Our favorite rock star Rik Emmett returns to tell Nestor what he’s learned about life during this second act and leg of his band’s reunion, and how his beautifully inspirational words and their meaning flows along for a lifetime. Along with Gil Moore and a trio of incredible musicians, Triumph returns to Baltimore for the first time in four decades on November 21st. The simple truth lies waiting here for everyone to share…

This interview reviewed why Rik returned to touring with Triumph, what made the reunion work, and what he has learned from it.

Tour Return

• Rik said the first leg began unevenly but became strong within about two weeks, which helped justify a second leg.
• He described the reunion as physically demanding because of arthritis and a bad reaction to medication, but said those issues are now under control and he is training again.
• The band adjusted logistics for sustainability, including rejecting four consecutive shows and favoring a lighter schedule for performers in their 70s.

Band Dynamics

• Rik said forgiveness, humility, and renewed brotherhood made the reunion possible, replacing earlier ego-driven conflicts.
• He credited the newer players with energy, professionalism, and strong harmonies, calling this lineup the best version of Triumph he has played in.
• He said the band’s songs still work because they were built as anthems meant to create community, joy, and a sense of shared purpose.

Open Questions

• How will Rik’s health and vocal stamina hold up through the next 16-show leg?
• Can the current lineup maintain quality while working within the reduced touring pace Rik now requires?

• Arrange and schedule a future appearance on Baltimore Positive for Gil from Triumph to join the show alongside Rick Emmett. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Reunion Tour Status

• Discussion of the first reunion leg and why the band decided to continue.
• Rik described the tour as successful once the group settled into a groove.

Health And Preparation

• Rik discussed arthritis, medication side effects, and the physical strain of performing.
• He said he is back in the gym preparing for the next run of shows.

Touring Logistics

• Conversation covered how older performers adapt schedules, pacing, and stagecraft.
• Rik said four shows in four nights is no longer workable.

Band Chemistry

• Rik explained that forgiveness, humility, and friendship made the reunion possible.
• He praised the newer band members for professionalism, energy, and mutual support.

Songwriting Themes

• Discussion focused on optimism, integrity, truth, and community in Triumph songs.
• Rik connected lyrics such as “Fight the Good Fight” to personal values and life experience.

Looking Ahead

• The interview closed with anticipation for the November show in Baltimore.
• Rik framed the reunion as a blessing and a meaningful late-career opportunity.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and the little 28 down here is about to become a 35 at some point. We’re going to be celebrating all of my musical experiences. I’ve been so inspired this year in lots of ways. I’ve spent three evenings with Getty and Alex in recent weeks, I spent a night this summer with Sammy Hagar and even Barry Manilow, amongst others. But I had a beautiful, beautiful night with my pal Ray Bachman in Camden, New Jersey. And Rick Emmett wasn’t feeling great that night, but delivered the music and the hold on, and we fought the good fight, and we did the magic power, we did all that stuff, and they’re coming back to the CFG Bank Arena that I lovingly call the Baltimore Civic Center, where I once saw a younger version of a younger Rick Emmett who handed me a bottle of Newfoundland Screech. I think he thought I was at least 18 or 19. I was a subset of that. Rick, it is a pleasure to a see you, have you back on? It’s like moments in time. One minute it’s poetry not playing anymore. Ram said was yesterday done with the band. I got a book. Here you are. You’re still a rock star, Rick Emmett.

Rik Emmett 1:14
I know. Although I did sign my contract for my next book of poetry, so I’m I’m doing, you know, many careers at once here.

Nestor Aparicio 1:23
Well, I’ll get to your poetry in a minute, new and old. How are you? And I just the second leg of this, I felt it coming. Then I saw the social media. I didn’t see you after the show in Canada, but I saw Phil, Todd, everybody saw your assistant, and I just said to Gil, and I’m gonna have him on as well. I said it’s just it was so good by the time you got it to Camden. It was just it was just so good, and I can’t wait to see it again.

Rik Emmett 1:49
Well, thank you. And it felt that way for everybody in the band too. Like it started out and it was a little rocky, but we got it. I think you know two weeks in, and we really felt like okay, this is an extremely solid sailing ship, and it’s really you know headed for the stars. The the other guys in the band, it was such a joy to get to play with them every night. And yes, it was physically demanding for me, and I was taking some drugs that for my arthritis during the tour, and then I started to have a really bad reaction to them. So you can see my hair’s not exactly as as you know flowing mane as it was because I had some issues. I don’t have a right eyebrow any on this spot. Like I go, what’s happening? Am I having hair loss? And they go, oh yeah, Rick. Well, you just you got too much testosterone going on. I go. Oh, that’s what it is, is it? But anyways, I had. It’s all been worked out now, and I’m back to working out in the gym and getting myself back in shape for this next leg. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. It’s gonna be fun.

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Nestor Aparicio 2:54
I have so many questions for you, but let me just start with this because the last time I had you on, it was Stanley Cup. They called, we called you, Mike. Where we are, we’re putting this together. We’re hopeful. That’s where I was when I left you, which was the tour got announced, and then it was like, all right, we got to do the work. And I’ve seen Getty and Alex a few times talking about what they’ve been through at length. I watched their Rolling Stone thing. I saw them in Philly last week. Just for any of you trying to put something back together that, in my heart and soul and on my iPod is very alive, very different. Putting a tour together, can you just in two minutes run me through not just the business side of let’s do this? Who’s going to play guitar? Can we do this? Just soup to nuts. The fact that you’re going out and doing it again means that you you’re clearly having more fun with it than maybe you ever thought possible, right?

Rik Emmett 3:43
Yeah, that’s at the that’s at the real back end of it. Yes, that the fun literally like it pays off, and it doesn’t just pay off in the sense of oh we’re selling tickets and you know Live Nation is happy and management is happy and you know and there is a lot of you know before you do it, I’ve seen Alex talk about having those you know moments in the middle of the night where you’re sitting on your bed and going, “Oh no, you know, am I going to be able to do this? Am I going to be able to cut it? But then when you get out there and you get a few under your belt, you realize I got sea legs. I know how this works. You know, I can’t bring what I used to bring to it, but then you you also have all of these years of I don’t know what you call it stage chops or or showbiz acumen, so that you can say, well, then I’m going to need you to cover for me here. I’m going to need a break after these songs, and I’m going to, but I’m gonna. I’ll do it. I’ll change a shirt, and then when I come back out, bad people go. Oh, look, he’s wearing something new, and you know, like you get shots of energy from the crowd, and you forget if you haven’t toured for 10 years or something, you you start to forget what that’s like. That you can count on that. You can. Build to a moment. The moment pays off. You get a buzz. You go right. You know, and I can keep doing this. Now, your question you asked about logistics and stuff too. Like, you know, Triumph is a fairly complicated beast, and and you know, Rush. When you mention those, and of course, whenever you do a Triumph interview, it’s almost impossible not to have these things come up. They’re going out and playing. I don’t know four times, five times the number of shows that we are. You know, this next leg we’re going out, and I look at it, and it seems daunting, and it’s like 16 shows. And I go, but they’re going out and they’re doing. I don’t know. You know, but they also do it so that they play a show on day off, show on day off. Like again, you’re making adjustments because you go look. I’m in my 70s. You know, this is not exactly. You know, on the last leg of the tour, I did four in four nights, and I said at the end of that, never again, never. You know, tell Live Nation, tell agents, tell it’s not going to happen. I can’t do it. You know, I can’t sing four nights in a row. So you you live and learn, you know. That’s kind of, and I think one of the great joys of this, Nestor, is that you, the living and the learning, is that’s the process that you realize. Yeah, I like this. I like when I set a challenge for myself, and then it works. Like it may not work 100% but even if you get you know 8590, you feel like that’s a win, man. Like you know, you you feel like you did great, and the other guys in the band enjoy it so much. Like Gil and I, the the the brotherhood, the fraternity of it, becomes this thing where you’re going. I get to celebrate this with this old, you know, this booger that I was with, you know, in a bowling alley in 1975, putting something together where we thought this is just, you know, duct tape and and spit holding this together. But now here we are, and we’re going around, and we’re you know five star hotels, and you know first class, and blah blah blah, and you’re going. This is pretty good, you know. So

Nestor Aparicio 7:11
I’m going to ask this on behalf of Ray Bachman, who went with me, who’s also a cancer survivor along with you, and he survived since the last time he saw you, his mother. You’re his favorite. He cried when he met Gil. It it it was a thing, right? He said, “When I get a hold of either of you, and I’m getting a hold of both of you, what changed in your hearts to make this possible? Once, let alone on a stage to accept an award, to come from where you were to where you are as men.

Rik Emmett 7:41
I think when you’re young, you have ego things, and you have pride and vanity, and these things. You’re trying to be a good person, but these things, you know, they they they make they force your decisions into certain ways, and then as you get older, you realize, you know, forgiveness is a really important thing, and humility is a really important thing. And the older you get, the more you realize, no, that’s kind of that has to be the thing that rules the the decisions that get made, the directions you decide to go in. That that what that has to be the the the guiding principle of things. So, and you know, people talk about how family is important, you know. You you don’t just have the family that you’re born into; you have the family that you build. And when you’re in a band, that’s like you know being in the locker room with the guys in sports. Like you may not win, your that team may lose, but the thing that you have in that dressing room with those guys, that will you’ll never lose that. That’s what you always win with. So you come back to that, where the rehearsals with the guys, the you know, you play the gig. Yeah, the gig was great on stage. was amazing. It was great. But then in the dressing room after, on the bus, on the way to the next gig, when you’re sitting around and you’re laughing till you cry at something stupid. That’s why you do it. You know that that’s that’s what it’s about. And you realize, you know, I had my head in the wrong place when I was younger.

Nestor Aparicio 9:32
Rick Emmett is my guest. The band is triumph. They will be triumphing on november 21 down at CFG Bank Arena. We’re excited to be a part of it, I’ll have Gil on as well, and Rick. We have a history. If you go to Baltimore Positive, you can see back when Rick swore he would never do any of this and talk about any of this, as well as his brother and baseball and Cal Ripken and and we’re. I don’t look. We’re not in a position to talk Blue Jays and Orioles right this minute, so we’ll stick to the band at this point for you and I. Find. A band and finding the brotherhood and finding new players. I was in a room with Todd and Phil X came up and we talked Bon Jovi and they did a thing here where they did private shows here a few weeks ago. How did you find those guys and finding a band that can mesh on shotgun notice literally is what this thing started under and then still making it work to want to go back out and be in some sort of a new brotherhood at your age, Rick.

Rik Emmett 10:27
Yeah, I mean that was I think of all the things that was probably the greatest of them all. And those guys are such consummate professionals because they have you know Todd and Brett have done the slash thing and the Alice Cooper thing, and I mean they’re playing with Kiss. This tour starts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, middle of November, and the literally like the weekend before we go up there to do the arena rehearsals pre production. Those guys are playing in Vegas with Paul Stanley. There’s a Kiss thing that they’re doing, you know. And I go, yeah, okay. You know, like those guys, they they just never stop, dude. They brought so

Nestor Aparicio 11:07
much energy just into the backstage room afterward. I mean, you felt not just rock star energy, but just good dude energy. It just felt like, man, you got some vibe here going, and more than that, I I went up to all of my said, “This is really good. You all knew that it was really good what you were doing at that point in the tour, right? Like just the joy. Like I could feel it off the stage for you. You’re like, “This is good, man. This is really good.

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Rik Emmett 11:34
It really is. And those guys have a lot to do with that. You know, those three guys. For me, it’s a question of, you know, I mean, revelation after revelation. One of them is, you know, these guys are, you know, a decade or a bit more younger, and so what, you know, the the the whole age thing goes out the window because they have this elevated game that they can bring as rock stars, where you go, yeah, and I’m with them. You know, like maybe I’m riding a little on a coattail here or there, but also I have my moments where then they’re going. Look at I’m on a stage with this rock star, you know, and he’s from a long time ago, but man, he brings it, and you see that you get that feeling from them. You see yourself in their eyes, and you go, “Yeah, man, like this is a great, great situation. You know, again, the sports analogy, right? It’s like, you know, I don’t know. Second baseman makes a mistake, and the ball goes through his wickets, and and you know, and the pitcher gets the ball back in the mound and looks at him and says, “Don’t worry about this, I got you. And then strikes out the next two guys, you know, and then you pick up the guy, and or the ball gets into him

Nestor Aparicio 12:53
and he turns a double play, right? Right, right, literally, right? Just

Rik Emmett 12:57
everybody’s picking each other up. That’s how it works. So to be in a band with guys, they understand that drill. They totally get it. And you go, like even telling the story, I get goosebumps because I go, yeah, these guys-they’ve got my back. You know, like when I get to choruses and the harmonies kick in now, I go, I’ve never been in a version of triumph that was ever as good as this one. This is the best version of the band that ever existed. So you go, we’re doing it right. Like we’re not old fart guys going out, you know, and just making a buck because we’re on our third marriage and we, you know, we’ve got ex-wives we got to pay. Like that’s not the story here. The story here is that this is a band that’s living up to the band’s name. You know that this is going to be about the the the the I don’t know the triumph of the spirit, the triumph of the will, the triumph of you know the best part of you.

Nestor Aparicio 14:01
Rick Emmett is here. He will be back here on November 21st, and you might as well just put me on. Just give me a. Just put me in the back of the bus. I’m going to go to a couple shows here in and around the holidays. Thanksgiving will come early. I’m going to have Gil on as well. I got so many questions for you, but you mentioned the music itself, and man, you wrote some really optimistic lyrics as a very young man. I mean, I got I I got a little coffee and a little peach cake here in Baltimore listening to your music right before I had you on just to get where. And I took some lyrics out, so we’re gonna have some fun here today. But people listen to this and thought, man, it’s like the old guy giving the young guy advice because as I’m screaming some of the lyrics and you’re singing the lyrics and you’re kind of got the coy smile. It’s sort of like this holds up. I mean, I wish I would. How did I know to write this stuff 50 years ago? Right, literally.

Rik Emmett 14:49
Yeah, I. You know, that’s luck. I mean, and part of it is just you know you you you don’t realize things until you’re sort of looking in the rearview mirror. And okay, the rearview mirror might be a little rosy colored, you know. I’ll grant you that. But you know, when I was a little kid, my mom would drag me off to choir practice at the church, and I would sit with the first sopranos. And the whole idea of the anthems in a church-the having songs be the things that kind of, you know, bring everybody together and create the sense of of community and communion. And music has always had that value for me, and because I learned it at an extremely young age, so that when I finally get to be in a rock band and it’s like the you know the guys are going, you know, Gil’s going like, okay, we’re gonna blow up the country, I go. Yeah, okay, sure. If that’s what you want to do, let’s do that. Let’s have a big show. That’ll be great. But we got to have songs that bring everybody together. We got to have hooks that come and they’re like anthems. You you got to you know like it’s got to be joyful noise, boys. And I’m not religious, but I really do believe in the religion of music. Like I really do, I get downright spiritual about it. So that’s the thing about Triumph, where I go. That was what I contributed. That’s what’s still making it happen. And now we get up there on stage and we play, and you look out, and people are crying, and people are singing, and people are like they’re celebrating being in this moment because of those songs and I go, I lucked out there. I got something right.

Nestor Aparicio 16:31
Rick Emmett, not religious. Let’s go lyrics for 100. The good book says it’s better to give than to receive. I do my best to do my part. Nothing in my pockets. I got nothing up my sleeve. I keep my magic in my heart, and you smile at me. There’s your poetry.

Rik Emmett 16:50
Yeah. Where

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Nestor Aparicio 16:51
did you write that? Where did where did you where did that come out of your sleeve?

Rik Emmett 16:54
Um, my uh my mom’s sister, my aunt Joan, was dying of cancer, and there had been hospital visits, and so there was this whole thing of you know. And I’m I’m not religious. I do think there are things in the Bible that are valuable in terms of ethics and morals, and you know, like golden rules are pretty good, and it’s not just Christianity or Muslim. You know, the golden rule is sort of everywhere, and it. I’m a humanist, and there’s things that I go. This is good. You know, I I believe in this. If somebody says to me, well, you know, I’m not big on a lot of the things that the Roman Catholic Church has done, but I do believe that God is love, and I’ll go. Hey, I’m with you on that, brother. Like that, that works for me, and it always will. So, and I don’t think the good book ever says it’s better to give than to receive. I, you know, like literally, I don’t think it does. But you know, someone’s going

Nestor Aparicio 17:59
to look that up and call both of us out on that on YouTube. I’m sure.

Rik Emmett 18:02
Well, the song is “Fight the Good Fight, and which, of course, that’s a phrase right out of St. Paul. So, but did Paul really even write that? You know, did he coin that phrase? You know, and but you know the the the The good book has a lot of good things in it, and the good things that my aunt believed in and my mom definitely believed in was that you do have to. And let’s go back to good fight just for a second, because I’ve written some poetry about this. What is a good a good fight? And a good fight is doing what you believe to be right, you know, and carry that all the way through, and and live like that, and breathe like that, and be that person. So when I’m up on stage with triumph, I do feel like that’s my good fight. Like I’m doing something that’s righteous and good, and and spreading a kind of a good message to folks and making them feel better about their own lives, which you know, my aunt’s dying of cancer. That’s all she can do is you know fight whatever she considers to be the good fight to hang in there, you know. So that whole idea of motivation and inspiration it just tied really nicely to the whole idea of being in a band that’s called Triumph, you know. And as I would say to Gil and Mike, Triumph of what? Triumph over what? You know. Let’s make it be Triumph so that we find what is the best in ourselves and make that be the thing that we offer to people. Let’s do that. And they would go, Ah, Rick, yeah, okay. Let’s rock and

Nestor Aparicio 19:42
roll. How old were you when you wrote that?

Rik Emmett 19:45
Oh, jeez, 20. Wow, that would have been 1980-ish. So I was 2720, Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 19:55
I don’t ask for much. The truth will do just fine, won’t you? You lay it on the line.

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Rik Emmett 20:02
Yes,

Nestor Aparicio 20:02
that’s almost biblical too. The truth, right? Wow.

Rik Emmett 20:05
Yeah, more just like integrity, you know. Like, and sometimes truth is not easy. Sometimes truth is really hard. It’s so, and you know, it’s a cliche to say it, but truth can sometimes really hurt. So I do think the truth sometimes has to be leavened with a certain amount of diplomacy intact, you know, and that’s the the most ethical thing to try and do. You know, I as I faced my interviews today, I went. I’m talking to Americans. I better not get too deep into the whole. I told my

Nestor Aparicio 20:44
wife. I’m like, I don’t even like. I am so apologetic. And I saw Brian Adams singing the 51st state song. I thought we were gonna bomb you guys before Getty got here last week. I mean, quite. I mean, yeah. I God bless all of you. My apologies on behalf of all of us. I just want to say that. I just got to throw that out, Rick.

Rik Emmett 21:01
Okay, so I’m glad, and you know, and we’re we’re preaching to choirs here too. I suppose hopefully the people that follow Baltimore Positive will feel to me like you know there’s a there’s a quantum valley between the guy that Obama is and was and the guy that Trump is, you know, and we had a the premier of Manitoba last week said, you know, you can’t make a good deal with a bad person, and that kind of sums it up, right? And so back to the truth, the truth is something where you know good people decide. The truth is an extremely valuable thing that I owe to other people, and I will I will hope and expect that I get it. You know. Well, that creates

Nestor Aparicio 21:54
the trust as the glue in anything.

Rik Emmett 21:56
Yeah. Period. And so we live in a world now where, at its highest level out of the United States, you can’t. They they don’t believe in truth. They don’t believe in in telling it, selling it. Like they just don’t believe in it. They only believe in whatever tries to give them an edge in a deal. And so you go, well, I can’t live like that, you know. But you know, there I was a kid. Now you want to talk about how old? So that would have been I would have been maybe 25 when I wrote that, but when I played that song for Gil and Mike, they both went, “Yeah, this is a hit. This is this has got it because it had the hook, but it also had this thing about I just want the truth. If you give me truth, so that’s the kind of thing a band can say. This is what we’re about. We’re about this. We’re about sort of an integrity, and we’re going to try to offer you our truth. And and think people, you know, buying concert tickets, whatever, listening to a record in their bedroom, they’re going like, yeah, this is a band that I I like. I like morally, ethically where these guys are coming from. This is a secret club I would like to join, and that’s a dynamic that for me goes right back. I you know first time I was a kid seeing the Beatles, and I went, oh, if I could only be in a you know a club with a with like a club like that one, that kind of level of in jokes and sharing a van on the way to gigs with guys like that that would be so cool. That would be everything they ever wanted, you know. So, and I think that’s a dynamic that plays into people hear your songs on the radio, and they go. Yeah, I think I like this band. They’re getting a sense of what that band is like when they’re in the dressing room and when they’re on the bus. And so we came up and had our Nestor.

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Nestor Aparicio 23:51
There you go. Rick Emmett is here from Triumph. We came up to Camden and we had a couple beers and some sandwiches and did our thing. We come in, you guys hit the stage, and I’m vibing it out, and it’s big, and it’s and then half our lives we spend waiting for the knock upon the door. When it comes, will it be the one that I’ve been waiting for? Oh, I and I love that song. I do, and it was early in the set, very early. Like here we are, and I’m thinking to myself, they were knocking on your door for 40 years trying to get you to do this, and you’re up there, and it was larger than life. And I thought, if I talked to you after the show that night, I was going to bring that lyric up because that was the moment where it’s sort of like, God, what have you? What have we learned here, Rick? That we’re on stage doing something we said we’d never do. Yeah,

Rik Emmett 24:41
you know, I mean, part of this-the backstory for that kind of stuff-is that you know that song was just a last-minute thing where I was cobbling together scraps from my writing because you know the record company and and Mike Klink and everybody had said, well, well, we don’t have a lead single; we need a lead single, and so I was just looking for something. But that idea. I had always been one. I mean, these are not. It’s not like I invented these ideas, right? Like the idea of of what is you know lady luck knocking on your door. Like what is that? Well, luck happens, and everybody will say this when preparation meets opportunity. That’s what luck is, and so you prepare really hard so that when the knock comes on the door, you’re ready. And for a lot of a long time there, Nestor, I was not ready. I was not capable. And even when this tour, you know, reunion of triumph came, it was like, are are you ready? And I went, I am not. I am not. And my wife said, you can be though. You should be. Let’s you know. Let’s do this. Let’s like. How about you lose the beer belly and we you know you go for this. And I went. Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. And she said, No, I do. I really want you to do this. And my Christmas present last year plus 10 sessions with a personal trainer. You know, like I got the. That’s where I

Nestor Aparicio 26:07
found you last year. Is that’s what you were doing when I when last time you were on the show. Yeah, and

Rik Emmett 26:13
you know I’m going to finish with you this morning, and then I’m going to work out with them again this afternoon because I got to get ready for this next leg now. You know, but do I like it? Yes, I do. Am I enjoying that preparation, waiting for the knock of opportunity? Yes, I really do. So you know, I think I’ve I’ve said this on stage. You know, I’m now 73 years of age, and I go, okay, what did I do to deserve this? I’m not sure I know, you know, but I don’t care. I’m I’m gonna grab it with both hands. This has been a real blessing in my life, like such a great adventure to have on so many levels. So I go, okay, bring it on. This is great. Why didn’t I do this earlier? You know why didn’t I realize this? And I guess sometimes, well, I wasn’t ready for the knock. You know, I just what wasn’t in the right mindset for it.

Nestor Aparicio 27:12
Music holds the secret to know it can make you whole. Rick Emmett is here. They’ll be back in Baltimore 21st of November at the CFG Bank Arena. I call it the Baltimore Civic Center, where you once played a long, long time ago. Hey, let’s let’s do it. Let’s stay healthy. Stay on the right path. Get ready to sing. Get ready to sing with us. You know, my friend Donna, my friend Ray, Brian, all my pals, John, Allen. We’re all coming down to see you guys. So we can’t wait to have you here and get in here for some crab cakes, Rick. All right.

Rik Emmett 27:41
Okay, man. I will.

Nestor Aparicio 27:43
Rick Emmett from the band Triumph joining us here on Baltimore Positive. Back for more right after this.