TROUBLE

The world is not a perfect place. If it were, we would have fewer
bands like Nickelback and Disturbed finding success and more
quality acts like Trouble at the top of the heap. Forming nearly
thirty years ago in the suburbs of Chicago with the intent of
taking the twin lead guitar style of Judas Priest and melding it
with the heavy, doomed sounds of early Black Sabbath, Trouble
may be the quintessential American cult metal band that still
matters.
Much in the same way they originally took inspiration from
Sabbath, the quintet has influenced at least two waves of heavy
metal musicians since the release of their first album, 1985’s
Psalm 9. Trouble, who flirted with mainstream success in the
early nineties with two very well–received albums on Rick Rubin’s
Def American label, have always been a musician’s band and can
count members of Metallica, Candlemass, Anathema and Skid Row
as huge fans.
2007 looked to be a monumental year for the rejuvenated
band, who finally released their first new album in twelve years
after a hiatus. Simple Mind Condition was everything longtime
fans had hoped it would be, except for the fact it was near
impossible to find. While it was released in Europe that spring, it
has still yet to see domestic release in North America, as guitarist
Bruce Franklin explains. “Shortly after its release, the label that
released it hit huge financial problems,” says Franklin. “[Escapi]
promised us over and over that financing was in place and that
they would be releasing the record over here but all plans fell
through. This has been very frustrating for us. It was twelve years
between the previous record (1995’s Plastic Green Head) and the
new one and we were planning a big comeback with the record
but it still has not come out in our home country.”
The band now have the rights to the record back in their own
hands and are currently in negotiations with a few labels about
releasing it in North America, but since the album’s release the
group has gone through a few changes.
Earlier this summer, longtime vocalist Eric Wagner left the
band amicably after growing unhappy with the situation. With a
Western US tour already booked and quickly approaching, the
group announced former Warrior Soul frontman Korey Clarke
would be joining as Wagner’s full–time replacement.
“Rick (Wartell) had done a gig with his side–project Wet
Animal in New York and the band that Korey was playing in at the
time, Dirty Rig, were also on the same bill,” says Franklin about
how they came across Clarke. “Rick saw him and was blown away.
He didn’t know anything about his previous band, Warrior Soul.”
“I had seen Korey in Warrior Soul in 1990 and thought he was
great too. It was a lot of years in between, but we had both seen
him and thought good things about him. He became the first
thought of someone to talk to when it became time to think about
a new singer.”
Clarke’s inaugural tour of duty with the band was somewhat
of a trial by fire, as Franklin explains. “We had sent him some
MP3s and he had the chance to listen to some stuff but it is not
the same until you are playing with the band. We only had a
couple of rehearsals before the tour started and the first few
shows were a little rough. By the fourth show it was getting
pretty good and from there on it just got better.”
“We couldn’t expect him to learn twenty songs at once, so we
picked the most popular songs. We were hoping to do more early
songs but Korey was latching on to the early nineties stuff
because it has the most hooks and is the catchiest material. It’s
probably easier for him to remember those. We did a setlist that
was heavier in that era and finally managed to get one or two old
ones in by the end of the tour.”
Trouble has always been an amazing live act. Having
personally had the chance to see them live on four separate
occasions since 1990, their 2003 gig at Cleveland’s Odeon
Theater is one of this writer’s top three concert performances of
all-time. Even with a new singer fronting the group, expect
nothing short of brilliance when they play Hamilton’s Casbah
tonight. V

Trouble
w/ Minsk
Thursday, September 11th : 9PM
@ the Casbah
306 King West