Canadian label Music In Motion Ent is releasing Diamonds – The Best of the Hard Rock Years 1990 – 1995, a brand new compilation featuring iconic guitarist Rik Emmett‘s hand picked rock tracks from his three Duke Street releases, Absolutely, Ipso Facto and The Spiral Notebook plus two previously unheard songs.
Remastered with the most up to date technology at Iguana Studios in Toronto ON, Diamonds provides Rik Emmett fans with a new listening experience. The Diamonds cover art features the work of renowned photographer Andrew MacNaughtan. International retail date is set for March 1, 2024 through Music In Motion Ent (Canada) and Deko Entertainment (ADA/WMG).
A signed Deluxe Edition of 400 collector sets is NOW AVAILABLE for pre-sale on Rik Emmett’s webstore through RockPaperMerch.com. A limited number of hand signed editions will also be available through the Deko Entertainment webstore.
The Deluxe Edition is designed with an album gatefold that includes both the CD (with bonus tracks) and LP (on 180g heavyweight marble space effect vinyl). Exclusives include: copies of handwritten lyric sheets, a photo set of never-before-seen images, guitar picks from each album, a lenticular holographic poster of the cover art, a gold embossed lithograph of the album cover hand signed by Rik, and a custom felt Diamonds vinyl slipmat.
The Deluxe Edition also touts two new previously unheard Rik Emmett original tracks (from the Absolutely and Ipso Facto demo sessions) that will not appear on the retail versions and will not be available on streaming platforms. The two new tracks will premiere in an exclusive online video stream in late January where Rik will preview the Deluxe Edition and tell stories of his Triumph and solo years from his Lay It On The Line biography. All purchasers of the Deluxe Edition will receive a private link to this stream. In addition, all purchases before January 31, 2023 will be entered into a draw to win Rik’s personal signed test pressing of Diamonds!
TRACK LISTING: LP: DRIVE TIME / STRAIGHT UP / BANG ON / SAVED BY LOVE / WHEN A HEART BREAKS / BIG LIE / RAINBOW MAN / MIDDLE GROUND / THE HARDEST PART
CD BONUS TRACKS: STAND AND DELIVER / THE PENDULUM / TBA (Ipso Facto Demo) / TBA (Absolutely Demo)
E-Commerce Deluxe Edition: Ships early February 2024. RockPaperMerch.com Canada Retail Release: March 01, 2024 through Music In Motion Ent. MusicInMotionEnt.com International Retail Release: March 01, 2024 through Deko Entertainment. DekoEntertainment.com
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to former Triumph guitarist and singer Rik Emmett about his new autobiography ‘Lay it on the line’ plus the bands documentary and the bands legacy, plus a whole lot more.
Excerpts
When asked about his new autobiography “I hesitate to say it’s an autobiography because there’s so much stuff going on in this book. I did a lot of research reading other guys’ Memoirs and autobiographies and things. The truth of it is that my life has been a lot more than just being a rock star guy in a rock band. I’m going to tell the story of my life. It’s going to end up being the story of family and teaching and music that goes much further than just being you know kind of in a rock band. So because my musical experience has been much wider, I made a lot more records after I left Triumph than I made when I was in it, so it’s wide ranging.”
When asked if back in the Triumph years it irked him to share lead vocal duties “First of all let’s make sure that everybody understands this Triumph was always Gil’s (Moore) band he was always kind of the band leader. He was the guy that formulated the concept of the band and the way that the band looked in terms of production and on stage. It was very much a reflection of what Gil Wanted the band to be. Then he and Mike (Levine) found me. The Three Musketeers here we go. I think that the rub that you’re talking about was that the ‘Just A Game’ album in particular, the third Triumph album. Let’s put it in this context the second album was called ‘Rock and roll machine’ and it was very much a Gil Moore kind of record. Rock and roll machine was a song that he (Gil) wrote and said that was how he saw the band. Uh and I think he always kind of held to that sense of what the band was but then the ‘Just A Game’ album had the success with ‘Lay it on the line’ and ‘Hold on’ which are kind of Evergreen songs. And I think the record company then went hey the Evergreen nature of this thing that we’ve signed. Maybe it’s the blonde guy there out front that’s what we want to push. We want to focus on that. So when you talk about rub I think that’s where the rubbing began, that record companies were now talking to Gil and Mike and saying hey you know we want more of Rick and they were going well that’s not what the band is all about we are the Musketeers. Mike had been the producer of the early records and Mike was the guy that sort of be in the studio and in the control room and sort of saying okay I a Gil song, a Rik song, a Gill song, a Rik song and that’s how we keep the rock and roll machine stays balanced. You start out a band, with that whole Musketeers thing and it’s easy to do that because you don’t have a pot to piss in so you know everybody’s willing to make compromises and the collaboration works. Then time goes on and people get married and they start to have kids and they got their own lives and hey we’re having success we’re buying houses guys are making Investments they’re having their own lives. Then they go well hang on I want the band to be this reflection of my life and then the other guy goes no I want it to be this reflection of my life and those things.”
When asked about the time he was asked to join the band The Damn Yankees ” I got a couple of phone calls I think from the manager of Ted (Nugent) and he called me and then I got a call from Jack Blades .Jack and I know each other cause Night Ranger and Triumph had done some outdoor shows where we were on the same bill. The Damn Yankees thing I don’t think they’d even picked the name yet you know but I knew that Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw were in the band with Jack (Blades). So when I got that call I went guys you got enough guitars in the Damn Yankees how would that work?”
When asked about the Triumph reunions and documentary “When I went back in for reunions and filmed the documentary and stuff I was not re-entering the partnership, I was not getting a piece of Triumph back the other guys own it. I was just coming in as if I was like a sideman, a friend participating purely out of friendship and stuff there were no deals being cut that I cared about. They were saying oh if there’s any merch we’ll give you I go yeah whatever I don’t care let’s just do this. I’ll do this for friendship and I’ll do this more for the sake of the legacy of the name of the brand which I don’t even own anymore. I don’t have a piece of that but I don’t care you know it was like uh I think everything that I do in a good spirit towards the whole Triumph thing it only benefits me in the life like the books that I write. Triumph is the word on the front cover of my book because it helps me in the marketing of my own stuff. “
Rik Emmett is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for the legendary Canadian hard rock band Triumph. Between its 16 albums and DVDs, it has received 18 gold and 9 platinum awards in Canada and the United States. They were nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including the Group of the Year Award in 1979, 1985, 1986, and 1987. It was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2007, into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2008, and into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2019.
Emmett is now releasing worldwide Then Again… through Deko Entertainment (ADA/Warner Music Group) as part of a new deal with Music in Motion Ent. As he states about the release, “There seems little point in simply trying to repeat history, so we came at it from a different place: the place where Dave Dunlop and I dealt with these songs, on smaller nightclub & intimate listening room stages. Honoring the endurance of these songs, but giving them a fresh, stripped-down and 21st century D.I.Y. perspective.” Enjoy reimagined versions of classics like, “Lay It on the Line,” “Magic Power,” and “Fight the Good Fight.”
The classic Triumph album Allied Forces sold over a million copies in the US, while attaining the highest chart positions any Triumph album would attain: #23 in the US and #13 in Canada. It included the songs “Fight the Good Fight” and “Magic Power.” “Magic Power” reached #8 on the Billboard Mainstream Top Rock Tracks chart and #51 on the Hot 100, while “Fight the Good Fight” went to #18 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. This bodes well for the success of Emmett’s Then Again….
Then Again… will be available on CD and limited-edition vinyl. Preorder your copy now and get a very limited signed copy while supplies last: https://bit.ly/RikEmmett
Tracklist: “Never Surrender” “Ordinary Man” “Midsummer Daydream” “Magic Power” “Fight the Good Fight” “Petite Etude” “Lay It on the Line” “Fantasy Serenade “Hold on” “Suitcase Blues” “Blinding Light Show” (CD ONLY) “Somebody’s Out There–24 Hours A Day–Say Goodbye” (CD ONLY)
Jimmy Kay From Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to TRIUMPH‘s guitarist Rik Emmett about his upcoming book or poetry/Autobiography “Reinvention: Poems” via ECW Press , on September 14. Emmett also talks about the upcoming Triumph Documentary that will premiere on Friday Sept 10 at the TIFF.
Is this poetry book also an autobiography “It was a big part of it, I was trying to have this therapeutic thing that was going on where I started writing and trying to come to terms with getting older and all the rest of that. “
Why not just write an autobiography “The memoir is coming but in typical Rik Emmett style I decided I was going to Mish Mash a bunch of stuff and try to reach for aesthetic before I had to buckle down. Memoir stuff is more like people want the anecdotes, the stories and what it was like to have been there. There is almost a reporting angle in that. Whereas with poetry I felt like I had a lot more license to do and say things the way I wanted to try and say it. I just felt like I was going to take that step towards a world that’s more Gord Downie (The Tragically Hip) and Leonard Cohen and just take a baby step towards that and not necessarily putting myself on that level. This is only my first attempt. Generally thinking I don’t think my poetry book is too hard to chew at but yes sometimes I am hiding a little bit behind the words or trying to make it so that instead of pissing and moaning about whatever. I am actually trying to say how do I get over to Virtue from Vice? How do I make that flip and I think in poetry it’s easier to do that than if you are just writing a standard autobiography memoir. The memoir is part of my book deal to come out in the future. “
In your book of Poetry/Autobiography you talk about being outvoted by Triumph members many times “In Triumph when we first started it was a trio and that is like a perfect little democracy, it’s as small as you can get and still have a perfect democracy. In the early stages there would be discussions, my voice would be taken seriously and we were building something. But once it got built to a certain point there was an imbalance that existed. Gil Moore was the general manager of the band, it was really his thing. Mike Levine was the guy that dealt with the record company, he did the marketing and the promotion. So then when there were musical direction talks, I was going, hang on for a second I think direction wise we should be doing this, then it was like sorry Rik you are getting out voted. And I was getting outvoted on too much stuff. I think the other guys wanted it to be a very metal/ hard rock kind of thing but I was the guy that was saying how about a little more progressive. And later on we weren’t even a hard rock band anymore because of what was happening at MCA/Universal. So there wasn’t even that integrity that metal/hard rock has and we were turning into a pop band. I don’t think any of us liked it but the other guys were going kind of like well this is where the bread is buttered and I was like I don’t care about butter.
How did Triumph have so much success on the business side of things and why did you leave? “Triumph we managed ourselves, so there wasn’t a big slice coming off the top like the 20% of the gross that is going towards a management company. So we didn’t need as big a pie as other bands did. There was money from merchandising, there was money from touring. In fact Triumph probably made more money from then that stuff then we ever did from selling records. In Triumph Mike and Gil were very astute business people they really knew from the get go what it was that they were trying to achieve on a whole bunch of levels. So there wasn’t an ignorance or a naivety to what was happening, no way, there was an awareness. I have learned a lot at the feet of those masters. I think at a certain point they were going to run the Triumph Rock and Roll machine the way they were going to do it and I went I got to go, see yeah.”
Tell me how you felt watching the upcoming Triumph Documentary? “Banger films have done it and they are very experienced and they are telling their perspective of the story. They have done their research and then they decided this is the angle we are going to take. So that is the first lense you are getting. The other thing is, it’s not my story, in fact I don’t actually own that brand. Gil owns that brand so you are going to get a little bit more of Gil’s angle of it then Rik’s and that is fine. I’m cool with that. In truth and in fairness I think people need to know that, that is what you are going to see. You are going to see something that has been passed through those filters. Is this ok? Have all three guys signed off on this? Yes.”
“Reinvention” is a largely autobiographical collection of poetry — a project that followed on the heels of Emmett retiring from a touring musician’s and college educator’s life in early 2019. Inside all of the slashes that define him — singer/songwriter/guitarist/rock star/teacher/columnist — writing has always been his strongest avocation, and the poetic style of “Ultra Talk”, in particular, offered a welcome spark for a songwriter’s freedom of expression. This creative license is organized under seven headings — The Humanities, Life & Death, There’s Politics in Everything, Double Helix, Soapbox Sermonettes, Time Time Time, and Ars Nova 2020.
TRIUMPH’s first-ever feature documentary about the band’s dramatic career, “Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine” (changed from the working title of “Triumph: Lay It On The Line”), will receive its world premiere on Friday, September 10 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
On September 12, 2021, 2:00 PM EST, on Volume.com/metalhalloffame, Triumph members Gil Moore, Bassist Mike Levine and Guitarist Rik Emmett will be inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame Virtual Gala. During the ceremony Triumph will be Inducted into the 2021 Metal Hall of Fame by: Live Nation’s Head of Industry Relations Joey Vendetta Scoleri and Jimmy Kay, Editor-in-Chief of The Metal Voice.
A description about the guitar: “With its warm and mellow tone, the Woodland Cedar is an honest and true acoustic guitar. With a Custom Polished finish and a select pressure tested solid top, its sound (as with all S&P models) will only get better the more the guitar is played overtime.”
Guitar specs: Back & Sides: Red Wild Cherry Top: Cedar (Select Pressure Tested Solid Top) Fingerboard & Bridge: Rosewood Finish: Semi-Gloss Custom Polished Finish Tusq® nut & saddle by Graphtech
Emmett recently had his solo albums reissued digitally – Ten Invitations (1998), Swing Shift (1998), Raw Quartet (1999), Live At Berklee (2000), Handiwork (2003), Good Faith (2003), Strung-Out Troubadours (2006), Live At Hugh’s Room (2007), Liberty Manifesto (2007), Push & Pull (2009) and Marco’s Secret Songbook (2012).
Rik Emmett talking about the guitar being given away, “The guitar in my hand is a Godin Woodland Spruce: the one leaning on my leg is a Godin Woodland Cedar. I’m a bit partial to the Cedar, but that’s just me.
Godin is a Canadian company, which already makes them amazing, legendary and authentic. The S & P in their brand name refers to the two sons of founder Robert Godin, Simon and Patrick, and they are hands-on guys in the company.
I find the Spruce top a bit brighter in tone, and the Cedar is a bit warmer. They have a high ‘playability’ factor: they are generous in tone and they speak with articulation. Plus, they are very attractive guitars, extremely high quality in terms of bang for the buck. They would make perfect companions at a Bonfire – or a Bonfire Session.
I had no input whatsoever in design or build: but here’s what the company says about them:
The S&P Woodland models feature Select Pressure Tested Solid Tops in solid cedar or solid spruce, both offering excellent response and projection. The back and sides are made from a 3-way lamination of authentic hard wood . These back and sides, along with the solid tops, are finished with a Custom Polished Finish that will not impede the sound quality of the instrument, in comparison to a thick polyester finish that will muffle the true sound of the guitar. The comfort of the silver leaf maple necks in the Woodland series comes from the process of individually buffing and sanding each neck by hand. Found and harvested in North Eastern Quebec, Silver leaf maple is a wood similar to the density of mahogany but much less porous, which allows for it to be treated to an incredibly smooth finish.
Delivering a sound and feel comparable to acoustic guitars twice their price, it’s easy to see and hear why the S&P Woodland series guitars have truly struck a “chord” with acoustic players the world over.”
“One of coolest contests we’ve ever ran at BraveWords!” Founder/CEO “Metal” Tim Henderson exclaims. “Being a long-time Triumph fan, I can’t thank Rik and his team enough for providing such a treasured prize, which is a piece of Canadian hard rock history. We cater to so many musicians at the site who would love to cradle this beautiful guitar in their arms! So hurry up and enter before this contest ends!”
The Metal Voice‘s Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon spoke via Zoom Triumph longtime guitarist and solo artist Rik Emmett. Emmett spoke about the re-release of 11 of his solo albums, why he left Triumph and the upcoming Triumph Documentary.
July 10, 2020, Round Hill Records reissued 11 solo Rik recordings in the digital format, including Ten Invitations (1998), Swing Shift (1998), Raw Quartet (1999), Live at Berklee (2000), Handiwork (2003), Good Faith (2003), Strung-Out Troubadours (2006), Live at Hugh’s Room (2007), Liberty Manifesto (2007), Push & Pull (2009), and Marco’s Secret Songbook (2012):
When asked if Triumph was considered a Heavy Metal Band “The Truth of Triumph is I think the other guys more so Gil Moore the drummer would have preferred to have been a Metal band and (bassist) Mike Levine was kind of happy to go along with that journey. When they first initially envisioned the band (Triumph) before I was even in it, I think they sort of saw it as a Jimi Hendrix, Cream kind of thing. However I did have more progressive bones in my body. Plus I would also write a tune and hope that it would cross over to AM radio and Heavy Metal never did that.”
When asked about leaving Triumph “The reason why I left the band (Triumph) was because I couldn’t do things I wanted to do in the Triumph situation. There was also pressure from managers, agents and even the record company at the time saying, you don’t want to get too far away from the hard rock sound. I think it’s true the band reflected the personalities and the characters of the three of us and it’s kind of like sometimes the things that make a band good and unique are also the kind of things that creates tension and stress inside the band. That eventually maybe are the things that are going to break the band up. John Lennon and Paul MCcartney would be the supreme example. “
When asked about the direction of his solo albums “I was never concerned about trying to retail records in a record company situation. I was a musician, I would write, record, I would put out these records and if I made my money back I would go oh great. On those records I was all over the map. I was doing stuff like jazz, classical guitar, blues etc… I was fulfilling all of the things that have been frustrated dreams when I was in Triumph, now I was going to do whatever I wanted to do. After decades along comes Round Hill Records and they started with putting out the Triumph albums on Vinyl and now my solo albums. “
When asked about the upcoming Triumph Documentary “Banger are pros and they are digging around your life and they are going in deep. There is a surreal nature to it, you are going back in your life and they (Banger) remind you of things you completely forgotten and sometimes it hurts. I have seen a rough cut, it’s really good it really gets to the heart of the band, the music, the connections to people and how we were a soundtrack to the fans lives and how it matters to them.”
For decades, Rik Emmett (largely considered one of the greatest rock guitarists of all-time) has been a prolific recording artist – whether it be as a member of Triumph, offering solo material, or collaborating with others. And now, fans will be able to enjoy quite a few of his solo releases once again – which covers a wide variety of styles.
Round Hill has offices in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles and London.
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