John: First up, why reunite and give it another go?
Bruce: I think everyone had time to get away from Trouble and work on their own music - Lid, Supershine, Wet Animal... Someone asked us to play a one-time show. We did and it felt good! So after a few years apart everyone kind of felt a passion to try and do Trouble again. Being a few years older and wiser didn`t hurt either.
John: You just got done touring the US and Europe. Overall, which treated you better?
Bruce: Both were really good. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many longtime Troubleheads turn out.
Europe may have a slight edge, because the smallest shows were still bigger than the smallest American shows. The cool thing is that people seem to really respect the band at this point in time. Probably more because we`re old than anything else.
John: From what I heard, the New Hampshire show was a bit of a debacle, with your set time being cut in half due to an overcrowded and mismatched bill. Was it a calculated decision to play a bill with Powerman 5000, a band that seemingly doesn`t share the same fan base as Trouble? And how do you think you went down with that crowd?
Bruce: No. It boils down to a booking agent trying to fill a tour schedule. The agent was looking to book a show in that area and his best option was sharing a bill with Powerman 5000. I think the club owner underestimated the power of our draw. There were Trouble fans that couldn`t even get in because this weird club only lets in about 300 people at a time. About half the crowd were there to see us [not counting the ones still waiting outside] and the other half seemed a little intimidated by us and our crowd. After a few songs most the people seemed to dig it. Consequently, halfway through our set, the people with the club said we could play about 15 minutes longer. It was a weird show.
John: Did you have any say in what bands you`d play with? If not, who would you liked to have played with?
Bruce: Not in America. This last tour there were all local bands playing in each city. A few were good, but most weren`t.
In Europe, a band out of Britain called Rise to Addiction did the whole tour with us. I thought that they were excellent. Real pros musically and a bunch of good blokes to boot.
John: Simple Mind Condition has had its release date pushed back repeatedly. What`s with the delays?
Bruce: Contrary to some of the crazy rumors, it really comes down to record company red tape and financial crap. On the band`s part, the record has been done for over a year.
John: Do you think the constant reshuffling will have a negative effect, in the sense that eventually people will ultimately just stop caring about a new Trouble album and just download it?
Bruce: It seems so. As usual, Trouble has all the luck. Bad luck!
On the positive side , the new record is out in Europe and is supposed to be out in August in the States. Even better is that it`s a good record. Of course every band will say their new record is good.
I`m not a bullshitter though, and Simple Mind Condition isn`t the best record we have made, but it is a good record that should be heard by anyone that likes what Trouble does.
John: Along those lines, why was an unmastered version sent out for review? I think in this day and age, it`s a given that promotional copies are going to be sold or uploaded and therefore available for all. How inaccurate a representation is the unmastered version?
Bruce: Once again, I have to lay that on the record company. After 25+ years in this business nothing surprises me. The funny thing is that it sounds a lot cooler after the mastering. Darker and fatter is the way I would describe it.
John: Why did you decide to open the album with a remake of �Goin` Home�?
Bruce: We discussed this as a band at length. This song was released on the One for the Road, limited to 1000 copies CD. We sold it on tour in Europe only. Now we understand that people burn copies and other lowlifes bootleg, but we figured that a whole lot of people hadn`t heard it. It felt like a good song musically and lyrically to open the album. We figured that a lot more than the few thousand that have heard One for the Road would be hearing this new album.
John: Given the band`s long history, what`s your take on downloading and file sharing and the current musical climate?
Bruce: It means that less and less musicians can support themselves with their music because people aren`t paying for it. I can`t support myself with only music. Unless some miracle happens, there won`t be anymore Black Sabbaths, Led Zeppelins, Metallicas, etc. There won`t be enough money from sales and there won`t be money from record companies because they`ll all be gone. No bands will be able to do big budget tours and advertising will be minimal. The music world will be an indie nation with no band having longevity because it will just be too hard to keep a career sustained.
John: Do you think the ease and availability of downloadable music has lessened its impact as art? That since it`s so easy to get music, it`s become more disposable?
Bruce: Yes, at the risk of sounding like a dinosaur, buying a record used to be an event. Going to a record store and buying a record was a whole process of examining record sleeves artwork, song titles and band photos. For instance, I bought Judas Priest`s Sad Wings of Destiny because I liked the name, the sleeve artwork, and the pictures of the band on the back. I took it home and was ensconced in the music and the album artwork, photos, and print all at the same time. With CDs the same can be done, but the much smaller CD booklet isn`t as enjoyable. With downloaded music, the art and image is all gone. It`s one or two dimensional as opposed to three dimensional. I can see that being much more disposable.
John: Since the general consensus is that CDs are headed for extinction, how do you think that`s going to effect working, touring bands? How would you like to see the music industry evolve?
Bruce: It means much less merchandise money. So a whole lot of bands won`t be able to afford to tour, because merchandise is what makes it possible for smaller bands to make it on the road without record company support.
I really don`t have an answer for the industry. Even worse, I don`t think the industry has an answer either.
John: There`s been talk of an unplugged album for quite some time. Give me the lowdown on that.
Bruce: We recorded that before we signed to Escapi Music. So we were going to sell it on our website. Now Escapi wants to release it, but they wanted the new album to come out first, which makes sense. I think we may record three or four more songs and make it a full length.
There may be some people that think an acoustic album is a waste. I wasn`t convinced at first, but after we finished what we did, I thought it was pretty cool.
John: And while we`re on the topic of albums, give me your thoughts on your past releases.
Psalm 9
Bruce: I was 22 when we recorded it. We had one main goal. Make a HEAVY record in the tradition of early Sabbath and early Priest. Recorded in two weeks and mixed in a couple days.
The Skull
Bruce: Recorded six months later; some of these songs were written at the same time as the first album. In our minds heavier never meant faster. Black Sabbath and even Pink Floyd were heavy to us. So we tried to make what we thought was a heavier album. Proto-doom? Recorded in three weeks, mixed in a couple days. Could do without all the reverb.
Run to the Light
Bruce: The only Trouble record recorded in Chicago. We thought that it was about time that we incorporated some of our other influences in the music - Beatles, Doors, Captain Beyond, Deep Purple, among others. We didn`t quite achieve what we set out to do, but we learned a lot in the process. This is my least favorite Trouble album, but it has some cool moments. Recorded in three and a half weeks, mixed in four days.
Trouble
Bruce: My favorite Trouble album. I was very determined to make this a great record. Working with Rick Rubin and being signed to Def American enabled us to work in some of the best recording studios in L. A. Have wonderful memories of recording this album even though it was hard work. I was in the studio for every minute of the more than 200 hours of recording for this album. Recorded in five weeks, mixed in about seven days.
Manic Frustration
Bruce: Rick Rubin put us in a studio on the top of a mountain in Malibu. A studio The Moody Blues built in the `70`s. It had a cabin with sleeping quarters and really awesome view down the mountain to the ocean. There wasn`t much to do but record since we were pretty secluded, Rubin came and put up Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin posters and lots of candles. Recorded in about a little more than three weeks, which included four or five extra tracks. Don`t know the mixing time since Rubin mixed it without us.
Plastic Green Head
Bruce: Recorded in the same studio as Manic, but had a different vibe. There were some personal and band problems and it showed somewhat in the recording. Still there are some good songs but there were cracks in Trouble`s armor. Recorded in two and a half weeks, mixed in one week.
John: When will we see more reissues from the band?
Bruce: I think Plastic Green Head is out in Europe and it includes a three camera pro shot DVD. From what I hear, Psalm 9, The Skull, and Plastic Green Head will all be available in the States once the new album is finally released. At this time we don`t own the rights to Run to the Light, Trouble, or Manic Frustration, so they are out of our hands.
John: Trouble`s often described as �a band that should`ve been bigger. � What do you think led to this?
Bruce: Probably the fact that we have influenced a few different multi-million selling bands along with a lot of underground type bands. We were signed to a major label and made our best records when we were there, but just didn`t get over the hump. You gotta have some luck, catch some breaks, and make the most of every opportunity. Obviously that didn`t quite happen
John: And in spite of that hyperbole, Trouble`s still a massive influence on the current doom scene. Have you kept up with the new bands playing doom, and are there any that really stand out?
Bruce: I`m sorry, but I don`t know many of the new bands.
John: Shit, these are a bunch of miserable questions. Got anything positive to say?
Bruce: These were good questions. It`s taken me two hours to answer them. Hope people get something out of it. What, I don`t know.
