ceased to be during the mid ’80s, however, particularly on 1987’s Surveillance, when Emmett began exploring more progressive directions while Moore and Levine preferred blues-based hard rock. Emmett left during the fall of 1988 to begin a solo career, while the others recruited fellow Canadian Phil Xenidis for one more album (Edge of Excess in 1992) before shutting down. (Better known these days as Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X, Xenidis will be part of the 50th anniversary tour.)
A 2007 induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame reunited the original lineup, as did a Canadian Music Hall of Fame honor the following year, leading to shows that year at the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma. Those were followed by a Banger Films documentary, Rock & Roll Machine, in 2021, and an appearance in June during the Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton. Levine sat out that date, while Phil X, Slash bassist Todd Kerns and multi-instrumentalist Brent Fitz accompanied Emmett and Moore.
“A band is like a family, it really is,” Moore says of the reconciliation. “Sometimes sisters and brothers, husbands and wives have arguments that are never resolved. It takes trying to see the other person’s point of view, putting things behind you and letting bygones be bygones. We got past our differences and resolved them. I think we’re very grateful that happened. It’s too bad it took so many years.”
Levine, meanwhile, considers the topic “old news now. It’s something that happened. We all endured it. We all said we’re sorry and shook hands and became... men! And strong!”
Emmett adds that he considers mending fences to be part of “the obligation we have to our fans, these folks that went and got tattoos because of our songs. There is a responsibility to that. You have to pay respect to that.
“Our fans get to a certain age and they want to drag their kids and grandkids to the show—‘You’ve got to see this band!’ There’s an appetite for that.”
The Triumph tour, with April Wine opening, kicks off April 22 in Sault St. Marie, Ontario, with nine more Canadian dates before moving south of the border for 14 shows, wrapping June 6 in Boston. Levine, who at 76 is the oldest Triumph member, won’t be performing but will “be there virtually, so to speak,” and he doesn’t rule out strapping his bass on for the occasional guest appearance.
More dates are possible, all three say, and new music isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
“If there’s a will, there’s always a way,” notes Emmett, who’s outfitting himself for the tour with some new custom builds from Quebec’s Godin Guitars. (According to Emmett’s website, he plays both electric and acoustic Godin models as of January 1, 2025.)
Moore says he’s looking forward to going out with Emmett and Phil X together.
“I think it’s a really cool idea. When we did Edmonton I started to have these thoughts about Rik and Phil. I saw how well they played together, hitting it off like Jack the Bear, and was like, ‘Hmmm...,’ wondering what they’d come up with if we wrote a song together. We’ve certainly got the means to do it. We’ll just have to see how the ball bounces.”
The Triumph tour announcement, of course, comes on the heels of certain other Toronto heavy trio announcing its own 50th anniversary reunion, which can’t help but rekindle the comparisons with Rush that were prevalent during Triumph’s initial run.
“It speaks to the idea of serendipity and coincidence in their career, our career,” says Emmett, who’s friendly with his Rush counterpart, Alex Lifeson.
“It just so happens we’re both three-piece bands from Canada, but we’re pretty different trios. Rush obviously ended up having a tremendous amount of international success, so there was a coattails thing that was more to our benefit than theirs.”
“We all have a tremendous amount of respect for Rush,” Moore adds. “They’re a great band to be compared to. Who knows who we might have been compared to if it wasn’t for Rush?”
Ticket presales for the tour begin Wednesday, December 10, with a general on-sale at 10 a.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 12. $1 from every ticket sold will benefit the non-profit music support organization. SoundsUnite. the tour itinerary includes:
CANADA
April 22 — Sault Ste. Marie, ON — GFL Memorial Gardens
April 24 — Toronto, ON — Scotiabank Arena
April 25 — Hamilton, ON — TD Coliseum
April 28 — Halifax, NS — Scotiabank Centre
April 29 — Moncton, NB — Avenir Centre
May 1 — Laval, QC — Place Bell (Montreal)
May 2 — Ottawa, ON — Canadian Tire Centre
May 5 — Winnipeg, MB — Canada Life Centre
May 7 — Edmonton, AB — Rogers Place
May 8 — Calgary, AB — Scotiabank Saddledome
UNITED STATES
May 13 - Rosemont, IL | Rosemont Theatre (Chicago)
May 14 - Milwaukee, WI | Miller High Life Theatre
May 16 - Kansas City, MO | Starlight Theatre
May 17 - St. Louis, MO | Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
May 20 - Irving, TX | The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory (Dallas)
May 21 - San Antonio, TX | Frost Bank Center
May 22 - Houston, TX | Smart Financial Center at Sugar Land
May 24 - Tampa, FL | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 26 - Atlanta, GA | Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
May 28 - Camden, NJ | Freedom Mortgage Pavilion (Philadelphia)
May 30 - Sterling Heights, MI | Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill (Detroit)
June 3 - Darien Center, NY | Darien Lake Amphitheater
June 5 - Wantagh, NY | Northwell at Jones Beach Theater (New York)
June 6 - Boston, MA | Leader Bank Pavilion
