Cover Story: Trouble – Headlines Legions of Metal Festival

Chicago’s beloved doom metal legends, Trouble, will be headlining the second night of the eighth annual Legions of Metal festival at Reggies on Saturday, May 2. Incidentally, it’s the band’s first-ever appearance at the famed Chicago rock club.

Initially conceived in May of 2017 by Reggies owner Robby Glick, along with longtime local promoter Shane Merrill and fellow area promoter Robert Byrne, Legions of Metal has become a welcome destination for numerous bands and like-minded fans of the scene. “Every year Shane and I work hard to make sure we have a mix of classic and new bands,” Byrne explains through email. “We love pushing the new talent since they will be the bands in years to come that will carry the torch.  Every year, we have had one power metal band, but this genre has grown in the US quickly over the past few years, so now we are able to bring in a lot more bands in this style. We also love having a mix of doom, thrash, and epic metal as well to balance things out. The festival is honored to have Trouble, one of Chicago’s most popular and well-known metal bands, headlining this year.”

OPENING CEREMONIES
On the opening night of this year’s bill, the festival welcomes Italian power metal titans Rhapsody of Fire as the headliners at the Rock Club on Friday, May 1, which will mark an exclusive one-off US date specifically for this show for the band. Preceding them are Los Angeles (by way of Henrietta, Okla.) old school metal band Omen, US heavy metal traditionalists Owlbear, Bay Area blackened heavy metalers Nite, Seattle fantasy power metal band Luminator, and L.A. thrash rollers Regiment.

The following night sees local heroes Trouble as the headliners, preceded by old school L.A. thrashers Heathen, Wisconsin heavy/power metal journeymen Lords of the Trident, Louisiana trad metal newbies Void (recently signed to Metal Blade Records), Connecticut melodic death metal band Fires in the Distance, Mississippi heavy metal band Wanted, Massachusetts melodic epic metal band Thunderforce, and Pennsylvania symphonic power metal band Battle Chapel.

Over at the Music Joint on Friday is Heroine Sentinel, High Castle, Enterprise Earth, and headliners Black Sites. Saturday welcomes Professor Emeritus, Greenbriar, Breakker, Blind Oath, and headliners Killer Hearts.

TROUBLE MAKER

This year’s Legions of Metal roster continues the festival’s celebration of diverse metal acts, including hometown heroes Trouble.

Original vocalist Eric Wagner’s dynamic vocals have always been a key component of the Trouble sound. Sadly, Wagner passed away in 2021 and is sorely missed in the Chicago metal community. The current Trouble lineup features original dual guitarists Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin, vocalist Kyle Thomas, bassist Rob Hultz, and drummer Garry Naples.

Formed in 1978, Trouble shares an allegiance with Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, and Pentagram, all considered progenitors of the doom metal subgenre. However, doom metal wasn’t even a genre term at that point. It’s this foundation laid by the aforementioned bands and Trouble that forged the path for future like-minded bands such as Candlemass, Cathedral, Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Solitude Aeturnus, to name a few. At the time, the band had no clue that they were onto something special when they first formed. “Doom metal was not a term at the time, but we were heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and, at the time, pretty heavily influenced by Judas Priest,” Franklin explains during a recent phone interview from the studio while taking a break from recording the next Trouble album. “Our sound was in that direction, but it just became what our sound became. It’s got the heaviness and the lower tuning like Sabbath and the dark kind of themes sometimes. But then it’s also got some uptempo stuff and harmony guitars like Judas Priest. I remember when we were in the early days, when we were forming the band, we were saying we wanted to be as heavy as Black Sabbath with the dual guitars of Judas Priest. So that was kind of a goal we set for ourselves.”

Before signing to Metal Blade Records for its 1984 self-titled debut full-length album, Trouble appeared on the label’s compilation album Metal Massacre 4 with “The Last Judgement,” which also appeared on Trouble’s 1983 demo. This early appearance set the band on a promising path. “Yeah, signing to a label as young guys who’d never been on a label, it was a big deal for us,” Wartell admits. “We didn’t know how quickly we would ascend or if we would ascend, but it was a lot of fun getting ready for the studio and getting into the studio. And I think the ascent started more when we started touring. When we got hooked up with the King Diamond tour in the early days, I think that’s when things started to take off. And we realized that there was actually a market for us out there because there were Trouble fans across the country that we didn’t know anything about. We’d go to shows, and they’d have big signs and stuff in the audience. And that was nice to see that there was actually a market for us.”

BLACK SHAPES OF DOOM
A milestone happened for the band late last year, with Hammerheart Records releasing a 35th-anniversary edition of Trouble’s 1990 self-titled album, originally produced by Rick Rubin and remastered by Erwin Hermsen, while March of this year marked the 41st anniversary of The Skull. According to Franklin, things were moving rather quickly for the band during this period. “At least half of the songs on The Skull were written around the same time as the songs on the first album,” he remembers. “We had a number of songs that were all in the mix, and we just picked what the first album was, and then the other songs we put on The Skull. But then we wrote more; I remember “Pray For The Dead” and “The Skull” were songs we wrote after, just shortly before recording *The Skull*. But things were moving fast. We recorded the first record in January of ’84, and we recorded *The Skull* in September of ’84. Things were moving, and we were young and into every bit of doing this. It was just a natural thing; we were having fun.”

With 1992’s Manic Frustration, Trouble lost a bit of its early-era doom identity with its change in favor of a more up-tempo, psychedelic/stoner rock-esque sound, especially on album opener “Come Touch the Sky.” Although there are some highly memorable moments across the album, the band states it wasn’t a conscious effort to change its sound. “I don’t think it was done intentionally,” Wartell says. “I think we just kind of opened up more of our influences and lit them in more than anything. I don’t think we go into the studio trying to write a certain way. It’s just whatever comes out, comes out. And I think we were just more into psychedelic music at that time. I know Eric, and I were for sure listening to tons of Beatles and that kind of stuff at that time.”

According to Franklin, apart from the writing, the sound of that record didn’t have the typical low-end heavy Trouble sound. “Rick Rubin mixed that record without any input from us. So the low end that is missing, that was him. Then he also sped up the tape by a quarter of a percentage. So, the final release of the record is taped playing faster than we actually recorded it. It’s not a huge difference, it’s not even a whole note higher, but it is different. It gave this little kind of frenetic feel to the plane, and that was his idea, too. I do remember we made our own mix of that record before we left LA, and it’s a lot heavier.”

FEAR NO EVIL
Trouble performed at the Heavy Chicago Festival in 2023 and is now gearing up for their first Legions of Metal Festival at Reggies in May—a hometown show. Anticipating playing in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, the band said they weren’t always highly accepted in their hometown. “Well, it wasn’t always the case,” Wartell remembers. “In the early days, we had bigger crowds everywhere else across the country than we did in Chicago. So it took years of building a fan base here. But we do appreciate the fact that now we do have a very large fan base in Chicago, and it feels good to finally hit the mark in our hometown after all these years. So it’s well appreciated.”

Trouble played a few shows with current vocalist Kyle Thomas (Exhorder, Alabama Thunderpussy) before original vocalist Eric Wagner returned in 2000, before leaving permanently in 2008. Obviously, with Wagner’s passing in 2021, there’s no possible chance of a true Trouble reunion. “I miss Eric; I think about him a lot, and we were really good friends,” Wartell confessed. “We were roommates on the road for over 20 years. We talked every day, and just because things kind of went south for a while doesn’t mean that you hold grudges or there’s any regrets about it. I only think of the good times with Eric, and there were a lot of them.”

Franklin also recalls great memories of when Wagner fronted the band. “In the early days of Trouble, he and I were pretty much like best friends, and we did a lot of stuff together, and I had a lot of great times with him. I have a lot of good memories with him, and doing all kinds of things. It’s a good thing when that’s the way you can think of somebody, and not the bad times. We do have a little bit of a surprise, kind of a small tribute to air when we play at Reggie’s that we have planned.”

After 2007’s Simple Mind Condition, Trouble found themselves having to replace Eric Wagner once again. In came Warrior Soul belter Kory Clarke, who lasted from 2008 to 2012 and never recorded an album with Trouble. Although fans loved what Clarke did in Warrior Soul, he just wasn’t a good fit for Trouble’s style of music. “Kory was supposed to be a stopgap singer,” Wartell admits. “We didn’t really plan on having him permanently in the band. We had tours booked that we had commitments to, and the understanding was that he was going to come and fill in for these tours. Then once he was in the band, we did try recording a little bit of our **The Distortion Field record with him, and it just really wasn’t on the same page as what we were looking for. In the long run, it wasn’t a good fit. I’ll be the first to admit it.”

Once Thomas rejoined the band in 2012, Trouble eventually pulled everything together with 2013’s The Distortion Field, its first album with Thomas. “Kyle was a longtime Trouble fan for years and years and years before playing with us,” Franklin explains. “You’re talking about a guy who loved the band to begin with and knew the songs. It was a much easier fit, even if his voice wasn’t exactly the same as Eric’s, which actually is fine. You don’t want to just be a clone anyway. But he understood the band, and that was the best part.”

RUN TO THE LIGHT
According to Wartell, the current band camaraderie and musical chemistry between all of the Trouble members has never been better. “I personally think this might be the best live lineup that we’ve had since the very early days,” Wartell admits. “Everyone knows their job. Everyone’s into it, everyone thrives in it. I really enjoy playing with this band live. It’s a pro band again. At times, I felt like we weren’t, honestly.”

The band is currently in the studio sporadically working on the as-of-yet-untitled ninth full-length Trouble album, its first in 13 years. The drums and the rhythm guitars are completed, and the bass is just about completed, while the vocals are being worked on this month and should be completed soon as well. The band has been working on some of these new tracks for years now and is anticipating a fall release, if everything goes smoothly from here on out. “There will be a new Trouble album,” Franklin states without hesitation. “We’ve had songs ready for this record for years now, and the whole COVID mess put us behind schedule. But we have a record deal already in place, and so it’s scheduled well. We also went through a change of drummers and recording mishaps where the equipment went down. We got all-new equipment, so we decided to re-record some stuff. It’s taken longer than it should, but it’ll be ready when it’s ready.”

Appearing 5/2 at Legions of Metal Festival, at Reggies, Chicago.

– Kelley Simms

Tags: Bruce Franklin, featured, Garry Naples., Kyle Thomas, Metal Blade Records, Reggies Chicago, Rick Wartell, Rob Hultz, Trouble

Category: Cover Story, Featured