<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are plenty of rock stars out there who climb to the top of their profession by being outrageous, bombastic, colorful, and sometimes, just plain weird.\u00a0 Sure, there has to be enough talent on board for one to write and\/or perform music, but it seems like some are trying a little too hard to be noticed.\u00a0 The trade magazines often amplify the \u2018rock star image\u2019 to sell more copies which in turn leads to more record sales.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a new phenomenon.\u00a0 From Elvis to the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, David Bowie\u2019s Ziggy Stardust phase, Alice Cooper, and (insert your favorite over the top rock star personas here), many musicians make a pretty good career honing their image.\u00a0 Some get so deep down their own mythical rabbit hole, they get lost physically, mentally, or both.\u00a0 Then there is Rik Emmett, the guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter from the Canadian band Triumph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Researching an article about Triumph (FTV:\u00a0 Triumph 8-7-24), I found a reference to Rik Emmitt\u2019s autobiography <\/span>Lay It<\/span><\/i> on the Line <\/span><\/i>(Rik Emmett, ECW Press (2023)).\u00a0 My book buying agent (otherwise known as my wife, Christine) surprised me with a copy for my last birthday.\u00a0 The first impression about the book I got from the\u00a0 subtitle (<\/span>A backstage pass to rock star adventure, conflict and TRIUMPH<\/span><\/i>) was at best a little misleading.\u00a0 The Rik Emmett story turns out to be less about \u2018Rik Emmett – rock star\u2019 than it is about Rik Emmett the normal person who got to play music.\u00a0 He explains that even though he has shared the stage with many major stars, he always viewed himself as being more of a \u2018B-list\u2019 rock star.\u00a0 Having seen Triumph in concert twice back in the day, I would disagree, but that is my outsider\u2019s opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before we go all the way back to the beginning, let\u2019s start with \u2018Rik the family guy\u2019.\u00a0 Emmett acknowledges that most people who buy his book will do so because, \u201cI had some fame and fortune, maybe wrote some songs they\u2019ve heard.\u00a0 But the more important thing I can convey in this book is that my career enabled my family life, and that was the best thing we ever did.\u00a0 I got to live my life.\u201d\u00a0 He notes that family and friends remain his life\u2019s greatest gifts.\u00a0 \u201cHardly earth-shattering but the most fundamental truth I have to offer.\u201d\u00a0 He and his wife Jeanette have raised four children and have grandkids to add to the mix these days, but it hasn\u2019t always been smooth sailing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Running late for her job at the A&R department of Capitol Records in Toronto, Jeanette was navigating a stretch of snow covered roads.\u00a0 For some reason, she undid her seatbelt a few blocks from the office just before spinning out on a patch of black ice.\u00a0 Her car met a truck head on and her forehead made a softball size hole in the windshield.\u00a0 She suffered what is known as \u2018the hangman\u2019s break\u2019 – a fracture of the C2 vertebra in her neck.\u00a0 The emergency room doctor told Rik, \u201cShe is going to be fine.\u201d\u00a0 Noting the large bruise on her shoulder, he noted, \u201cThat is where the guardian angel was sitting.\u201d\u00a0 She spent six weeks on a Stryker frame bed with screws in her temples to stabilize the break.\u201d\u00a0 Emmett continues, \u201cA few millimeters either way and she could have been quadriplegic, or dead.\u00a0 Instead she recovered and we\u2019ve made forty-three years of history.\u201d\u00a0 He visited her daily and his life became a six week pattern of, \u201cSmoking dope, eating bad food, shooting snooker, and practicing guitar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The accident took place in 1980.\u00a0 The Emmetts welcomed their first child, Shannon, in 1982.\u00a0 The day they brought the baby home, their domestic bliss was interrupted buy a loud carload of fans who found their house and proceeded to knock on every door and peer in every window.\u00a0 With the safety of their new family member in mind, he called a home security company about a full package of cameras and sensors for the house.\u00a0 Instead of cashing in on a big pay day, the man on the other end of the phone said, \u201cThis would cost you a lot of money and still not offer you the security you are looking for in your case.\u201d\u00a0 He recommended a privacy fence in the backyard, a doorbell intercom, and an imposing German shepard.\u00a0 Rik says the dog was a wonderful addition to the family unit and all of these things (plus his wife\u2019s ability to lie convincingly, \u201cNo, he doesn\u2019t live here any more\u201d) were enough to keep fans at bay.\u00a0 Privacy is something not all rock stars seek.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Emmett credits his wife for, \u201cMy life, my career, and the very existence of my creativity.\u00a0 She was, and still is, the best partner I could ever have had along for the ride.\u00a0 She was steady and calm when I was flailing, solid and practical when I was coming apart.\u201d\u00a0 He also gives his wife kudos for being the family\u2019s financial foundation:\u00a0 \u201cBy 2000, Jeanette was our family\u2019s more consistent breadwinner, with medical and dental benefits, which allowed me to indulge myself creatively,\u00a0 If she hadn\u2019t been such a selfless, hard working spouse, there\u2019s no way I would have been able to sustain any kind of indie music writing and recording career.\u00a0 Whatever successes I may have enjoyed have all been built upon my dependence on her – a dependency that was unfair and one sided.\u201d\u00a0 It sounds odd that a famous musician would not be the sole support of their family but we need to go back to the beginning to examine how Rik Emmett got to this point in his life.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Richard Gordon Emmett was born on July 10, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario.\u00a0 His parents were products of the Depression \/ World War II era.\u00a0 They lived a simple working family life much like their parents.\u00a0 Rick was the middle child and says there were three distinct parts to his life, the first emerging around age seven.\u00a0 This first phase was what he calls his \u2018Ricky Golden Boy\u2019 era where he was determined to anything and everything to please \u2018all aspects of authority\u2019:\u00a0 \u201cHe (Ricky the Golden Boy) had a drive and ambition, wanting to finish first, be the smartest kid in class, the quickest in the race.\u00a0 Academically, until grade seven, he was top of the class. (Sports, music, and girls were my downfall.\u00a0 By the time I graduated high school, that order had reversed to become girls, music, and lastly sports).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The next personality to appear was the Jock.\u00a0 In hockey crazy Canada, he naturally gravitated to the sport but also competed in track, soccer, and baseball.\u00a0 Once The Beatles Invasion began in 1964, the now girl crazy seventh grade Rick also began his path toward becoming a rock guitarist.\u00a0 With his father working double jobs and his mother doing in-house clerical work, the one-pickup Kay guitar they financed for him was now considered a \u2018manageable expense\u2019.\u00a0 With no amp, he plugged it into a used radio.\u00a0 Emmett explained the direct result:\u00a0 \u201c[The 60s] hit me like a cultural tsunami.\u00a0 The cocky rebel rock star in me no longer wanted to try and please adults.\u00a0 Like so many of my peers, I was beginning to question authority.\u00a0 My inner Peter pan was born – and my grades fell off.\u00a0 I fought bitterly with my parents over the length of my hair.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When his grandfather died, Rick began questioning God and religion which caused a larger rift with his mother.\u00a0 His mother had never really understood his need to go all out when he played sports.\u00a0 When Rick hit puberty and decided church was no longer for him, the generation gap between them widened.\u00a0 \u201cEventually,\u201d Emmett says, \u201cshe accepted but never really understood my inclination toward an agnostic, humanist view of life.\u00a0 She did have a more open mind about a generation that was saying, \u2018Make Love, Not War,\u2019 believing that \u2018God is Love,\u2019 and so there were some things about hippie culture that aligned with my mom\u2019s own religious, spiritual values.\u201d\u00a0 Rick\u2019s father was \u2018quietly supportive\u2019 of his sports ambitions but, \u201cHe distrusted everything about music, hippies, and the 60s counterculture, booting me out of the house just before I turned eighteen when I refused to cut my hair.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What followed in his music career is pretty typical of most wannabe rockers starting at square one.\u00a0 Bands came and went as Rick\u2019s network of fellow musicians expanded.\u00a0 Each new group built on the last and he grew to be a proficient player.\u00a0 By the summer of 1974, he was playing in a band backing Justin Paige.\u00a0 They dressed in Alice Cooper type makeup and no doubt shocked Rick\u2019s parents when they came to see them play:\u00a0 \u201cJustin wore a lot of chains, a garter belt, and thigh high boots (and little else).\u00a0 The two background singers were wearing chastity belts.\u00a0 The whole show was about counterculture gay behavior, loaded with references to drugs and booze.\u201d\u00a0 Surprisingly, they were supportive and recognized their son was making a living doing something they really didn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 He would punch his ticket to the big time \u2018music career carnival\u2019 only four years later when Triumph formed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Drummer Gil Moore and bass\/keyboard player Mike Levine were the founders of Triumph.\u00a0 When their previous project folded, they decided to put together a power trio and went in search of a guitar player to fill out the lineup.\u00a0 In August of 1975, they went to see Emmett\u2019s band (Act III) perform and decided on the spot he was the guy they were looking for.\u00a0 A jam session \/ audition told Rick they would be savvy and ambitious partners but it was apparent they were also in need of a strong creative partner.\u00a0 Before he signed on the dotted line, Rick had a few conditions that needed to be met:\u00a0 \u201c[Gil and Mike] needed to commit to conscientious rehearsing, to develop our gig stamina chops.\u00a0 I\u2019d get an equal third say in band affairs.\u00a0 And importantly, they agreed to pay me $175 a week whether we played bookings or not, which meant I could move out of my parents\u2019 home into a tiny little house with my girlfriend Jeanette.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They each added something extra to the plot.\u00a0 Moore had a light and sound company that provided extra income to the group.\u00a0 His business smarts included planning, finances, and bookkeeping.\u00a0 Moore would also found Metalworks Studio which would become their homebase.\u00a0 Levine had a knack for public relations and \u2018wheeling and dealing\u2019.\u00a0 With these necessary tasks already taken care of,\u00a0 Emmett was freed to concentrate on the creative side of the band.\u00a0 Rick became \u2018Rik\u2019 when Moore and Levine made a production error on their first Triumph album cover and misspelled his name.\u00a0 Rather than recalling the album and\/or confusing their fans, Emmett decided to change the spelling of his first name.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were some who compared Triumph to another Canadian band, Rush, because Rik\u2019s vocal range and style resembled that band\u2019s bassist \/ lead vocalist Geddy Lee. Emmett and Moore split lead vocal duties in Triumph but the majority of what Rik calls their \u2018evergreen hits\u2019 were written and sung by the guitarist.\u00a0 This, in turn, led to some friction when the suits at their label suggested they wanted to hear more of the same on future albums.\u00a0 As confident as he appeared performing on stage, Emmett admits to having some bouts of anxiety during his life, some episodes stemming from conflict within Triumph.\u00a0 As strong as the trio\u2019s partnership was in the beginning, Emmett says, \u201cBy the time the characters in a partnership like ours got past the itchy seventh birthday, there were as many plan Bs developing as there were band members.\u00a0 Our trio of musketeers had our own personal lives, with growing responsibilities.\u00a0 In our particular rock and roll machine, the all-for-one-and-one-for-all ethic began to erode with individualized choices and priorities.\u201d\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a big blow out or major revolt in the offing, but Rik knew it was time for him to start looking for the exit door from Triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Emmett takes great pains to praise his former bandmates for the heavy lifting they did to build the band\u2019s reputation and portfolio.\u00a0 He says, \u201cFrom day one, the other guys worked double overtime on their priorities.\u00a0 Gil\u2019s abiding passion was for a razzle-dazzle stage production, and once we could afford to compete in the big leagues, Triumph\u2019s presentation kept evolving toward world-class – as was the marketing, promotion, and negotiating that my partners doggedly pursued.\u00a0 Gil also took justifiable pride in business administration, accounting, and bookkeeping, embodying his dad\u2019s business background.\u00a0 Mike worked the record company, radio, promo, and the industry.\u00a0 He was a salesman, comfortable in the disarming T-shirt and jeans uniform of a hippie rock star, looking to make a deal.\u201d\u00a0 As his partner\u2019s business affairs began to consume more and more time, Rik began pursuing some creative outlets outside the band.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1980, he was asked to begin penning the \u201cBack to Basics\u201d column in <\/span>Guitar Player Magazine<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The increased exposure attracted more attention to \u2018Rik the guitarist\u2019 which in turn brought him endorsement offers from brands like Yamaha.\u00a0 He would be featured on the cover of <\/span>GP <\/span><\/i>in January of 1985.\u00a0 For a time, <\/span>GP <\/span><\/i>came with a plastic \u2018soundpage\u2019 that one could take out of the magazine and spin on a turntable.\u00a0 The July 1987 issue contained a concept Emmett had pitched and was allowed to co-produce.\u00a0 It featured Beyond Borders, an all-Canadian guitar quartet of Ed Bickert, Liona Boyd, Alex Lifesone, and Rik.\u00a0 He was pleased that his notoriety beyond Triumph remained even after he left the band.\u00a0 He also noted Triumph\u2019s self contained business method of running the band was not universally admired (jealousy, perhaps?).\u00a0 Fortunately, none of the fallout followed him when he went out on his own.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was fortunate to see Triumph perform in Marquette, Michigan at the peak of their career.\u00a0 They certainly put on a spectacular stage show replete with pyro and the promised <\/span>Blinding Light Show<\/span><\/i> (the title of a song Rik brought with him from Act III).\u00a0 Emmett\u2019s ability to hit some very high notes and his skillful guitar playing were certainly highlights.\u00a0 The band as a whole was, as advertised, a <\/span>Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Machine.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The arrangements, set list, and stage patter were typical 1980s rock but they also harmonized flawlessly while performing live without a net.\u00a0 Look up their sets at the 1983 US Festival or the 1980 Day on the Green (both held in California).\u00a0 These shows were presented in broad daylight with no light show.\u00a0 They depict a band on top of their game and not just one relying on gimmicks to entertain the audience.\u00a0 The audience reaction also refutes Emmett\u2019s comments about them not being \u2018A list\u2019 rock stars.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1988, after releasing nine albums, Rik gave notice, negotiated his exit, and walked away.\u00a0 He honored the band\u2019s legacy by playing four major gigs in 1988, but then he was done.\u00a0 He had other creative outlets he wanted to follow and he closed \u2018The Triumph Chapter\u2019 in <\/span>Lay It On Th<\/span><\/i>e <\/span>Line<\/span><\/i> by saying, \u201c1983 to 1988 were crazy times in my life and music career.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, he admits he let things build up and left the band angry.\u00a0 It would take many years and a request from his brother Russell (who was dying of cancer at the time and urged Rik to bury the hatchet and have a reunion for all their fans) to mend broken fences and reconnect with Triumph.\u00a0 They found time had given them perspective and enjoyed a couple of one off festival shows that helped the old wounds heal.\u00a0 Rik Emmett\u2019s career outside of Triumph has satisfied his creative impulses but he can now look back and appreciate what the three of them accomplished together.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video – The title of Rik’s book performed at the 1983 US Festival in California<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are plenty of rock stars out there who climb to the top of their profession by being outrageous, bombastic, colorful, and sometimes, just plain weird.\u00a0 Sure, there has to be enough talent on board for one to write and\/or perform music, but it seems like some are trying a little too hard to 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