“The original version of “In Troubled Times” is the tune we typically open our concerts with. It has a climactic, intense vibe which is great to get things started – but also it’s pretty much the song that sums up the state of the TRANK sound, that blend of 90’s stoner-inspired riffs and bass lines with post-punk or industrial electronics, massive drums and anthemic vocals. This version is something we created as we were putting the “Deluxe version of our album together – the intro is loosely based on the live version, and the rest of the mix pushes the original’s machine-driven side to the limits. It still sounds very much like TRANK, but with a more openly “industrial” edge which we love as well, and we hope it gets more people to discover the rest of the songs.
Like all the songs on “The Ropes” – our first album – the lyrics are about some form of dependence or domination in relationships. On one level, “In Troubled Times” is the open confession of a mass manipulator – who admits that they take advantage of whatever distress their followers might be going through, to manipulate them into feeding his ego; and they know their followers depend upon them so much that they would even forgive the open confession. On another level – that sort of manipulation also applies to many other, more personal relationships.
There’s another video, for the original version of the song (the one that got us spotted by Deep Purple when we released it), and it sort of illustrated the story of the lyrics – but THIS video was created by Alban, our visual director, specifically for this remix : it alludes to the imagery used in the video for the original song (the flaming throne) – but really it’s more about enhancing the electro-industrial vibe of the mix.”
