Trooper Rocking Across Canada For Nearly 35 Years

Trooper

Back in the 1970's Canada had a very limited international music scene and the industry hadn't produced many bands capable of filling hockey arenas - until Trooper came along. The legendary rock band from British Columbia has produced hit records, sold-out concert halls, arenas and coliseums across the country, and as far back as I remember, have toured each and every year since the 70s. That type of thing has the makings of a true legend of epic proportions.

It's almost hard to believe that a band that can perform a concert jammed with hits has only recorded 10 albums in their nearly 35 year career (including one greatest hits collection called Hot Shots). The band has recorded on Legend Records, MCA Records, RCA Records and Great Pacific Records distributed through Warner Music, making their CD collection one of the hardest to complete.

With a small collection of gigs throughout Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta for the remainder of 2009 and early 2010, there are no indications the band will slow down any time soon.

RockStar Weekly had a chance to throw some questions at vocalist Ra McGuire, who still seems as passionate now as he did back in the 70s.

Trooper is as important to Canada as maple syrup. I can’t ever imagine a day when Trooper will no longer be together. What keeps you together for so long?

Honestly, Dan, the main reason we’re still together is that people still come out to see us play! I’ve always vowed that if we do a tour to half-empty venues, I’m going to knock it on the head! Thankfully the vast majority of our shows are still sold right out …

I think I’ve seen the band play about 5 times myself and I’ve never been disappointed. I’ve also never heard anyone say they’ve had a bad time at one of your shows. What’s the magic formula for a good time?

Ha! The magic formula for a good time would be one helluva thing for a guy to have in his back pocket! I think the key to a good Trooper show is getting the pulse of the crowd and making the right kind of party for them. A show in a Casino, with the big show-biz stage and a crowd of 40-50-somethings sitting watching intently is a whole different animal from a full-out rock show with teens and twenty-somethings up front with their fists in the air. We do lots of both - and a whole lot of other kinds of gigs as well. The trick is to try and get the groove on early in the set so that the right kind of party can get started.

Let’s go back to the beginning for a bit. You hooked up with Randy Bachman to produce your albums back then. There weren’t a lot of killer rock ‘n’ roll producers back then and you landed one of the best. How did you meet?

Randy’s manager, Bruce Allen, was partners with our manager, Sam Feldman. Randy hired us to play a Mormon youth dance that he was coordinating. After our first set he came back to the dressing room and said he’s like to produce a single with us. By the end of the show he was talking about a whole album!

Did Randy have a lot to contribute to the Trooper recordings?

Randy was our first producer and the experience was a learning one for all of us. He ultimately helped us learn how to make the best Trooper record we could.

Trooper ended up as one of the first rock bands to start doing arenas. That must have been a crazy time with massive touring and hit records?

Those were crazy and exhausting times. Canada is a very large country and that was one good reason why no one had toured successfully from coast to coast! We do have the distinction of being the first band to have equal success on both ends of the country, but it was a burn getting from one end to the other!! While it was all happening we were honestly too busy with the touring and the writing and recording to really sit back and bask in the fact that we were having all those hits!

Things changed a bit after Hot Shots. Was that the peak of the hype?

Hot Shots and Flying Colors came out at about the same time so it was a serious double-whammy. Sportscar was the single from HS and Janine and 3 Dressed Up as a Nine were on FC. That was a pretty tough act to follow! Music was changing dramatically after that – I remember listening to Elvis Costello while I was trying to write a new Trooper record. The 1980 album was the upshot, and it was our first album that wasn’t a big success.

I personally think The Last of The Gypsies is one of the best albums of the late 80s and really summed up what life was like at that time.

Thanks! Gypsies was a real labour of love. We had no label at the time and hadn’t made a record for a while (we had been making them every nine months prior to that!). Having the time meant that we had a large collection of accumulated songs to choose from – so there’s lots of good ones on there. I, too, think it’s a great record …

I remember when the CD format first came out. Trooper releases were few and far between and that took a while. At one point I actually found a CD copy of a Japanese import for the first Trooper CD, but didn’t want to pay the $99 price tag.

I paid $90.00 for a Japanese import of the 1980 CD!

You’ve been on MCA, RCA and Warner, with the RCA releases being the hardest to find on any format. Is there difficulties trying to get some of that music released because 3 labels are involved?

It’s been nuts difficult. When our representative contacted BMG (which was RCA) a few years back to talk about digital downloads, they didn’t even know who Trooper was! Don’t even get me started on record companies. Nothing drives me more crazy.

There hasn’t been a new Trooper album since 1991. Any chances we’ll hear some new music in the future.

We’re writing some good tunes, and playing some in the set. The recording part will have to be instigated by a label of some kind – there’s just too much going on for us to add the organization (and funding) of a new record to the list.

Almost 10 years ago, a punk tribute of Trooper tunes came out. What’s your thoughts on that?

I absolutely loved it. The best tracks, in my opinion, were the ones that fucked with the songs the most. I was a little disappointed with DOA’s Raise a Little Hell because it sounded too similar to our version. I would have preferred to hear them kick it up a notch, like a lot of the other 29 bands did. There are some really powerful and exciting recordings on that CD.

Has the CBC “This Beat Goes On” show created a new buzz for the band?

For some reason, the producers of the “This Beat Goes On” documentary decided to tell the country that Trooper was, and is, a “very important Canadian band” - and their presentation of us on the show was unexpectedly excellent. We have grown used to a Toronto-centric view of Canadian music that often doesn’t give us that kind of respect. We’ve been hearing rave reviews of the Trooper segment of the show from a lot of folks. It’s kinda cool.

I hear your son opened the show in Vancouver in October. What’s his band like?

Connor’s band is great and his music is extraordinary. It’s really been inspiring watching him mature as an artist. Check out his MySpace. Now!! http://www.myspace.com/connormcguire

Do you get involved with his band at all?

We co-produced his first CD. It was an acoustic album and very different from what he’s up to now. It was a real good way to get started and an opportunity to concentrate very specifically on the song writing. Other than that, we discuss what he’s doing - but it’s always very casual - and at this point there’s not much he could learn from me anyway!

Lastly, with so many classic songs that you perform on a regular basis. What is your favourite and is there a certain song that you’re tired of, but can’t seem to shake away?

I like Sportscar just because it’s such an oddball hit record. I’m kinda proud of that. I used to not like Santa Maria very much (and left it out of the set for years because of that) but now that I’m a grown up and not so self-conscious about things, I totally ‘get’ the fun side of it and like it a lot now …

Thank you for your time today.

You’re welcome! Maybe see you around some time!