By Kelley Simms
TROUBLE RETURNS
Trouble, 2016
doing, but we weren’t trying to bandwagon
jump or anything. We wanted to do what
appealed to us, which was really heavy
music. When we first began writing and
recording there really were no genres, there
was just metal. Then a few years later there
was speed metal and others and it (doom
metal) just popped up. I’m not quite sure of
when it happened but it was years later.
IE: Last year marked the 30th anniversary
of Trouble’s landmark self-titled debut
album. How proud are you of this achievement?
Rick Wartell: We’re very proud, just to be
together and recording and to hear people
say that they were influenced by it is what
we are most proud of. A lot of the younger
bands coming up say they were influenced
by it. That makes us the most proud.
T
rouble has been a Chicago metal
institution since their beginnings in
1979. Combining Black Sabbath and
Judas Priest influences, Trouble almost single-handedly created an entire metal subgenre. Their first two releases, Trouble and
The Skull were doom metal masterpieces
that introduced their brand of metal to the
masses. Co-founding guitarists Rick
Wartell and Bruce Franklin have been the
anchor of Trouble’s stoic tones from the
beginning. However, the band went
through a couple of major changes after
losing original singer Eric Wagner for a second time in 2008. After a stint with exWarrior Soul vocalist Kory Clarke didn’t
work out quite as well as planned, the band
reinstated ex-Exhorder singer Kyle
Thomas for a second time and has been
with the band since 2012, even going on to
create 2013’s well-received The Distortion
Field. The band is currently working on
new material that will be tentatively
released some time in 2016. Trouble still has
a steady draw for their live shows, especially in their hometown, and their Jan. 29
show at Brauerhouse in Lombard is going
to be special, according to Wartell.
IE: Did you think you were onto something
special while recording your first two
albums?
Rick Wartell: Not really. A lot of the local
bands weren’t really doing what we were
34 illinoisentertainer.com january 2016
IE: Trouble was often labeled as a
Christian metal band, was this the band’s
decision or Metal Blade Records?
Rick Wartell: When we first started writing
in the early days, we were talking about
what we were going to be about. To us, it
was more of talking about good versus evil
or life versus death. In our opinion it wasn’t really preaching or trying to be a
Christian band, we were just being an
observer of things, including Bible passages, just stuff that we were interested [in]
as younger men. We never considered ourselves as a Christian band. So when we
signed to Metal Blade, they happened to
have Slayer on the label at the time and
Brian (Slagel) was trying to market both
bands, so he figured he had the black metal
and the white metal so he coined us as a
Christian band. Which we weren’t too
happy about because we knew it would
pigeon hole us into that term, and it has for
quite some time.
IE: I've read Trouble is working on a new
album with a tentative 2016 release date,
what direction is the new material going?
Rick Wartell: We’re just continuing on the
same path, just progressing as songwriters
and as a band. Nothing outside of what we
normally do except maybe a little deeper
focus on the riffs. We’re not going to throw
anything out there that you won’t recognize as us, you’ll still know it’s Trouble
when you hear it. We’re always trying to
advance and progress and learn as we go. I
can’t say that it’s going to be like the old
school stuff or the new school stuff, it’s
whatever comes out of us that appeals to
us.
IE: The Distortion Field was a solid record
and had a lot of the old Trouble spirit. You
and Bruce still have that great trademark
sound does it just come natural to you both
when you jam and write together?
Rick Wartell: Yeah, it’s the same thing
we’ve been doing for 30 years. We haven’t
really changed anything at this point,
maybe a few new pedals here and there
that we may try out, but basically we’re
using the same Marshals. There may be a
couple of different guitars and different
tones, but it’s the same idea and same
premise. As far as the riffs go, if they appeal
to us, we work them and if they don’t we
scrap them. It’s not an overly complicated
thing for us, we just do what we like.
IE: I liked Kory Clarke with Warrior Soul,
but it seemed like he just didn’t really fit
Trouble's sound. How was the experience
with Kory as your vocalist - and I imagine
you must have felt he was a good choice ]