Triumph - The King Biscuit Flower Hour

By Bruce Pilato
October, 1995

The way bassist Mike Levine tells it,  if it hadn't been for a single A&R rep who overslept and missed a morning  flight, Triumph might never had received a major label record deal and seen the gold-filled stardom they experienced for over a decade. "We almost didn't get  signed," says Levine, who since its inception has been just as active with the band's business as he has with its music. "We had outgrown all the bars in  Canada, so we booked a show at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. We ended up having this amazing sold out show, with the kids going crazy. "We were able to get 11  A&R heads from the New York offices of all the major labels to come. All the  A&R guys witnessed this incredible show, and said, 'you'll be hearing from  us this week...'. Then, we got butchered in the morning papers, and all the A&R guys left on the morning plane and saw the reviews. Ultimately, they all passed on the band. "There was one A&R guy, Warren Schaatz, from RCA  Records. He had slept in and got an afternoon flight. At the airport, he got the  night paper, which raved about the show. And, of course, he's the one that  signed the band...." From their earliest days in sweaty rcok rooms of Toronto during the summer of 1975, the trio of Levine, singer/guitarist Rik Emmett and  drummer/singer Gil Moore, always seemed to be in control.

By 1977, Triumph was doing dates throughout its native Canada and the U.S., and within  three years, the band hit gold as one of RCA Record's biggest acts, powered by a  staple of FM hits that included "Lay It On The Line", "Fight The Good Fight", "Hold On", and "Allied Forces." With the only exception of Rush, there was no bigger act out of Canada. Because Triumph never had to tour as an opening act, it didn't have to deal with the restrictions and compromises of playing under  another headliner.

This recording was made for The King Biscuit Flower  Hour on October 12, 1981, at the Public Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. Although  Triumph were never critic's darlings, it is widely agreed that the time frame from which this memorable show was recorded, was during the band's best musical  years. "Doing the Biscuit was another piece of the puzzle. It was good to do it  at that time, because such a national broadcast certainly helped create the  excitement across the USA for our live show. "That show was recorded on what was our breakthrough tour. It was the first time we were playing really big  buildings and selling them out," says Levine. From the opening power chords of "Tear The Roof Off", through concert standards like "Lay It On The Line", "Fight  The Good Fight" and "I Live For The Weekend", Triumph played this show as though its career depended on it. For one of its encores, the band plows through a  blistering version of the Joe Walsh classic, "Rocky Mountain Way." ( Levine: say the inclusion of ' Rocky Mountain Way ' was a fluke:) "It was funny how that  came about. Early in our career we played in San Antonio," says Levine. "We headlined with 6,800 people. We ran out of songs to play. So, we went out and  played ' Rocky Mountain Way', as encore. The crowd went berserk, so we just kept  it as part of the show. We eventually cut a studio version of it.. Joe Walsh and I became pretty good pals. He would always run into me at parties and zoom past  me, saying, ' Thanks for all the royalty checks....' ")

Much of  Triumph's success was because it was able to fit nearly all the rock radio  formats of the 1980s. "They played us on the superstar format, AOR, the  active/passive format, Top 40. We fit into all those realms. It gave us a lot of  exposure on radio." But the group was just as surprised as industry insiders  when Triumph's instantly likable power pop exploded into a plethora of gold  singles and albums, beginning with the success of "Lay It On The Line". "No, we  didn't know we had a hit with that song," admits Levine. "I never expected 'Fight The Good Fight' to be a hit, either, but it was. Also, MTV went on the  air in 1981. We had tons of videos. We always did them. We had about five different videos and MTV didn't have that much to play. In fact, we were the  most played act in 1981. Us and Hall & Oates. It sure gave us a big boost. The footage was pretty good, and the songs were on the radio. Now they could see it." "Having hits early in our recording career allowed us to put on these visually spectacular shows from the time we started playing bigger halls. You  can hear it on the King Biscuit tape. You hear what sounds like these gun shots;  actually, that's the pyro going off. If you were in the hall, it sounded like the second coming of Christ!" "It was all dynamics. It would have been boring to  just play for 75 minutes, on the other hand, you couldn't blow up fire bombs all  night long, either. Everything had its spot. We were one of the first bands to have acoustic & electric sections in its show, and considering we played for a metal type crowd, that was amazing."

From the earliest stages, the  group controlled its own career, as if it had the superstar status of a Rolling Stones, Elton John or Paul McCartney. "We always managed ourselves," says  Levine. "We cared so much. While other rock stars we're off on vacations, we  would be taking bids on sound and light companies. I did record companies and  radio business, and Gil did the live show logistics and collected the loot. Rik  didn't do too much of the business. He played guitar. We had the experience,  because we did it all before we were famous. "In hindsight, we should have hired  someone big to manage us. But, it was hard finding someone who had didn't have more than one big band. On the other hand, had we gotten an established manager,  maybe, we would have fallen apart. "Everybody was competition. I remember having to fight for radio slots. We had to play the politics. There was always two or three AOR stations in each market. It was always a nightmare over who would get  the co-promote. What a pain in the ass that was."

By 1986, the group's success was beginning to wane. The rigors of self management and constant  touring had taken its toll. Triumph ended up in lawsuit with RCA, and its  contract was eventually bought out by MCA. The band persevered, but there was already dissension in the ranks. MCA had pushed the group into working with  outside producers and song writers, who, ultimately, took much of the band's  self empowerment, away. "By this point, we were fighting internally, "says  Levine. "Rik wanted to move in more of a pop direction, and we wanted to develop  a harder edge. He got frustrated because we kept telling him it didn't work. "We  made some comprises after we moved to MCA. We softened up substantially, but it  killed our radio credibility and we lost a lot of fans. On the second MCA album,  we had our biggest selling single and our worst selling album."

By the time the 1990s had arrived, Emmett had left the group for solo career. After Emmett left, neither he, nor the remaining members of Triumph, were able to match the earlier commercial success of the early and mid 1980s. The band  re-grouped in 1991 with guitarist Phil X, and made one more album on Victory/ PolyGram Records. It last played live in 1993. Levine has spent years obtaining  all the rights to all the group's albums. They have all been re-mastered and re-designed and are scheduled for re-release on the group's own label, beginning  in 1996, when the band is expected to return to live performing.

"During  this period, we were really coming into our own as live act," says Levine.  "There was a magic and spontaneity that was very apparent during that tour, and this King Biscuit Flower Hour show is an important testament to that period of  our history. I think it's safe to say after all these years, the music we made  during that time remains very special."

This interview was taken from the King Biscuit Flower  Hour web site. They have released their recording from the Allied Forces tour. Get it!

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