Urge Overkill

f. 1985, Chicago, IL, USA

 

Few bands ever lusted after rock rock stardom quite as blatantly as Chicago's Urge Overkill. Although they draped their quest for stardom in a cloak or ironic detachment, it quite clear that the trio expected that if they acted like stars. they would become stars. For a while, their stylish retro-'70s outfit, matching medallions, and heavy Cheap Trick homages earned the group a popular following in alternative rock circles. The Supersonic Storybook and the Stull EP were both underground hits in the early '90s, before alternative rock became big business. Once alternative rock entered the big leagues, it seemed likely that Urge Overkill, with their exceptionally accessible combination of arena rock, powerpop and underground punk, would follow Nirvana to the top of the chart, but mainstream America never quite understood their ironic outlook, embracing the group only after their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon" was used in a key scene in Pulp Fiction. Instead of breaking the doors to the stardom, the song proved to be a breaking point. Exit the Dragon, the first album released after the hit single, was a bomb, receiving little radio or MTV support, and the band soon fell prey to their widely-documented excesses.

  Of course, Urge Overkill were always unlikely candidates for rock stardom. The group's core members, Nash Kato (born Nathan Katruud; occasionally billed as National Kato) and Eddie "King" Roeser were Midwest suburbanites who met at college in Chicago. Taking their name from a Parliament song, the duo formed Urge Overkill in 1985 with drummer Jack Watt (billed as "The Jaguar") and recorded their debut EP, Strange, I... with Kato's roommate Steve Albini the following year. Neither Strange, I nor its full-length follow-up, the Albini-produced Jesus Urge Superstar, gained much attention, primarily because the group was attempting to replicate the noise-rock aesthetic of so many other Chicago-based acts on Touch & Go Records. However, the Butch Vig-produced Americruiser (1990), featured an improved sound and sense of style, highlighted on the near-college hit, "Ticket to LA".

  Drummer Black Onassis (born Johnny Rowan) was added to the band prior to recording their third album. With Onassis in the band, the group landed on their Stonesy fusion of arena rock and punk, as well as their idea to act like stars. The new Urge Overkill was debuted in 1991's The Supersonic Storybook, which became an underground hit thanks to strong reviews and a slot opening for Nirvana on the American Nevermind tour. Urged hired Kramer to produce the 1992 Stull EP, which featured both "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon" and "Goodbye to Guyville", a kiss-off to the Chicago indie-rock scene that the band has alienated; Liz Phair would later borrow the term "guyville" for her acclaimed debut album, Exile in Guyville.

  Urge Overkill signed to DGC Records in 1992, although they will still contracted to record another record for Touch & Go. Their jump to the major angered all of Touch & Go, particularly their former producer Albini, who publicity attacked the band in several interviews. Still, the band's 1993 major-label debut, Saturation, was greeted with strong reviews upon its summer release. Produced by the Butcher Brothers (Cypress Hill), the album sounded like a sure-fire alternative crossover hit, but only "Sister Havana" earned much airplay. Furthermore, the band began to alienate certain members of the rock community with its constant preening, and a a few anti-Urge campaigns were launched in the American indie-rock underground.

  As the band was preparing to record its follow up to Saturation, Quentin Tarantino picked the group's cover of "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon" for the soundtrack to his unexpected hit, Pulp Fiction. On the strength of the movie's success, the song became a hit, seemingly setting the stage for a breakthrough success with 1995's Exit the Dragon. The success never happened. Scheduled for early summer of 1995, the band did not appear until the fall, when it was greeted with mixed reviews. The lead single from the album, "The Break", was rather uncommercial, and received little airplay. The band began a tour that fall which quickly turned disastrous, with opening act Guided By Voices being kicked off the tour amidst much controversy a few weeks into the tour. A few weeks later, the remaining concerts were cancelled altogether; they were never rescheduled. Toward the end of the year, Blackie Onassis was picked up for heroin possession. No charges were pressed and the incident was kept quiet, but the album was already pronounced dead in the water by the media and DGC. Urge Overkill spent 1996 in seclusion as they attempted to regroup. By the end of the years, tensions between Nash Kato and Eddie "King" Roeser has escalated, resulting in Roeser's departure from the band. Kato and Onassis continued on as a duo, leaving DGC for 500 Music in early 1997. As the band were preparing their first album for 550 Music, Roeser was replaced with guitarist Nils St. Cyr.