Troubs by Rik Emmett and Dave Dunlop (2015)
There are certain musicians and groups which have always remained with me and who I always listened to, even if only in the constant Spotify in my head. There are other musicians/groups who I adored in the earlier stages of my life and who I rediscovered more recently. In my high school and college years one group I loved was Triumph, a Canadian trio who played hard rock and bluesy rock. Their music has a great energy and the lyrics are often about dreams and maintaining your spirits high when life slaps you in the face. Triumph was composed of Rik Emmett (guitar and lead vocals), Gil Moore (drums and lead vocals), and Mike Levine (bass). Their height was in the late 1970s and 1980s and they disbanded in the 1990s. Life marched on and Triumph became a rare, but fond memory.
Not long ago, with the increased use of Facebook groups and pages, I started following many musicians of the present and the past and was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rik Emmett, now (ehem…) in his 60s had developed a solo career. In 2016, Rik started to talk about the release of a new album. In order to keep us fans intrigued, he developed short videos wherein he spoke about each song and even played riffs/sang, to give us a sample. The album was RESolution 9 (the album title is a play on his name and a silly homage to the Beatles’ song, Revolution 9). One of the musicians on the album, guitarist Dave Dunlop, had been working with Rik for about 10 years, and they occasionally toured together.
In 2018, Edit and I moved to New York. I was returning to a home I left 21 years prior and Edit was entering a completely new reality. Even though I was born in New York, a lot was new and there was (and still continues to be) a settling in period. Not long after we moved to New York, I learned that Rik and Dave would perform in a theater in Newton, NJ, about 70 miles from where we live. I did not think twice about it and purchased tickets. Road trip!
We drove through parts of New Jersey I had never seen – quite a few dark and winding roads. We had a pleasant dinner and then went to the concert. We were both blown away. Rik and Dave played acoustic guitars and sang, but the energy, passion, and humor they exhibited was beyond our expectations. The audience was probably the least diverse group of concert-goers I have ever witnessed, white guys in their 50s and 60s and their wives. I have been to a fair number of concerts and have rarely been disappointed, but this was very special. It was great to hear acoustic versions of many old Triumph songs, and it was equally amazing to hear the heart-felt and often spectacular pieces composed by Rik and Dave. It was also a way of sharing my teenage years with Edit. Rik announced that this would be his final tour and that he would cruise the Mediterranean Sea and peacefully pay guitar in Spanish olive tree groves. I never saw Triumph in concert, but I am so glad to have seen Rik and Dave.
I picked
up a copy of their album Troubs at the concert. It is one of the CDs that I
frequently blast in my car. My favorite songs are “Light of Day”, “State of
Grace”, and “Red Hot”. Apart from the wonderful soul of the music, somehow
Troubs represents a bridge between my past and my present.
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