Trouble (band)

Trouble
Trouble at Jalometalli 2008
Background information
Origin	Aurora, Illinois, United States
Genres	Doom metal stoner metal hard rock
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Metal Blade Def American Century Media
Associated acts	Retro Grave Wet Animal Supershine Tourniquet Warrior Soul Zoetrope Cathedral The Skull Exhorder
Members	Kyle Thomas Bruce Franklin Rick Wartell Mark Lira Rob Hultz
Past members	Eric Wagner Kory Clarke Sean McAllister Dennis Lesh Ron Holzner Jeff Olson Barry Stern Ted Kirkpatrick Ian Brown Chuck Robinson Shane Pasqualla

Trouble is an American doom metal band noted as one of the pioneers of their genre, alongside bands such as Candlemass and Saint Vitus. The band created a distinct style taking influences of the British heavy metal bands Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and psychedelic rock of the 1970s. A critically acclaimed group, their first two albums, Psalm 9 and The Skull are cited as landmarks of doom metal. To date, Trouble has released eight studio albums. Although the band never officially broke up, Trouble was plagued by extended inactivity after their original singer Eric Wagner left in 1997. He eventually rejoined in 2000 before leaving again eight years later.

The nucleus of the band had been vocalist Eric Wagner, guitarists Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin, and drummer Jeff Olson. The band is also noted for the spiritual nature of their early lyrics; their first record label, Metal Blade Records, marketed the band as "white metal" (in contrast to the rising black metal movement) in the 1980s.

Trouble was formed in 1979 by Rick Wartell and was joined by guitarist Bruce Franklin, vocalist Eric Wagner, bassist Tim Ian Brown (not to be confused with lead singer of English band The Stone Roses), and drummer Jeff Olson. Ian Brown was replaced by Sean McAllister in 1983. Drawing from Black Sabbath for inspiration (with occasional nods to the psychedelic sounds of the late 1960s), the band used gloomy down-tuned riffs and spiritual, often openly Bible-inspired lyrics, which led Metal Blade to market the band as "white metal" as opposed to black metal. "I was brought up Catholic", vocalist and primary lyric writer Wagner explains in the liner notes of Psalm 9 re-issue (2006), "but you have to remember, back in the early 1980s, all the metal was kind of satanic, and I did not get into that vibe." Wagner has implied that Metal Blade actually came up with the term in the first place, which the band rejected: "I think it was more like Metal Blade trying to be cute or something, with everything [satanic metal] being called black metal, why not call us white metal, which is a bunch of crap."