Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 12/02) - After three decades of "rasing a little hell," vetran rockers Trooper are still cranking out the sound that help define Canadian rock.

"It doesn't tire you out when you're bombarded with love everynight," said Trooper's frontman Ra Mcguire. He's feeling the love here, during an April 2 show at the Mad Trapper in Inuvik. -

Trooper played Inuvik last week for four sold-out shows at the Mad Trapper.

The band's two original members are the two songwriters Ra McGuire on vocals, Brian Smith on lead guitar. The pair are joined by Lance Chalmers on drums, Gogo on keys and Scott Brown on bass.

McGuire thought the crowd in Inuvik was "awesome."

"It's great to play in an acutal community," McGuire said. "There isn't much actual community in most of the cities and towns of Canada."

"You get a real sense of community here and it's been quite an adventure," he said.

The band is touring across the country and will play a different place nearly every night for the next four months. The band said they found the four-nighter in Inuvik a bit of a holiday.

"We usually go coast-to-coast," McGuire said. "From Tofino to St. John's Newfoundland."

They have played some Northern venues like James Bay, Cross Lake and Rankin Inlet, but Inuvik was the first time they'd been near the third coast.

Since their big success in the 1970s, McGuire says the band never really quit.

Recently, the National Library of Canada had asked the band for memorobilia and a timeline. On reviewing personal diaries and business records Mcguire says there wasn't really a point where the band quit.

"It turns out there wasn't a year that we didn't work," McGuire said. "There was some years that we never worked with the original band, but there hasn't been a year go by that we haven't done a show or at least 10 or 15 shows."

After thousands of performances playing the same hits over and over, he says he doesn't tire of the music, as the job is not so much about the music, but about the reaction from the crowd.

"It's not a question of getting tired of the songs, it's a question of getting tired of the performing, which may come, but it hasn't yet."

But there are some songs he likes to perform more than others. Among those are Thin White Line, and there are a few he likes a little less.

"I used to not like General Handgrenade; I used to think it was really stupid," he admits. "But, I had so many people tell me it's really graet, so I kind of got over it."

Part of the professional attitude is the ability to overcome obstacles and give the best performance they can.

"On a shitty night, we are a great band and on a good night we transcend," he said. "On a shitty night it takes a lot of work to be great."

"It doesn't tire you out when you're bombarded with love everynight," he said. "It's a powerful lot of giving coming our way, so it's a difficult thing to grow tired of."

He says he earns a decent living, but returns on royalties as Canadian performers is quite a bit less than what American bands earn.

"You can fit the entire population of Canada into New York state, so extrapolate those numbers...we do OK, but not we're not getting rich here."

"I make a living probably (comparable) to that of a successful, plumber," he said. "That's alright; I'm doing something that I love."