Maria Voutyriadou and Dimitris Kontogeorgakos of the Chicago-based webzine Metal Kaoz recently conducted an interview with Rick Wartell, Bruce Franklin and Kyle Thomas of Chicago’s doom finest Trouble and talked about the band’s upcoming album that is planned to be out in 2018, plus their touring plans. An excerpt follows:

Q: So, what is the update on the new Trouble album?

Rick: "Right now, we’re still on the writing process; judging by where we are and what I’m hearing… how do you describe a Trouble record? I don’t really know. We just write a bunch of riffs and if we like them, we put them together into songs. I mean, I can’t say it sounds like new stuff and I can’t say sounds like old stuff – just sounds like Trouble to me. But the thing I’m most impressed about with what we’re doing with the new stuff is I think it gave Kyle one more step into what Trouble really is whereas with the first record I think he knew more about what Trouble was for the most people out there, but now he’s been in the band and we sent him songs and he sends them back and it’s like 'Oh my god, I couldn’t picture something better for the riff than what he just did.' It’s more at home now as far as the writing goes."

Q:  So, you’re basically saying that after you’ve performed live with Kyle, now he feels more comfortable.

Rick: "He’s part of the band now more than he was when he wrote the first set of lyrics."

Kyle: "Those songs are also written before I was invited to join. This time we all writing songs with me as the singer - it’s kind of like before but now it’s like 'Okay, can you do something with these pieces of music?'"

Rick: "Exactly. Now, it’s our music."

Q: I understand that you can’t say anything about the music; you cannot compare stuff, you’re an artist, but really, honestly, does the name Trouble put any boundaries in your writing?

Rick: "Hell yeah! Without a doubt there are boundaries when you’re writing a Trouble record because, like you said, we all are artists and we have other projects, we write music not just based on Trouble. But when you’re writing a Trouble record, there are standards, I would say, more than boundaries that you have to like... (interrupting himself) You wouldn’t believe how many songs I’ve thrown into the garbage because I went 'It’s not good enough for Trouble.' It doesn’t have that Trouble vibe happening, and you have to know it’s a Trouble song when you hear it. And I can write for other bands, and these guys write great material too, but there is a standard and a sound and a Trouble vibe that you have to have for each Trouble song. And it’s like why we write like we’ve always writing for records; we pick and choose what we think it’s gonna fit together best as a collage of songs."

Kyle: "Plus, a thrash part or a jazz part or funk that probably wouldn’t fit."

Rick: "We keep trying though (laughs)."

You can read the entire interview at this location.