Trouble & Eric Wagner

 

Quite recently I had tickets to see stoner bands The Obsessed and The Skull at Café 611 in Frederick, Maryland.  I listened to both Skull albums on the treadmill, and two Obsessed albums as well.  However, when the day arrived, Friday, August 13, I was driving back from Manassas, to the Beltway (495) ostensibly on my way up to Frederick and suddenly decided not to go.  The Friday traffic was unusually thick, the weather was hot, and I had seen both bands already.

 Later I learned that The Skull had to cancel several shows, including the Frederick show, so they did not play that evening.  On Monday, August 23, I learned that Skull singer Eric Wagner had died of COVID, the underlying issue which prompted the cancellation.  I’m hearing noises which suggest that Wagner was anti-vaxx, which indicates he was NOT vaccinated.   He was 62.

 I’ll hold off on commenting on COVID or vaccination.  By now it seems every day the news lets us know of more unvaccinated victims of COVID – and no apparent fatalities from the vaccines themselves.  Anyhow.

 Sometime around the early 1990s, when Manic Frustration came out, I saw the video for “Memory’s Garden” and was hooked immediately.   This was by a Chicago thrash band called Trouble.   Classic lineup:  Eric Wagner (vocals), Bruce Franklin (guitar) (effecting a Uli Roth persona with long brown hair, mustache and bandana), Rick Wartell (guitar) (effecting a K.K. Downing persona, with long blond hair and playing Flying Vs), Ron Holzner (bass), and Jeff Olson (drums).  The band seems to take thrash as a starting point and add in some psychedelic, hippie vibe into the equation, which sets them apart from other thrash bands.  The earlier material had a quasi-Christian vibe to it, but nothing explicit I could ascertain as overtly religious, more like generic spiritual.  I suppose the absence of references to Satan (or Stan) or Hell, etc. might make them “white metal” merely by comparison with their peers, the primary competitor in question being Slayer.  Well, I can honestly say I was always much more into Trouble than Slayer, and not out of any allegiance to Jesus and his Dad. 

 Discography:  Psalm 9 (prior S/T Trouble) (1984), The Skull (1985) (that name sounds familiar); Run To the Light (1987); Trouble (second S/T album) (1990), Manic Frustration (1992) (probably their peak album); Plastic Green Head (1995); Simple Mind Condition (2007); and The Distortion Field (2013). 

Thereupon I collected the albums and managed to see one of the last Trouble concerts with Wagner on vocals (3/22/07) – then a show with Kory Clarke on vocals (9/18/08).  They have a final album, with Kyle Thomas on vocals (The Distortion Field). 

 Wagner quit Trouble in 1996 but decided not to quit music altogether.  He formed another band, Lid, which put out only one album, In The Mushroom (1997), somewhat less heavier, which includes covers of The Monkees (“Randy Scouse Bit”) and Beatles (“Don’t Let Me Down”) (the latter a bonus track on the 11 song version of the album).  This band features Danny Cavanaugh on guitar, and the BOC-esque bass/drum brother (Joe/Albert Bouchard) duo of Tymothy Reeves on bass and Tommy Reeves on drums.  This band made the album but never played live. 

 After recording a song for Dave Grohl’s Probot project, Wagner decided to rejoin Trouble, which resulted in one more album, Simple Mind Condition.  Then he quit again, for good.  After that, he formed not one but TWO bands, The Skull and Blackfinger.

 The Skull have two albums, For Those Which Are Asleep (2014), and The Endless Road Turns Dark (2018).  In addition to Wagner on vocals, are Lothar Keller (guitar), Ron Holzer (bass), and Jeff Olson & Sean Saley (drums at different times).  Blackfinger has two albums, Blackfinger (S/T) (2014) and When Colors Fade Away (2017).  This lineup is Rico Bianchi (guitar), Doug Hakes (guitar), Ben Smith (bass), and Larry Platz (drums).   I’ve seen The Skull twice in concert, but never saw Blackfinger in concert. They had a brief tour in 2014 (local show for me would have been the Sidebar in Baltimore, 8/2/14, had I known who they were), and they played the Maryland Doomfest at Café 611 in Frederick on 8/25/16.  Ironically, one of my two Skull shows was the 2017 Doomfest at the same venue. 

 I’ve noted multiple times about stoner rock bands’ tendency to simply copy Black Sabbath.  Trouble were a bit heavier, but added in more a psychedelic tinge, as do Lid, The Skull, and Blackfinger.  If you like one of these bands, chances are you’ll like the rest.  For that matter, the last Trouble album, without Wagner, is of comparable quality as well.  Sum total you have an excellent array of heavy music which falls short of being dull or repetitive, at least to my ears.