Detritus
Mini-Issue #447.5 - February 29, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/detritus/
http://www.myspace.com/detritusezine

To subscribe to the e-mail version do one of the following:
Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Detritus/
Send a blank e-mail to: Detritus-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe from the e-mail version:
Send a blank e-mail to: Detritus-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

To contact us:
Detritus-owner@yahoogroups.com

*
*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
*
Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.myspace.com/kdsteve

*
*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
*
-Happy Leap Year! Go out and jump something! Check out Neal's cool
interview with Triumph's Mike Levine. - Tim

*
*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
*
by Neal Woodall (MysticX9@...)

-Interview w/ Mike Levine (Triumph)
February 15, 2008

When I was 14 my Dad gave me a job in his office to earn some extra
money, and the only thing I remember buying was Triumph's JUST A GAME
album (and in those days, it really was an album!). After the first
spin, I instantly became hooked on the band's infectious amalgam of
hard rock rhythms, prog elements, soaring leads, AOR vocal melodies
and intelligent lyrics, subsequently going back to check out their
excellent 1976 debut (now known as IN THE BEGINNING) and the classic
ROCK & ROLL MACHINE. I was a huge fan from then on, reveling in every
new release. I was fortunate to witness Triumph live on numerous
occasions during the '80s and can attest to their skill not only as
musicians but as entertaining showmen as well, with a fantastic light
show that was easily the best of the era. Unfortunately during the
late '80s an acrimonious dispute put an end to the classic lineup, Rik
Emmett going his separate way to leave bassist Mike Levine and drummer
Gil Moore to continue on with Triumph for five more years. During the
remainder of the '90s, Rik pursued a solo career, Mike and Gil
returned to studio and production work and any mention of the
possibility of a reunion was met with swift rejection, especially by
Rik who was reportedly particularly resistant to any reconciliation.
As we've seen in the last year though, miracles do happen and the
original lineup is together again, preparing to play their first gig
in 20 years at the Sweden Rock Festival this Summer. I was honored to
be able to speak with bassist Mike Levine about what kindled the
reunion and what else might be in store for Triumph fans in the
future.

DETRITUS: It seems to be the time for impossible reunions -- even a
few years ago the guys in Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and The Police were
saying "no reunion!"

MIKE LEVINE: Yep.

D: So it's pretty amazing -- tell us how Triumph got back together.

ML: I guess it started with, ahh, we got a Canadian Music Industry
Hall Of Fame award last year, and the organizers of that event came to
us individually and said "Unless the three of you guys come up and
accept it, you're not getting it!" (laughs) So, anyway, it kind of
took a little while but the guy that runs Canadian Music Week kinda
brokered a meeting between Gil, Rik and I, and we decided "Let's do
this" and we had such a good time together -- you know, going through
interviews, the awards presentation itself, etc. -- that we got
together and had dinner afterwards and then a couple of lunches,
exchanged e-mails and then got together and talked about "Hey, we're
having a good time, maybe we can get together and play too." So we had
our agent check out what the market was, things like that, and then we
decided rather than to do a full blown tour let's do some festivals
and see how we play and altogether how much we enjoy it, whether we
can handle the travel and all that stuff, before we commit to a real
major event so to speak. So here we are, we're on the verge of our
first date, not that far away really, not a long time.

D: Why was the Sweden Rock Festival chosen? Did you guys choose them
or did they choose you?

ML: Well no, the agent just said, I guess the way he does it is he
goes to all the festivals and says "Anybody want Triumph?" (laughs)
So, because it's kind of early in June there's not much else happening
on this side of the pond, so we decided that would be a great place to
start, we'd never played Sweden before and they wanted us badly,
apparently we have a huge audience base there which I wasn't aware of,
and it's a good lineup -- all the cards were laid out properly for
that being the first show.

D: Have you done any rehearsals yet for the show?

ML: Gil and Rik have, I'm in Jamaica right now, but Gil and Rik have
been getting together and just bashing around, Gil hasn't played in a
little while, he has to be pretty sure that he can still play; you
know the rigors of playing drums -- for me it's not that difficult to
get back into it but for Gil it's a very physical thing. So he
rehearsed a lot on his own, got himself together and then him and Rik
got together and bashed a little bit, and I'm down here and we're
talking about the set list, the show order and all that kind of stuff.
When we get back we've got the Juno Awards coming up, you know, which
is like our Grammys, and we're going in that Hall Of Fame this year,
that's a huge deal.

D: Yeah, congratulations on that!

ML: So when that's over and done with, we're ready to play, we'll be
rehearsing right up until the Sweden gig.

D: I was going to ask you about the set list. You have an amazing
collection of songs to choose from -- how are you going to select
that?

ML: That's difficult, I'm really going back and forth you know -- I
think we have the songs now, it's just a question of whether they work
in a good sequence, the show is balanced and has a lot of energy, high
points and low points, etc. That's going to take some work so the set
list is a work in progress basically.

D: Think you'll include any real early stuff like "Don't Take My
Life," "Blinding Light Show," or "Rock & Roll Machine?"

ML: I think we're going to do "Blinding Light Show."

D: That would be awesome...

ML: Yeah, I think 1979 was the last time we played that live.

D: Oh, really?

ML: Yeah, it got cut out of the set for some reason! (laughs)

D: Are you going to be bringing the infamous Triumph light show with
you to the Sweden Rock Festival?

ML: We're not actually -- well, you can't, to be honest with you!
(laughs)

D: Because you'll be playing right out there in the daylight?

ML: No, no, I believe we'll be playing in darkness but they have a rig
already there...

D: And you have to use what they give you?

ML: Yeah, everyone uses the same gear, but we'll offer a couple of
surprises I think, it will be good.

D: Is it just going to be the three of you, you're not going to bring
anyone else to help out with keyboards or anything?

ML: We're contemplating a fourth character. A lot of it is going to
depend on the set and how much support with it we really need and will
the songs survive without having extra bits and pieces in 'em, you
know? It's hard to play bass and keyboards at the same time! (laughs)

D: I can imagine! (laughs) Are there any plans to film or record the
show for a DVD or album?

ML: Yeah, I think the festival organizers said they've got a film crew
there that wants to shoot, so I assume we will have a complete six- or
eight-camera shoot.

D: That will be great.

ML: That will be cool. The only issue I think now is whether there
will be a recording truck there to get the audio. But we still have
time on that, it's still a ways away.

D: You mentioned the lineup earlier -- you're sharing the stage with
some incredible bands like Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult
and Def Leppard. I bet that will bring back memories. Didn't you play
with all those guys back in the old days?

ML: Well, Priest and us, we were on the US Festival -- I don't think
we ever played with them anywhere else that I recall -- and Leppard we
never played with, and Blue Oyster Cult weren't even around, they were
disbanded. (laughs) But I can't remember! It should be a lot of fun.

D: I wish I could make it over there for that! What happens after
Sweden Rock, maybe a tour?

ML: There's a lot of variables. First I think we'll probably end up
doing four or five festival dates in the Summer, just to see how well
we travel together, how well we get along with each other, how well we
play together, all those things, those are all like... (pauses) Who
knows what's going to happen? We could end up killing each other!
(laughs) It's got to be a love affair, really, we've got to enjoy
ourselves, and if that happens and the stars all line up properly then
we'll probably do a full-blown tour in '09.

D: I know you are getting asked this a lot but what about a new album?
Is that kind of the same thing, if everything goes well?

ML: Yeah, same thing. You know you need a different kind of love to go
in the studio than you do to go on stage -- they're two separate and
distinct activities so to speak. You know, we'll get the stage thing
over with and see how that goes and if that's like, a 10 out of 10,
then we'll talk about maybe going in the studio and see what happens.

D: I sure hope that happens!

ML: We'll see, I mean, if I had a crystal ball -- which I don't --
(laughs) I have no idea how it's all going to play out.

D: Right. Well I know Rik has his solo stuff and his new Airtime
project and Gil has the Metalworks studio, but what have you been up
to since 1993?

ML: Well I've been doing a lot of the re-mastering and putting the
DVDs together, the surround sound mixes for those -- I spent more time
in the studio in the last four or five years than I did in the
previous ten! It's been a lot of fun doing that, it's neat when you go
to the old stuff and I go "Wow, we were actually pretty darn good!" or
sometimes "Wow, we sucked!" (laughs)

D: You produced a lot of the early Triumph stuff didn't you?

ML: Yeah, I produced all the way through really. It was always my baby
being in the control room, except maybe SURVEILLANCE and SPORT OF
KINGS, but up until then it was really me and the other guys helping.

D: Back around '81 or '82 there was a Triumph concert shown on MTV.
Any plans to release that on DVD?

ML: We've actually been looking at the film of that to see how well it
survived because it was actually shot on film, not on videotape, and I
think we have some audio issues but it's probably repairable. That was
shot in Baltimore in '79 I think.

D: Was that '79?

ML: It was early.

D: I'd love to see that...

ML: Yeah, there's some clips I'd forgotten all about and then someone
sent me a YouTube link, some piece and I said "Where the f*ck was
that?" (laughs) I didn't even remember it and then I went "Oh yeah,
Baltimore, right!" (laughs)

D: (laughs) Yeah, there are some crazy things on YouTube!

ML: You betcha!

D: A bunch of things I've never seen before and I thought I had quite
a collection.

ML: Yeah, and then there was a concert from a venue in Toronto called
Ontario Place that I had forgotten got shot for TV. I saw clips of
that on YouTube and said "Where did that come from? I don't remember
that!"

D: Well now the one I'm thinking about had "Fight The Good Fight" as
one of the songs, so that one would have been after '79...

ML: Yeah, definitely, that was '81.

D: Yeah, that was a different show, they may have just filmed it
specifically for MTV -- I was hoping that would come out at some
point...

ML: Well like I say it's possible. There's an MTV one, "Fight The Good
Fight" was also on the NIGHT OF TRIUMPH DVD, right, and the US
FESTIVAL too, but yeah, there's some stuff that I had totally
forgotten about, and you know, we're diggin' in the vaults looking for
the rest of the footage; we have the concerts proper but we need all
the background footage too.

D: Anything else imminent coming out from the Triumph catalog?

ML: We have a new GREATEST HITS that has been ready for well over a
year now but we've just been waiting for the right time to put it out,
and that's been re-mixed. A guy that did a lot of work with Aerosmith
re-mixed it and it sounds really interesting with all the new
technology, it's quite phenomenal actually.

D: I'm looking forward to hearing that.

ML: Yeah, it's a definite must-have and you can't listen on MP3 files!
(laughs)

D: (laughs) Do you have a favorite Triumph album or are they all kind
of special in their own way?

ML: You know, I really like ROCK & ROLL MACHINE, I really like JUST A
GAME, I really like ALLIED FORCES -- those would be my three favorites
-- and I really like NEVER SURRENDER and THUNDER SEVEN.

D: Yeah, THUNDER SEVEN and JUST A GAME would be mine...

ML: Yeah, it's kind of like you just don't know, I mean, I'd have to
go back and listen to 'em all again! (laughs)

D: Well you might have to do that to re-familiarize yourself with some
of these songs you're going to be playing!

ML: I will be doing that too!

D: Well Mike, congratulations on your induction into the Canadian
Music Industry Hall Of Fame and the reunion, I hope I get to see you
live soon!

ML: Well, hopefully so, we'll be coming close by you at some point if
there's a tour.

D: Alright Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk with me today.

ML: Alright man, you take good care and thanks for being a fan and
supporting the group!

Relevant links:

Rik Emmett
http://www.rikemmett.com/

Metalworks Studios
http://www.metalworksstudios.com/

Sweden Rock Festival
http://www.swedenrock.com/

Triumph
http://www.triumphmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/trcrecords

*
*** OUT ***
*