Life After Triumph: What happened to Rik Emmett?

Remember the second famous Canadian rock trio called Triumph? They formed in 1975; about a year after Rush. Triumph reached their peak in popularity with the 1984 release of Thunder Seven. Due to artistic differences, Rik Emmett (guitarist extraordinaire) was kicked out of the band. Shortly thereafter, the two remaining members, Gil Moore and Mike Levine made sure that Triumph was quite literally none of Rik's business despite the fact that Rik was 1) the major talent in the band and 2) the major composer in the band. Triumph released one more studio album in 1993 with Phil X filling in for Rik. I bought the album back in 1993 because a sticker on shrink wrap indicated "The triumphant return of Canada's rock 'n' roll machine!" Everyone who's a fan of Triumph knows that Rik Emmett was the "rock 'n' roll machine". Thus, I thought they were back. I unwrapped it and noticed that Rik wasn't on there, but I played it anyway. It was dreadful!! The songs were horrible!! The vocals definitely were not of the quality I was used to hearing from Triumph. I took it back to the store and got a refund.

So, where is Rik now? Working at a gas station? Did he become a real estate agent? No! He's still an outstanding guitarist and has a string of solo albums dating back to the 1990 release of Absolutely. Though quite different from much of his work with Triumph, Rik's solo material is worth checking out! Since then, he has released a string of rock albums, some acoustic albums, jazz albums as duo Strung Out Troubadours with Dave Dunlop, and progressive hard rock as Airtime featuring Michael Shotton. Rik plays bass and guitar on Airtime's album!

Rik has a masters degree in Music Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston. From the beginning of his career, he composed both intricate acoustic pieces and rock songs equally well. Most of Triumph's albums included at least one acoustic guitar piece performed solely by Rik. Over the years, Rik has done little cartoons and had his own column in guitar magazines. He remains a well respected musician within the industry. Rik's latest release is Push & Pull by Strung Out Troubadours which was released May 2009.