Fans of Triumph have been delighted to witness many of the band’s historic highlights during its Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded tour this spring. One notable highlight is the white double-neck Gibson guitar that Rik Emmett wields, just as he did in the past, for “Blinding Light Show.”

Emmett shares with UCR that he was initially uncertain about bringing the heavy instrument on tour again but felt inspired after connecting with his counterpart in another well-known Canadian trio. “(Alex) Lifeson refers to his double-neck as ‘the Fat Bastard,'” Emmett recounts.

Emmett tells UCR he actually wasn’t sure about bringing the heavyweight instrument on the road again but was inspired after touching base with his counterpart in another famous Canadian trio. “(Alex) Lifeson calls his double-neck ‘the Fat Bastard,'” Emmett relates.

“When (Rush) announced their tour and (Triumph) was also going back out, I texted Alex — ‘Are you taking your Fat Bastard?’ He replied, ‘Hell yeah!’ and I thought, ‘Oh, s—. I guess I’m going to have to bring mine too, at least for one song.’

Honestly, all I wanted was to play it for one song. I’m glad to take it off afterward, but it’s a fantastic guitar to play; the six-string neck might be one of the best-sounding electric guitars I’ve ever owned.”

Triumph is currently about halfway through their tour, which started on April 10 in Florida and will conclude on June 6 in Boston, with an additional makeup date on June 10 in Quebec for a postponed show from May 1.

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This marks the band’s first full concerts since 2008 and their first complete tour since 1988 with Emmett and drummer Gil Moore.

Bassist-keyboardist Mike Levine is sitting out due to health concerns, but Emmett and Moore have been joined by guitarist Phil X, who replaced Emmett in the early ’90s, along with bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz from Slash’s Conspirators.

Derek Sharp (the Guess Who, Lawrence Gowen) filled in for X while he was temporarily away with Bon Jovi.

Fighting The Good Fight

Emmett, 72, acknowledges some physical challenges — “My back and my neck and my lower back and my knees are sore” — but he is genuinely happy to have the rock ‘n’ roll machine he joined 51 years ago in Toronto reloaded and energized.

“I come off stage with sore cheeks from smiling — so that’s a good sign,” he states. “It’s been a bit overwhelming. There are moments when I think, ‘Omigod, this is so wonderful. Why wasn’t I doing more of this sooner?’

“Yet there are other moments when I wonder if my knees can handle it… But what a beautiful experience to see these audiences come alive, the lights come up, and I see their shining faces singing my songs; their cheeks must be sore from singing too. What a wonderful gift to receive in your 70s.”

Equally special is the expanded edition of Triumph, which allows the band to cover guitar and vocal parts that they could never achieve as just a trio or even briefly as a touring quartet.

“I get goosebumps because I’ve never been in a band with such incredible vocal harmonies,” Emmett explains. “Triumph was not this good before, and that’s a beautiful thing. It has reloaded in a way that surpasses what it once was — and that’s not a slight against Gil and Mike or myself. Now I’ve got three guys who can sound like angels; when we reach the chorus of ‘Lay It On the Line,’ ‘Somebody’s Out There,’ or ‘Fight the Good Fight’… it’s just fantastic. The musicians are gracious and incredibly professional. They are very experienced. It’s very easy.”

“Even Gil seems rejuvenated, acting like a teenager and dressing as if he should have a skateboard under his arm. It’s hilarious and so much fun.”

Among the highlights was the hometown performance on April 24 in Toronto, attended by Emmett’s entire family.

“My whole family rented one of those prom buses, this gigantic stretch limo bus, and they all came together to watch from a private box. That was incredibly special,” he recalls.

“My grandson, who’s 14, said on the way home to his mom, ‘I know I haven’t been practicing guitar, but if I start tonight and really buckle down, do you think I could be a rock star like bubba?’ She replied, ‘Yeah, if you want to try it, we’ll support that.’ How cool is it that your grandkids want to do what grandpa does?”

Levine’s family also attended the Toronto show but he has yet to make it to any performances in person; however, he has been watching video clips online.

Emmett mentions there is no pressure or expectation for Levine to join them again. “We’d love to have him,” but he believes Levine thinks, ‘I don’t want to participate unless I can do it justice.’ That’s just who he is. The tour is up and running now; he probably thinks, ‘Why would I want to disrupt something good?’ He sees the clips online; he texts me saying, ‘You guys are killing it.’ That’s nice to hear — but honestly, we ARE killing it.”

Laying It On The Line

Will there be more? That’s a question Emmett isn’t eager to consider. “I told (the band’s manager) that I’ll go until the first week of June; then I want two weeks off without anyone contacting me. I want to step back and see how that feels,” he notes.

Emmett and his wife will celebrate their 50th anniversary in July while she and the rest of the family take an extended vacation in Japan while he’s “staying home to care for the pets…and I’ll have time to wait for everything to settle down and see how I feel.”

“I will say this: I wasn’t sure if this (tour) would happen; it has happened and I’m really enjoying it. So that probably bodes well for the future, but I don’t want to start predicting anything yet. I just want to enjoy this moment and see how I feel at the end.”

Emmett has a similar attitude toward new Triumph music emerging from this experience. “I’m always writing,” he says. “Do I have songs ready that I wrote a year and a half ago that might make good Triumph songs? Sure. Do I want to go into the studio now to make a Triumph record? Not at this moment, thank you.”

“But would I like to go into the studio with someone like Fitzy playing drums and Todd Kerns singing alongside Phil X playing guitar solos while I’m producing? That would be enjoyable. But that’s more than I’m ready to think about right now.”