Illinois Entertainer January 2016 | Page 41

Our Winter Show in Palatine! Continued from page 34 the time? Rick Wartell: It was something that we thought we’d try. It absolutely didn’t end up working out. Kory’s a great guy and he’s a great vocalist for more of a rock/punkish style. We gave it a shot, but we were just on different pages, trying to put together two different styles that ended up not happening. So we parted ways, we’re still friends, everything’s cool. I think everyone understood that it was just an experiment that didn’t happen for us. I don’t regret it. IE: Kyle has been the singer for a few years now and this is actually his second stint with the band. I loved his voice while in Exhorder, but it gives a different dynamic to the Trouble sound. People just naturally associate Eric Wagner’s voice with classic Trouble. Does this bother you that some fans might not give the new stuff a chance? Rick Wartell: When Kyle came to work with us the second time around, it just gelled. Maybe he’s not a traditional doom singer, but Kyle has range and a voice that’s as powerful as anyone that I’ve heard. And not only that, he’s a Trouble fan and he gets what we’re doing, and he understands how to use his voice with Trouble music. As far as people accepting him, we never thought about that and we didn’t think about that with Kory, we do what we want to do basically and if it appeals to us, we go down that road. When Kyle came to the band to work on The Distortion Field with us, we just knew it was clicking. Fortunately, the Trouble fans are accepting him and that’s a bonus for us. We never tried to find someone that Trouble fans were going to accept, that’s not the way to go about writing properly, for us anyway. It’s about finding people that you like to work with that get what you’re doing and can contribute, and that’s what Kyle does. IE: I listened to The Distortion Field again before our interview and rememebered that there’s some great stuff on there and Kyle does a great job on vocals. Will the new stuff be a continuance of what you guys created on the last album? Rick Wartell: Absolutely. I think right now we’re working on 12 different songs; there’s some heavy ones and there’s some upbeat ones. But I think it is a continuation from The Distortion Field, it just seems to be the direction we’re going in at this point and we’re really happy with it. Since that was Kyle’s recording debut with us I think he did a great job, but we met and had discussions and he in retrospect felt that he could do better. And with this new record I think he’s even more focused on what we’re doing. I think people are going to like what we’re doing with this record. IE: Trouble has established itself as a metal institution in Chicago. What’s the emotion level when playing a hometown show and how geared up are you to play Brauerhouse this month? Rick Wartell: We’re really looking forward to it. First of all, we’ve never played there so we’re interested to see what this place is all about and what kind of draw we do there. It’s in my neighborhood, which is awesome because I can get there quickly. We always love playing Chicago, to see familiar faces over the years that have come to shows. We Continued on page 44 Saturday January 16th HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS 1550 E. DUNDEE RD PALATINE, IL 847-409-9656 SHOW HOURS: 10-4PM january 2016 illinoisentertainer.com 41