Thirty-five years ago, Triumph released their bestselling album to date, Allied Forces, which contained two FM radio hits in “Fight The Good Fight” and “Magic Power”. The album centred on the vocals and guitar skills of Rik Emmett, yet Rik was only one third of the band. Bassist/producer Mike Levine and drummer/vocalist Gil Moore provided the backdrop for Rik to shine. Sometimes Moore took the lead vocals - usually on the ‘harder rock’ songs. The result was a Canadian rock classic that rocks as hard today as it did way back in the day.

Gil Moore sat down with Classic Rock Revisited’s Jeb Wright to discuss the anniversary of their hard rock masterpiece. An excerpt follows:

CRR: Were you guys at the time of Allied Forces protective of the group? You had your own studio. Did you guys write together, was there a band of brother’s philosophy?

Gil: “Oh, 100%! I mean there really was, other than the fact that when we broke up, we had a fight. We were from the beginning to that point, so let’s say 14 out of 15 years. We were really solid, like any team, not like a lot of these bands. Going back to that Ozzy thing I watched last night, it was like they spent a heck of a lot of time fighting with each other. We never did that you know, and it probably is why we’re buddies again now because once we got over the fight… Rik’s in the studio recording and Mike [Levine] and I are playing a song on his record; so it’s all healed.”

CRR: And at this time, I mean hell in ’81 you were literally the Triumph army.

Gil: “Yeah we were on top of the world right then because it was really exciting. We were doing big arenas and selling lots of records; everybody treated us special. You’d show up in New York or Los Angeles and the record companies, you know back in the days, they were generous, you know, with 40 people and fancy restaurants and woman all over the place, you know. It’s like if you were making a movie about how Rock Stars lived like in the ‘80’s, it was something like that… it was pretty wild.”

CRR: Since it was Metalworks, did you guys craft some of this stuff on the spot? Did you have the luxury of using the studio, you know more like a rehearsal room, or did you write this stuff and arrange beforehand?

Gil: “No, we recorded a lot right off the floor in the studio, so a lot of the ideas were developed in the studio and yeah we did, we did treat it like a luxury. We didn’t scrimp on time, we spent tons and tons of time working on songs, experimenting, recording multiple versions. That’s why we built the studio; we wanted to be able to do that.”

Read the complete interview at Classic Rock Revisited.

Rik Emmett is currently putting the finishing touches to his upcoming RES9 (Rik Emmett Resolution 9) solo album which BraveWords can reveal will include a full-on Triumph reunion with bassist Mike Levine and drummer Gil Moore, the first time since 1987’s Surveillance. The as-yet-untitled album, being recorded at Moore’s Metalworks studios, is due out later this year via Mascot Records and will also feature Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and Dream Theater singer James LaBrie as guests. Triumph will reunite on three new songs.

The band recently posted the above picture on Facebook with the message: “Mike and Gil joined Rik in the studio for his new album!”

Following their 2007 induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, the reunited Triumph last performed at the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma the following year. The Sweden Rock show was released as an official DVD in 2012.

Stay tuned for updates.

Upcoming Rik Emmett live dates include:

September
17 - Ajax, ON - St Frances Centre
23 - Natick, MA - The Center For Arts Natick (TCAN)
24 - Plymouth, MA - Spire Center for Performing Arts

October
14 - Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall (Londonderry)
15 - Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall (Londonderry)

November
3 - Chicago, IL - City Winery Chicago