Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

The Metal Voice‘s Jimmy Kay recently spoke to BON JOVI, TRIUMPH guitarist Phil X.

In the chat, Phil X dives into the details of the Triumph reunion that took place during the pre-game 2 show in Edmonton as part of the hockey playoffs. He also shares his favorite Bon Jovi songs, reflects on growing up Greek, talks about his new album PHIL X & THE DRILLS – Pow Right in the Kisser, released in March 2025, and much more.

When asked about the Triumph Reunion show
‘We rehearsed the day before. I wish we would have more time even though it was just three songs. We kept changing endings and arrangements and stuff like that, it would have been good to have two days to plow through everything and then jump on stage. But I’m still happy with how it came out. The next day it exploded, everything’s on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. When it was done I spoke with Gil (Moore) on Monday and I’m like “Man are you guys still buzzing like we are?” And he was like even more. I got to say what was really endearing to me after rehearsal Gil was like “Hey we’re all going to have dinner at the restaurant at the hotel So join us. So we all walked in and out of 20 people family, friends and boyfriends and girlfriends and Gil and Rick (Emmett) were sitting together and just like little kids cracking up and stuff like that, it was really endearing to see that. Also their smiles man, the whole time we were on stage the smiles were unbelievable it was just It was really cool to be a part of that it really was.’

When asked about how much advance notice they got prior to the performance
‘It all happened boom boom boom like that. I can let you in the little behind the scenes thing .Gil (Moore) says hey we’re going to play a song and then it’s hey we’re going to play three songs and I’m like I need to know if this is confirmed and it wasn’t. On Monday, on the Monday preceding the Friday that we played he was like “It’s not 100% yet but we’re going to do three songs. (Gil Said) I want to do ‘Allied Forces’, ‘Fight the Good Fight’ and Lay it on the line and I’m like “Okay cool.” So I call Brent (Fitz) and and Todd (Kerns) and I say “These are the three songs that we’re doing and everybody can get into prep mode and we can prepare those three songs.”

And then Gill said “Okay so I think you guys should just play ‘Allied Forces’ and ‘Fight The Good Fight’ and then me and Rick will jump on stage when we do ‘Lay it on the Line’ cuz it’s the playoff song.” And we’re like “Okay we we can do that sure.” So Brent, Todd and I can get it together where it’s we feel like it’s presentable to the O.G. guys as we wanted to blow their minds. Then somebody walks in and says “Uh oh by the way they’re (Gil and Rik) are playing on all songs.” Okay now we know arrangements are going to change that’s why I wish we had two days so arrangements are gonna change okay I’m I’m ready for that. Then Gil walks in and he goes “Philly baby.” He always calls me Philly baby there’s never just a Phil or even Philly there’s always a ‘baby’. Philly baby and I give him a big hug and he goes “So hey when we go into Magic Power,” I’m like “Wait what?” Nobody said anything about Magic Power he goes “Well the management wants us to do it instead of ‘Fight the Good Fight’ they think it’s a better it’s a bigger song.” I’m like “We’re not doing Magic Power.” And and Todd and Brent are even more Canadian than me they want to make everybody happy and Todd’s like “No we can.” I’m like “Shut up no (laughs).” No we’re not doing ‘Magic Power’ we are doing these three songs that’s what we’re doing and Gil goes “You’re the boss let’s go. And that’s how it went down. It went like berserk on the internet the next day right it would have been nice to have Mike (Levine) too but he just couldn’t back out of that (Doctor’s) appointment that he had because of how it takes forever to get a second appointment. Just to appease everybody’s curiosity there’s all kinds of talk going on, so we’ll see what happens. If he (Rik Emmett) doesn’t have the bug after that I don’t know what it would take.

When asked if he would do it again
‘Obviously, schedule is of importance you know um cuz I have other stuff going on everybody has, Todd and Brent have other stuff going on. We’re all busy musicians. But I would do it again for sure yeah it’s a no-brainer. ‘