Ultimate-Guitar.com has conducted an interview with Canadian rock legend RIK EMMETT, who recently reunited with his former bandmates in TRIUMPH after a two-decade long absence. An excerpt follows:

Ultimate-Guitar: Over the years there has been a lot of bickering between you and the other two Triumph guys that saw any sort of reunion seemed high unlikely to ever happen. So what were the circumstances that finally led you to rejoining your Triumph band mates?

Rik Emmett: "To put it in a nutshell, my brother was dying of cancer and the whole thing about putting your life into some sort of perspective and coming to terms with certain things, came to the fore. And for him, he was facing it in an ultimate kind of way. He and I would have these types of conversations about any unfinished business we may have and for the need to put it in order. And one thing he mentioned during all of this was that it would be great to see Triumph back together again before he died. And so he said to me that maybe I should put all that stuff aside and just put things into perspective. In the end he passed away and so it was very difficult for me and still is, but it was therapeutic as I realized that I should take the opportunity that came along with the Hall of Fame thing. So for the first time, I actually acted upon it and wanted to see if we could get something going again. And so far it’s been great and has been very therapeutic. And hopefully everything will continue to work out."

Ultimate-Guitar: After this Sweden Rock Festival appearance and some other shows, there are plans to do a world tour in 2009?

Rik Emmett: "That makes it sound a lot more organized and premeditated than it actually is. The Sweden Rock thing got tossed at us and we went 'okay'. And then somebody said 'do you want to do Rocklahoma at Tulsa, Oklahoma on the 11th of July?' And we went, 'yeah'. And so in interview after interview after being asked about this, you finally get to the point where you give a stock answer. If we don’t end up killing each other and things work out, then the long term plan for Triumph is to take it out on the road and to go from Memorial Day, 2009 through the summer months in North America. But we want to do it right and see how it all works out."

Head to this location to read the interview in its entirety.

As previously reported, Triumph are scheduled to perform at Sweden Rock 2008, which runs from June 4th - 7th in Sölvesborg, Sweden.