TRIUMPH Tribute Album Is 'Close To Being Finished'

Ex-SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach and STARSHIP singer Mickey Thomas are among the musicians who will appear on the upcoming TRIUMPH tribute album. The effort is being overseen by producer Mike Clink, who helmed TRIUMPH's 1986 album "Sport Of Kings" and also worked on early GUNS N' ROSES recordings.

In a new interview with ABC Audio, TRIUMPH bassist Mike Levine said that the album is "close to being finished."

"[The LP] got delayed like everything else during COVID because nobody wanted to go to the studio, but everybody seems to want to play again," Mike explained. "So he's getting near the finish line with it. So we're hoping to see that early next year."

Among the other musicians who will appear on the album are longtime John Fogerty touring drummer Kenny Aronoff and BON JOVI guitarist Phil X, who previously played with TRIUMPH in 1992 and '93 after founding singer/guitarist Rik Emmett left the band.

Levine previously discussed the TRIUMPH tribute album in a 2021 interview with The Metal Voice. At the time, he said: "We were talking with [Clink], and we were talking about maybe doing a tribute album. So [we told him], 'You can produce it, but you're the guy who's gotta wrangle all the tributees; it's not gonna be our job to do that.' And the record company bought in and gave us a budget to do it.' So Clink has been slowly amassing the talent and getting the tracks done. It's being recorded in L.A. There's gonna be some great guest artists on it — great musicians. It's gonna be a really cool project when it's done."

As for the various musicians' approach to covering TRIUMPH material, Levine said: "Our only parameter from a band point of view is don't do it like we did it. Do your own take on it. We don't wanna hear somebody just copy what we did. We might as well just send you the bed track to put a vocal on it. We want an interpretation. And a lot of the money is going to a charity called MusiCares. It's a huge, huge organization that supports artists in trouble. It's kind of like a charity we have here [in Canada] called Unison that supports industry people that are having a hard time."

As previously reported, TRIUMPH's long-awaited feature documentary "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine", premiered in the U.S. last month via Nugs.net.

"Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine", produced by Emmy and Peabody award-winning Banger Films (ALICE COOPER, IRON MAIDEN, RUSH and ZZ TOP),covers TRIUMPH's humble beginnings as staples of the GTA circuit in the mid-'70s to their heyday as touring juggernauts, selling out arenas and stadiums all across North America with their legendary spectacular live shows — and way beyond.

Levine, Emmett and drummer Gil Moore formed TRIUMPH in 1975, and their blend of heavy riff-rockers with progressive odysseys, peppered with thoughtful, inspiring lyrics and virtuosic guitar playing quickly made them a household name in Canada. Anthems like "Lay It On The Line", "Magic Power" and "Fight The Good Fight" broke them in the USA, and they amassed a legion of fiercely passionate fans. But, as a band that suddenly split at the zenith of their popularity, TRIUMPH missed out on an opportunity to say thank you to those loyal and devoted fans, a base that is still active today, three decades later.

Back in 2016, Moore and Levine reunited with Rik as special guests on the "RES 9" album from Emmett's band RESOLUTION9.

After 20 years apart, Emmett, Levine and Moore played at the 2008 editions of the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma. A DVD of the historic Sweden performance was made available four years later.