Triumph - Rock and Roll Machine Documentary

 A little while back, I caught the Triumph documentary Rock and Roll Machine on one of my streaming services. Only weeks later, it appeared on network TV. As soon as I learned about the doc, I was keen to see it ASAP. And I'll tell you why...

Triumph was one of my absolute favourite bands back in the late 70's and early 80's, right after the kings of Canada, Rush, and possibly vying for position with Van Halen and The Police. A friend turned me on to their music, and hearing some of their tunes on rock radio reinforced my interest. When in late 1980, it was announced that Triumph would play a show on the coming New Year's Eve in the big city nearest me, my pal and I made a point of being there. It was a game-changer. My first true concert experience... in a large venue (does the Beatlemania show I saw earlier count?). So my best friend and I reserved our tickets for that evening down the road, and counted the days 'til the big event. More on that here and over here.

Long story short, I was blown away by the big venue experience. Triumph had one of the most impressive high-tech stage shows at the time, with flashpots, explosions, fog effects, and a massive lighting array which included lasers. I was hooked on the whole rock concert thing and this set me off on a long journey into the world of music, attending gigs both small and large.

At one time, I had all of their albums on cassette tape, and then on CD, but as the years wore on, I lost most interest in them (on to heavier pastures with Metallica and Megadeth) and cast off a bunch of my Triumph albums to make room for newer stuff. I do still own a couple of their albums, one on CD (Rock and Roll Machine) and one on vinyl (Just a Game). Good enough.

Fun fact: my ex-wife's uncle, who lived in the Toronto area during Triumph's early days, hung out with the band and even served as their roadie for a time. Before they hit the big-time with arena shows, that is.

Back to the documentary: it gives us a fun and informative overview of Triumph's career, their rise to fame, their unfortunate decline, and slight shuffling of personnel in order to carry on until they packed it in in 1993. A few reunion shows came about in the subsequent decades. Tons of concert and interview footage is fascinating and revealing - and often funny, and I once again felt like a super-fan. After about the mid-80's, after seeing them on their Thunder Seven tour, I sort of forgot about them, or at least stopped following their progress or buying their new releases. I did continue to listen to their earlier work, though they just didn't hold my attention much longer. But this documentary piqued my interest given my nostalgic feelings for the band and their music. And that milestone first concert experience.

So.... if you are a Canadian rock fan of a certain age (or any age, I say), I highly recommend this doc to immerse you in a wave of great nostalgic hard rock, Canuck style. Rock out, roll on...