Sound Academy
Toronto, Ontario
August 12, 2010

Ironic that a band who’s most popular tune and message,  “We’re Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time”, has really been here for a fuckin LONG TIME.  Not that I’m complaining, I think they’re great.

Trooper came to Toronto the other night helping radio station Q107 celebrate their summer bash flanked by none other than the Kings, Van Halen tribute Yankee Rose, Neil Young tribute, the Neil Young'Uns, and Q107’s house band, Animal House.

It was a night filled with great music for an older crowd and nice to be part of something a little different than the usual testosterone driven shows I’m used to.

Trooper was always one of those bands I said I’d shoot “some day” but it just seemed that “some day” would never come so when I was given the opportunity to head to my favourite venue in Toronto and shoot a pair of Canada’s most classic bands, I jumped at it.

The Kings showed up to be the 4th act to hit the stage just before Trooper, reminding us that no matter how old you are, if your little heart desires, you can still crank it up, snap off the knob and rock out just as hard as any young band out there. 

The Kings album “Are Here”, was spinning on our turntables back in the early 80’s but at the time was afforded only a small amount of earspace competing with other great Canadian bands like Trooper, Chilliwack, Headpins, Streetheart, Prism and the almighty Rush. Never mind the new wave of heavy metal that was poised to kick in the doors of everyone’s homes, destroy all current listening pleasure and rule the stereos for the next 10 years.

Still Trooper ranked high on my scale of a band with a load of great singalong songs and AM radio favourites with their constant airplay and the release of 1979’s greatest hits compilation “Hot Shots”.  I’ve owned every media version of “Hot Shots” up for offer at some point... well… other than 8-Track, a couple of my buddies had that.

They kicked open the set with “We’re Here For A Good Time…” which immediately got the already pumped crowd up and running and singing along and foreshadowed the soundtrack we were about to devour.

All my faves were played that night.. “Boys In The Bright White Sports Car”, “Santa Maria”, “Baby Woncha Please Come Home”, “Two For The Show”, “Oh Pretty Lady”, “Round Round We Go” and of course everyone’s favourite Trooper tune “Raise A Little Hell”.  It just doesn’t matter how overplayed that song is, I always love to hear it.

I’ve gotta say that Ra (pronounced Ray, short for Ramon) McGuire still has a KILLER set of pipes and sure as hell isn’t afraid to use them wowing the crowd with some of the notes he was hitting and holding for lengths only killer whales can go without breathing.

Not only did Ray thoroughly impress me with his incredible and instantly recognizable voice, but the rest of the band completely laid me to waste with their abilities. 

Drummer, Clayton Hill, was nothing short of incredible proving he can probably teach the best drummers a thing or two. Tucked away on the drums it’s always hard to get a good shot of these guys who hold it all together.

Brian Smith’s guitar work on his seasoned Stratocaster put a smile on my face and offered some great posing providing me with killer shots for this review.  Few guitarists sport a guitar with near as much personality as Brian’s Fender.  I love the look of a guitar that has been played so often it looks like it’s about to fall apart but you know it’s really just gotten better with age.

Gogo, came across as probably at least as strange as his stage name.  The Ozzy Osbournish look clearly had become one with his keyboard some time ago providing the often overlooked musicianship that fills every hole in a song and adds that ambience to music that takes it from good to great.  

Not to be forgotten, Scott Brown, a four string wizard in his own right, levelled everybody with his bass solo that could only be outdone by the likes of a Victor Wooten or Les Claypool.

If you’ve never seen Trooper before, you must.  Hell, even if you’ve seen em umpteen times you should go see em again.  Especially if you like to refer to yourself as a Canadian.  They are such a great Canadian band that we all should get out to see these guys before the end of the road.  They guarantee such a great night of music and sing-a-long that anyone from the Great White North should be proud to support.