Trooper is a Juno Award winning Canadian rock band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1975. The group is best known for its Canadian hits: "Raise a Little Hell", "We're Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)", "The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car", "General Hand Grenade", and "Janine".
1967 saw McGuire and Smith playing in a band named Winter's Green, which recorded two songs, "Are You a Monkey" and "Jump in the River Blues", on the Rumble Records Label. "Are You a Monkey" later appeared on a rock collection: 1983's The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3".
In the early seventies Winter's Green changed their name to Applejack and added drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalensky to their lineup. Applejack became a very popular band in the Vancouver area, and began touring extensively in British Columbia. The band played a few original tunes such as Raise a Little Hell, and Oh, Pretty Lady, as well as Top 40 songs by artists such as Neil Young, and Chicago.
In 1978 Thick As Thieves went double-platinum and featured the group's only successful U.S. single, "Raise A Little Hell". This album also contained the hits "Round, Round We Go" and "The Moment That It Takes", both of which were sung by keyboardist Frank Ludwig.
Trooper's fifth studio album, Flying Colors, was released in 1979, and contained the hits "Three Dressed Up as a Nine", and the band's highest-charting single to date, "Janine", which pushed the album to attain Double-Platinum status.
The band's 1979 album, Hot Shots, broke all records for Canadian sales of a Canadian album, reaching Quadruple-Platinum status. Hot Shots was a greatest hits album containing remixes of all of the most popular songs from Trooper's first five studio albums. "The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car" (originally released on Two for the Show in 1976), became a hit single upon the release of Hot Shots.
In June 1979, Trooper was honoured with a Juno Award for "Group of the Year". Two of their albums (Hot Shots and Flying Colors, both released in 1979) were also nominated that year for "Album of the Year".
Also in 1980, Trooper severed their artist/producer relationship with Randy Bachman and Frank Ludwig was replaced by Rob Deans, who performed on the next two albums: Trooper's self-produced seventh album Untitled, released in October 1980, and Money Talks which was released in 1982 and produced by Heart producer Mike Flicker and released on the RCA Label.
In 1986, Trooper was without a permanent keyboardist, and Frank Ludwig re-joined the band as a temporary replacement on their summer tour.
The Last of the Gypsies was released in 1989 on the band's self-owned Great Pacific Records label and distributed by Warner Music Canada. This was Trooper's first studio album in six years, and was certified Canadian Gold. It contained the hits "Boy With the Beat", and "The Best Way (to Hold A Man)".
In 2001, "Shot Spots", a Punk tribute to Trooper, was released on Visionary Records. It contained 30 Trooper songs performed by 30 Canadian punk bands (D.O.A., SNFU, Dirty Bird, Dayglo Abortions and others) and an introduction by Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. As detailed in a four-page 2004 photo essay by Todd Korol in Macleans Magazine and a two-page 2005 Globe and Mail story by Peter Cheney, Trooper is still very active and popular as a touring band, performing as many as 100 shows a year across Canada.
In April 2006, Trooper singer and songwriter, Ra McGuire released his first book, published by Insomniac Press, Here For a Good Time – On the Road With Trooper, Canada's Legendary Rock Band.
In Fall 2006, drummer Clayton Hill joined the band, and continues to tour and perform with Trooper today.
2010 saw Trooper celebrating their 35th Anniversary - starting with their performance at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Victory Ceremony on February 21, which was broadcast across Canada and the world on networks such as CTV and MuchMusic, and ending with their performance on November 28 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton for the 98th Grey Cup, with shows throughout the year and coast to coast, many which broke attendance records.
Trooper's first official compilation album Hits From 10 Albums was released on July 1, 2010, celebrating the band's 35th anniversary. The totally updated and re-mastered collection featured songs spanning the entirety of their recording career. John Kereiff of Gonzo Magazine called it "THE summer album of 2010." Universal Music's official Press Release named Trooper as "one of Canada's top five selling bands of all time".
On August 11, 2010, the members of Trooper enjoyed a private tour of the Gatineau Preservation Centre to see where Library and Archives Canada houses its collected Trooper archives. The Trooper archives consist of 401 photographs and a stack of textual records such as financial records, which McGuire and Smith donated in 2004, hoping to provide some insight to the Canadian music industry of the '70s and '80s. McGuire, "now 60, bald, and bespectacled" had a chance to laugh when he read aloud from an old Toronto Sun clipping among the collection which described McGuire as "a new teen idol." The band is now preparing to make another donation to the archive, including some of their early demo recordings, lyrics sheets, and master tapes.
The band has also donated the massive 32-foot sign bearing Trooper's logo, complete with strobe-lit stars once used to illuminate their shows, to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Trooper's visit to the archive was covered by almost every major newspaper in Canada.
