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Rik Emmitt |
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BONUS WEB ONLY FEATURE
RIK EMMETTTRIUMPH’s EX-GUITARIST LOOKS TO GET “AIRTIME”
by Ernie Thomas / Photos by Dan Locke
Rik Emmett is a musician who is revered among guitar players for his widely versatile playing style – soft jazz, fusion, 12-string acoustic and world music –– but is best known as a string bending firebrand to most classic rock fans for what he accomplished during the dawn of his career.
When Rik Emmett first roared out of the Great White North, he was in full throttle rock ‘n’ roll mode as the lead guitarist and primary vocalist of Triumph, the greatest Canadian power trio this side of Rush.
We had a lot of fun and made a lot of good music back then,” he said. “But after a while, things happen and you have to move on and do other things,” he reflected in a long-distance call from his home just outside of Toronto.
Back in the day, Triumph’s music was loud and proud, accompanied by an adventurous live concert setting of flashpots, explosions and pyro flames second only to that of KISS.
The live show’s effects-heavy production was the brainchild of the band’s drummer and resident pyromaniac, Gil Moore, while the band’s business dealings and record production was left in the hands of bassist Mike Levine. Leaving Emmett with his flashy, fret-board fingering and high-range vocals as the musical focal point and the glue to hold it all together.
Emmett being the glue the made the band work was proven when the only post-Emmett Triumph album (1992’s Edge of Excess) failed to make much impact at retail, marking the official end to the band.
Prior to that, Triumph was one of the most successful arena rock bands of the era, from their 1977 raw and raucous Rock & Roll Machine LP until 1987’s more technically sonic Surveillance album.
For a solid decade,
Triumph pumped out hit after hit, beginning with their early hard rock
treatment of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” and continuing with
original numbers like “Hold On”, “American Girls” “Magic Power,”
“Fight The Good Fight”, “Lay It On The Line”, “Allied Forces” and
“Spellbound”.
Following the tour behind Surveillance, Emmett walked away from it the group and to release a dozen solo albums ranging from rock, to soft jazz and world music, to singer/songwriter ballads.
Emmett said he has finally come full circle and once again finds he has that rock ‘n’ roll itch.
To scratch that itch, Emmett has put together a brand new recording project called Airtime with former Von Groove band member, Mike Shotten.
The two have a new hard rocking album nearing completion that Emmett hopes to see released later this year via an established label, rather than as another of his many DIY projects.
“Doing it yourself works with the kind of stuff I’ve been doing, the jazz albums and the Christmas album and that kind of stuff,” he said. “But this Airtime album really needs to have a record label behind it. I want people to hear this one. I want it to get out there because it kicks butt!”
Fans should not expect to hear any of those new rockers on Saturday at House of Blues when Emmett fronts a quartet that will blast through several of this old Triumph-era hits, along with soft moments from his catalog of solo efforts.
“I won’t have the guy I’m working with on that album with me, so I won’t be doing any of that stuff just yet. But you can bet we will be coming back to Chicago as soon as we can to let people hear what we’ve been working on, because Chicago has always been a very good market for me,” he said.
Before taking stage at the House of Blues, Emmett will be joining Chicago rock icon, Jim Peterik (Survivor/Ides Of March) for the latest installment of his star-studded, World Stage concert series. This time at the College of Dupage.
Aside from having fun, Emmett found a new songwriting partner in Peterik and the two have been collaborating on tunes long-distance. “Thank goodness we live in a digital world now where we can send files to each other over the computer,” he laughed.
One of those collaborative compositions with Peterik will most likely appear on the new Airtime album.
Emmett explained that due to his own House of Blues show, he will be performing early in the evening on the World Stage bill (which will also include Henry Paul of The Outlaws, Don Barnes of .38 Special and a host of well known Chicago rock artists), backed by a pick up band that will include Peterik on second guitar and vocals.
“We’ll probably just be doing a few of the old Triumph songs, although I might drag my guitarist Dave Dunlop along with me and do one or two acoustic songs as well. It all depends on how much time I’ll have and what Jim has planned,” he said.
“After that, we’ll catch a cab back to the city and I’ll perform my full show with my own guys at House Of Blues,” he continued.
That show promises to be the heaviest one Emmett has done in Chicago since his Triumph days and will feature not only that band’s classic hits, but also a few tunes culled from his first two solo hard rock albums, Absolutely and Ipso Facto.
As might be expected from an artist with nearly a dozen solo albums under his belt, there will be some softer moments featuring a couple of instrumentals from his late 1990s solo catalog and even one or two of Emmett’s poppier singer/songwriter tunes like “Way Back Home” from his most recent 2003 album, Good Faith.
“I wrote that song about my daughter leaving home and going off to college,” he said of “Way Back Home.” When I was doing overdubs on it after recording it, I heard flute in my head and asked my daughter who is a flautist, to play on the song. It’s one of my favorites and one I enjoy performing.”
Saturday’s performances are just a one-off thing for Emmett, who is in a hurry to get back to Canada to complete the Airtime project and work on getting a bigger label and distribution behind it.
There is not too much live performing on his schedule for the next few months, save for a tentative date (April 21) in Atlantic City jamming with another Chicago music icon, Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame.
“Triumph opened a lot of dates for Styx when they did their ‘Mr. Roboto’ tour,” explained Emmett. “I was happy when we got the call from Dennis about doing a show together. It should be another fun night of playing rock ‘n’ roll!”
RIK EMMETT will perform at 8pm on Saturday, February 18th with Jim Peterik’s World Stage at the College of DuPage and that same night will perform a headline concert at 10pm at House Of Blues in Chicago. |
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“I
played with Jim on a World Stage show for the first time last year,”
noted Emmett. “Jim is a big fan of the old Triumph songs and told me he
always wanted to jam with me on “Fight The Good Fight”, so
I came out and we did it and it was a lot of fun, so I’m happy to be a
part of the World Stage show again this year”