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Trooper is coming here on Sept. 6. The band lists Yellowknife and St. John's, Nfld. as its favourite cities to play. - photo courtesy of Trooper

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Trooper is coming to town on Sept. 6 for a show at the Multiplex.

Fans of classic Canadian rock may remember the first time they heard Boys in the Bright White Sports Car or Raise a Little Hell and they will probably hear them again when Ra McGuire brings his band to town.

Trooper's two original members, McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith have been playing together since 1965 in bands that eventually became Trooper in 1975. The band also features Gogo on keyboards, Scott Brown on bass and their newest member, Clayton Hill on drums. The band released its last album in 1991.

The guys had a blast when they played here four years ago.

"We do a lot of high north stuff," said McGuire. "We've been to Rankin, Inuvik, Dawson City, Whitehorse. It is a really different world. People are appreciative of music in these places.

"The crowd that you play for is just massively important in how the show goes and the performance," said McGuire.

He said fans often request some of their more obvious songs during shows.

"People kind of expect 'Raise a little hell' and 'Sportscar,' but if they're really drunk they yell them out anyway," said McGuire. "It runs the gamut. Requests are generally songs that people think we might not play. One song we don't play is 'Live from the moon'. It's just a crazy song to play live so we don't play it."

When the band has free time on tour they like to spend their time with their MacBooks.

"All but one of us have MacBooks," said McGuire. "We spend a lot of time online. We are kind of nerd-like. You don't have to be concerned where you are. Lately we've all been playing with our iPhones."

McGuire also spends time writing a blog and taking photos fans can check out at ramcquire.com.

He said he is also going to get involved with a group called Deviant Art. He said he feels the community aspect of the group will be a good outlet. Online fans can also read his book, Here For a Good Time, which was taken from his writing on his website.

He still writes on his blog, but is looking for his purpose with his writing. In the beginning it was fun, he said. Then he wanted to write about things people would want to know about and eventually it documented what his life was like.

"I'm still trying to figure out why I do it," said McGuire. "I am questioning the purpose of it at this point. There's an old saying 'First you just do it, then you do it for fun, then you seriously do it, then you're done.' I might be at that point with it."

When it comes to Trooper, McGuire said he is full of passion and the band keeps him very busy.

"I'm currently negotiating with some people to do a rap version of 'Here for a good time' for a benefit for a woman that has cancer," said McGuire. "Our old record company, Universal, is talking about doing a new collection of Trooper hits. There is the possibility that the hip hop version of 'Here for a good time' will be on that hit package. I'm trying to coordinate that."

He said he is still excited about Trooper after all these years.

"Every place you go is a completely different experience. Every night is an entirely different event, stage and audience. We don't sound check. The first time we see the stage and crowd is when we walk on the stage. It's kind of like jumping out of a plane. That's exciting. There's a hundred things that can go wrong and at least two or three that do every night. We work through that and not let anybody in the audience know what's going on. Taking the pulse of the audience every night is a whole different event."

The audience can expect to have a lot of fun.

"This is the smokingest band we've ever had," said McGuire. "We have a new drummer since we were last there and he is by far and away the best drummer we've ever had. He is the tightest heart beat of a drummer you've ever seen. That changes things considerably. It's a party. It's the party that is meant to happen that night. We can't really predict how it plays out. Our main function is to come and have it be a performance that is fun and easy for everyone to get behind."