Tommy Stewart was the original drummer for Trooper. In fact, he worked with Ra McGuire and Brian Smith long before “Trooper” even existed. He recently shared some interesting stories and perspectives about his life and career….

The eldest of six kids born to Vancouver police officer (and later Chief of Police) Bob Stewart and his wife Barbara, Tommy knew at a young age that he wanted to be a professional drummer, and his family always supported his enthusiasm. Like every other kid at the time, Tommy was profoundly influenced by the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, the teamwork he saw between those four band members, and effect that they had on their audiences. 

“The Beatles... for me it gave me a direction what I wanted to do in my life. They made a difference in how I dressed; they made a difference in how I talked to my parents, how I treated my brothers and sisters. They were that much of an influence to me. That was the biggest turning point in my life, without a doubt.”

When he was only thirteen years old, he was already working in clubs and juggling his growing music career with the requirements of school. A week after he finished grade twelve, he headed to the States for a tour with a four-piece band called “Junction,” which broke up a few months later. He continued on, picking up work with a wide variety of acts that expanded his performance resume into an eclectic mix of casino lounges, jazz bands, and even dinner theatres. But Tommy says that he feels most comfortable as a team player, and after a while he grew tired of the scene.

“In the States, I didn’t have any camaraderie to anybody or anything,” he explains. “I went where the money and the experience was. One night, I was in an eleven-piece band. It had a front man… he’d tell jokes and I’d literally have to go ‘ba-dum-pum’ on the drums. I did that one night and went ‘I can’t do this anymore.’” After about two years of living the life of an American, he was ready to come home.

Once back in Vancouver, Tommy eagerly caught up on the latest happenings in the local clubs and with old friends. Ra McGuire and Brian Smith were no strangers to Tommy; they had all grown up in the same general area and had hung around in the same circles, so when he heard that they now had a band called Applejack and were playing in New Westminister, he decided to go see them.

“I was knocked out,” he recalls. “I thought it was a great band.” The next night he visited other clubs, but ended up back in Applejack’s audience, staying after the show to visit with Ra and Brian and talk about his recent time on the road. By the third night, they asked him to be their drummer. “I couldn’t believe it, ‘cause of all the bands I’d seen since I’d been back home, that was the one that impressed me the most.”

Their choice of music, Ra’s vocals, Smitty’s playing, the harmonies, their energy and overall presence on stage are what he remembers the most. “They looked like a family, like a team and I liked that. And then as people I liked them a lot too, so I was going ‘that’d be a nice outfit to be involved in’ then low and behold, out of the blue I get asked. I was skipping all the way home,” he laughs.

“They stuck out because, I think… their attitude on stage and their presence. It wasn’t a bunch of posing and prouncing along. They seemed to be more like leaders as opposed to followers. They looked like they were having fun! And anything that looked like having fun, I wanted to be involved in it!”

On August 28, 1972, Tommy played his first official gig with Applejack at the Birdcage Cabaret in White Rock, B.C. Within a year, the band was working extensively, trying to fit their first studio sessions in between shows, which now included larger venues such as the Vancouver Commodore Ballroom.

Over the next few years, the boys officially became “Trooper” and fans and media clamoured for their attention. When it came to interviews, manager Sam Feldman would send Ra and Tommy to work together on them, something that both guys remember fondly. Even though they often had several interviews or appearances in a day, they made sure things didn’t get too repetitive and dry.

“I’ve been known to be a bit of a jokester and I like making people laugh and I like to goof around. Any pertinent questions dealing with the band, especially any of the song-writing, anything musically speaking… Ra was there to answer them. It was a great balance. Ra and I knew that and we played off each other great. I’d just have to say one word and he knew where I was going. He’d say one word; I’d know where he was going. It was very hard for an interviewer to ever trip us up. We got very good at what we were doing.”

Tommy feels that the role as “comic relief” with the media wasn’t so much a duty he had to take on, but rather the freedom to do what he enjoys and what comes naturally – making others laugh. It was an ability that he carried over into the band, helping him deal with the challenges of becoming a celebrity and the relationships within the group itself.

“There was always something new happening. I didn’t really know what to expect,” he explains. “Fame and being in the spotlight is a pretty wild thing. It’s not something you can learn in school or you get taught how to deal with when it comes upon you. I think everybody takes what they want out of it and handles it the way they want to handle it. Some of it more arrogance and ego involved, some of it being humble of it, some of it more living in the fast lane and gonna burn out real quick, some that get into the business end of it more and some that get into the party end of it more. We all sort of handle it differently.”

Tommy would often go down to other clubs and jam with friends when he wasn’t on the road or in the recording studio with Trooper. One night in 1981, a club owner suggested that he sit in with two guys from a local band named Shama that needed a good drummer. Tommy agreed, and the marquee outside that night announced “Special Guests – TRAMA”, taking the TR from Trooper and putting it together with the AMA from Shama.

“It went over like gangbusters and we were asked to come back the next weekend and do it again. And then some other club owners caught wind of it and before you knew it, this band that we never asked to have put together in the first place is all of a sudden on demand.”

Tommy suddenly found himself pulling double duty, still drumming for Trooper, but performing with Trama whenever he could. As this new band gained momentum in the Vancouver club scene, Tommy eventually left Trooper and went on to play with Trama full-time. The new band provided the close, family, teamwork atmosphere that he values, something that he candidly admits he no longer felt with Trooper.

“The crux of that whole band always was and always will be Ra and Brian. Over the years though, some of us got to be where we wanted to contribute more to the writing end. I think somewhere that ruffled some feathers. It got to be a lot more attention put on just Ra and Brian. It wasn’t a jealousy thing, it was just that all of a sudden this wasn’t this little band that travelled to St. John’s with each other’s feet in our face, with a van full of equipment, freezing our balls off, and going through things together and all being like a team. All of a sudden, higher sources and powers were doing things that were separating us and making us not feel like that anymore. I put up a stink about it… I was saddened about it more than anything and I think I vocalized my sadness more so through frustrations, and started acting up and became quite a bit of a rebel.”

There isn’t any bitterness in Tommy’s voice as he talks about the difficult times within the group. When you have five guys living and working together so closely, it’s a significant accomplishment for the group to last as long as they did. But it was still disappointing for all involved, and it changed his outlook on some things.

“When things started happening in the band… if anything it affected me more emotionally. I didn’t think financially about it, I mean there’s stuff like that involved in it, but I thought much more on the emotional basis of ‘hey guys, don’t wreck the team.’ It sort of woke me up from being in a fantasyland for a bit. It didn’t make me callous; I just know now that not everybody looks at things the same way you do and there’s nothing wrong with being a dreamer and having your emotions involved in it still, but also be prepared to… understand that life is reality. You can be a realist but don’t ever stop dreaming.”

Being an optimistic, yet realistic, dreamer requires a balance that Tommy says he has now. He still loves to be with people and entertain and make them laugh, but he also cherishes quiet times and privacy in his personal life. He feels he’s found the right combination and is very happy with where his life and career have taken him.

So what is Tommy doing now? It’s hard to keep track… his schedule is unbelievably full! His main focus is a group called “Tom, Dick and Harry” that he’s in with singer/bassist Ricky Renouf and guitarist Darren Atkinson. Formerly called “The Strays,” the trio is predominant in the Vancouver cabaret scene and neighbourhood pubs, playing everything from Hank Snow to Metallica. That’s where you’ll find him on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Then on Sundays, he plays a little restaurant in Port Moody called “Johnny’s Place,” with Mick Dalla-vee, a friend from the original Trama days. And every Tuesday, he changes into a white dress shirt and performs in a 30-piece swing band, playing the big band music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc. that he heard all the time growing up. Finally, on Wednesdays he co-hosts a jam session at a local pub. So his weeks are extremely full, to say the least!

When Tommy talks about the years with Trooper, it’s obvious that they will always hold a special place in his life. Whether it’s playing a Trooper song at a gig, getting asked for an autograph, or planning to get together again with the old team to celebrate Trooper’s 25^th Anniversary, the magic is still there.

“I love the memories of some of the things that we all experienced together for the first time, like selling out a Coliseum… the feeling that the five of us had together on stage when we’d come back for our 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th encore… the place lit up like a birthday cake. None of us had experienced that before and going through all that together, those are memories I’ll never forget.”

August 2000

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