Trouble

Biography

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Trouble (1979-present): a Doom Metal band from Aurora, Illinois, USA.

o pun intended but Trouble started in 1979 with Eric Wagner (vocals), Bruce Franklin (guitar), Sean McAllister (bass; who had replaced Tim Ian Brown (not to be confused with the singer of English band The Stone Roses in 1983)), Rick Franklin (guitar) and Jeff Olson (drums). Trouble would grow into the doom metal genre and become considered one of the pioneers of the genre alongside the likes of Candlemass and Saint Vitus.

Trouble would miss the heights of commercial success by remaining a cult act throughout their career and only managed to gain significant notice in the 1990s. Debuting with their Trouble (later re-named Psalm 9) album in 1984 under the 'Metal Blade' banner and with Rick Wartell replacing the second Franklin, they proved themselves as competent doom metal merchants in the style of Black Sabbath with a merging of some Judas Priest, and psychedelic rock of the 1970s and helped to instigate a sort of retro-Metal movement, a movement that would gradually gather strength as the decade wore on.

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The problem with Trouble was just that, they didn't cause enough 'trouble', for the spiritual content of their lyrics ended off stifling their appeal in a world of heavy metal demanding ever more stories of evil. Progress of their follow-up The Skull (1985) was further hindered by membership problems that caused Ron Holzner to replace McAllister, and Dennis Lesh to replace Olson who left to become a minister of a church.

Run to the Light (1987) was released by 'Enigma' before Rick Rubin picked them out to join his 'Def American' label, along with fellow retro purveyors Masters Of Reality. After Barry Stern (ex-Zoetrope) stepped in to replace Lesh the resulting album would become widely accepted as their best work, in the form of their self-titled Trouble (1990), a second self-titled release. Their combining a Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath groove with psychedelia on the album would set a president for later acts.

Despite the follow-up album, Manic Frustration (1992), showing the act at their maturity they still lived in relative obscurity and Rubin gave up on them. Now without a label they went back to their roots by selling their records at gigs until indie 'Bulletproof' stepped in to release Plastic Green Head (1995) with Jeff Olson returning on drums.

For the most part the band was on hiatus (but not officially disbanded) over the years that followed with the news of note being Kyle Thomas (ex-Exhorder/ex-Floodgate) taking over on bass. Wagner left to participate in the one-off Lid project with Danny Cavanagh (of Anthema; guitar) to release In The Mushroom (1997), he returned but then left again by 2008.

In 2007 the act returned revived to release Simple Mind Condition.

Kory Clarke took over on in 2008, but in February 2012, left with Kyle Thomas returning to take his place.

February, 2012 saw original members Eric Wagner (vocals) and Jeff Olson (drums) join forces with the longtime bassist Ron Holzner to form a new heavy doom metal act The Skull.

The Distortion Field arrived in 2013.

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