Fifty years ago, Triumph started a strange little journey that somehow turned three Canadian musicians into arena rock stars on both sides of the border — something that was just as rare back then as it is now. The Toronto trio of Rik Emmett, Mike Levine, and Gil Moore built a reputation as one of the tightest, most technically gifted live acts on the continent, filling arenas across North America at a time when the competition was fierce. Emmett himself stood apart as a rare triple threat — a guitarist of genuine virtuosity, a vocalist with real range and soul, and a songwriter capable of moving between thundering rock anthems and deeply melodic, emotionally resonant ballads. “Hold On,” from the band’s 1979 album JUST A GAME, is exactly that kind of song — a rallying call to the common person, built around the idea that music itself holds the power to lift you out of the grind and remind you of something bigger.

This custom 16×16 inch mat was built around the iconic album art from Triumph’s Just a Game — all chrome machinery, cosmic chess boards, and that unmistakable bolt-lightning logo that defined the band’s visual identity for a generation of fans. Inset a full handwritten lyric sheet of “Hold On,” written out by Rik Emmett himself in April 2025 for the Coalition for Music Education in Canada, signed and dedicated with a note that reads “Music is the Answer.” The sheet carries the complete lyrics in Emmett’s own hand — every verse, every chorus, every bridge — making it as much an artifact of his artistry as it is an autograph.