Greg Prato for Ultimate Guitar spoke with Trimuph‘s Rik Emmett
UG: What made you finally agree to take part in a Triumph reunion tour?
Rik Emmett: “It was an accumulation of many things over time. Phil X is playing in the band, so, I mean, that’s one part of it, right? That we went and did this thing out in Edmonton [a mini-set during the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals], and these three new guys that were involved. I really liked them, and I really see the potential for a lot of fun in playing with them. Phil X is a guitar player that had replaced me in Triumph [from 1992-1993], and he knows Gil [Moore] and Mike [Levine]. And so it was great to get to play with Phil...”
UG: It’s great that Rush and Triumph are reuniting for tours at the same time.
Rik Emmett: “Yeah. I mean, serendipity. But it might also be something that’s sort of a temperature of the times. And then the temperature of our own age is getting to a certain point. Alex [Lifeson] is pretty good friends with Gil. They play golf together a lot. And Alex and I know each other a little bit, and he played on my last album that I’d made for Mascot [2016’s ‘RES 9′]. I think him and Geddy [Lee] got together, and they were just doing some playing, and one thing led to another, and then they had a guy on their crew say, ‘Hey, I did this tour, and there’s this female drummer that if you’re ever thinking of doing it, you should maybe give her a call.’
“In their case, I think maybe not boredom, but you’re getting to a point you go, ‘What can I do that would be a lot of fun?’ And then playing music is fun. That’s one of the things that draws you. So even though you’re in your 70s, it hasn’t stopped being fun. I mean, you got to work around arthritis and other things, and I think that same reasoning that when my wife said, ‘Well, it means you’re going to get on your elliptical machine more often,’ I think probably Alex and Geddy are getting that from their better halves, too…
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