Preview
URGE
Tuesday, May 4
Night Gallery
"That’s a very good question." So says Nash Kato, frontman of the newly reformed Chicago rock sensations Urge Overkill who isn’t exactly sure just when it was that the band rebanded.
"We’ve been (touring) for a couple of months." It’s not that the band’s "well-documented excesses" are again out of control, but more that he doesn’t want to jinx what is thus far a well-received second coming.
After the better part of a decade apart, the Urge is once again commanding the complete attention of its two remaining original members. Drummer Blackie Onasis is off the team, while Kato and Eddie "King" Roeser are joined by drummer Nate Arling, bassist Mike Hodgkiss and keyboardist Chris Frantisak. Word on the street has it that Urge Part II, having geared down on the mega-lounge, superstar stage persona, has picked up where it left off.
Having looked and acted bigger-than-life, the band wasn’t quite ready for actual bigness when it came calling. Saturation, released in 1993, put Urge in the top alt-rock echelon. Scoring a big commercial hit and a spot on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack with a cover of Neil Diamond’s "Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon," the band wobbled and collapsed under the usual rock ‘n’ roll infighting and overindulgence. Exit The Dragon, the band’s aptly titled 1995 release, despite its high points, was critically panned.
On their own, Kato recorded an OK solo album, Debutante, while Roeser formed Electric Airlines. Both men are at work on new material that may fit their respective solo ambitions or wind up on a new Urge CD. Live performances feature a couple of these new songs, and a live CD and DVD recorded during recent tours is a possibility.
"People ask us all the time if a new Urge project is in the works," Kato explains coyly. "An honest response to that is ‘I don’t know.’ We’re just seeing how these shows go." All is going well so far. The current tour is getting favourable reviews and continues to snowball with new dates. A few coming shows in Europe, for example, have ballooned into a six week tour. Sold out dates and smaller but nonetheless smiling seas of faces greet the band nightly.
The band is picking up where it left off. "We took a much-needed, curiously lengthy hiatus," he says with a wry snicker. "We never went away." The band’s 2004 sound is easy for Kato to define. "In a word, Urge. Something happens when King and I put our voices and guitars together. It always comes out sounding like Urge." Relieved as they were to get away from the band eight years ago, both he and King are excited to be on stage together again.
In the interest of not blowing it, this time out the excesses aren’t as excessive. "Well," he qualifies, "it’s rock ‘n’ roll. Sex and drugs are naturally written in the job description – whether that’s a detriment or not. There are certain clichés that befall any rock band. We’re a little older, a little wiser, so hopefully that is a thing of the past."
One would expect then, that the bigger-than-life playboy, lounge lizard stance that defined the band during the 1990s must be somewhat diminished. It is, however, still a part of the show. No audience, explains Kato, has been left unsatisfied. "It’s Urge, our fans expect nothing less. We not only sound like Urge, we appear as Urge. It’s a golden rule we’ve always held in high regard: to sound good you have to look good."
While the fast-livin’ aspect of Urge existence is tamed, charming nonchalance remains intact. Kato feels little pressure to live up to the band’s benchmarks. "I’d say none," he deadpans. "We set the bar pretty high for ourselves but we’re the ones that set it. It’s a welcome challenge to resurrect the band. It’s just been a lot of fun."
Kato is shocked at just how quickly they’ve pulled it all back together again. "We’re pleasantly surprised at the response almost a decade after the fact that people still want to hear this music. We frankly didn’t know what to expect, given that we’re not peddling any new product or anything."
When Urge packed it in some years ago, the band had verged on arena stature, with attendant difficulties and egomaniacal side effects. This time out, and for now at least, the band has left that baggage at the door. "We’re just taking it one day at a time," concludes Kato. "There’s no managers, no label – this couldn’t continue forever, but this is the most ideal form. It’s all about the band and fans – no middlemen. It’s pretty idyllic." |
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