Trooper headlines summer festival in Bathurst
Published Tuesday July 22nd, 2008
Trooper's Ra McGuire likes the idea of being called one half of the Canadian version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
"You've got to like that," laughed the singer, when asked in a recent phone interview if he thought that was a fair comparison.
Vocalist and front man extraordinaire Jagger and guitarist Richards joined forces in London, England to create the Rolling Stones in 1962. Three years later, McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith first hooked up in Vancouver, B.C. and, like the Glimmer Twins, have been playing rock and roll ever since.
"It is a really rewarding endeavor," said McGuire of his long-running musical partnership with Smith.
Trooper is bringing their catalogue of hits to Bathurst on Saturday night when the Juno Award-winning band headlines in the festival tent on Harbourview Boulevard.
Smith and McGuire's career has spanned more than four decades and produced Canadian rock anthems like "We're Here for a Good Time," "The Boys In The Bright White Sports Car" and "Raise A Little Hell."
"The two of us approach (music) from entirely different places," explained McGuire. "We are extremely dissimilar personality-wise in a whole bunch of ways and, as in a good marriage, in some cases that's good because what one person lacks the other person brings.
"Between us, we managed to figure out the business, at least to the point where we could survive it and survive it happily," added McGuire, whose first name is short from Ramon and pronounced Ray. "I think we are both thankful for each other's part. It is not the easiest thing to maintain a career in music anywhere, let alone in Canada, and it's taken a lot of being fast on our feet.
"Obviously, we've had some pretty low moments career- wise but managed to just keep trouping through and that's just paid back in spades."
The band's name was chosen after a friend called the musicians a group of troupers, a reference to their unflagging determination to always put on the best show possible and their solid work ethic.
Trooper (of which only McGuire and Smith are the only remaining original members) continues to play to sold-out audiences right across the country. This Saturday's Bathurst gig, for example, is just one of 13 shows in July alone that will take the band from Halifax, N. S. to Peace River, Alta.
McGuire said every audience can expect the same thing, which amounts to a fun night of good-time rock, from the bluesy swagger of "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" to the power chords of "3 Dressed Up As A 9."
"That is our deal. We are the summer band," he said. "This band is kind of an instant party. Wherever we touch down, that's the place where the most fun is going to be. It is a combination of what we do and what the people do in response to us. It is really quite remarkable that we still get paid to do this."
McGuire's writing endeavors in recent years have moved out of the songwriting realm – his book Here For A Good Time chronicles life on the road with the band.
"I've been writing since I was in high school. Any kind of writing was fine with me," he said.
In his book, McGuire writes that he and Smith have enjoyed a career that "offers up elusive rewards of adventure, challenge and straight-up fun."
After all these years, he still looks at things the same way.
"I'm 58-years-old and I still get to be in a rock band, I still get to go do this thing," he concluded. "The summer is just jammed with traveling all over Canada playing for a bunch of people who are really excited to see us. We keep trouping along."
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