ATLRetro

By William Ashton
Contributing Writer

Few realized it at the time, but the 1990s were halcyon days for rock n roll. Even a band as hard to categorize as Chicago’s Urge Overkill could grab a major-label deal, than score a left-field hit with a Neil Diamond cover (“Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” as heard in 1994’s PULP FICTION). The irresistibly ambitious trio never quite became huge, but their big sound (power-punk meets the Stones?) and ironic look (remember their medallions?) stood out in a time of by-the-numbers grunge and unabashed pop. They toured a lot, and made some great records. The band eventually split after personal disagreements – and drummer Blackie Onassis’ heroin addiction – made it “no fun” to be in UO, according to Eddie “King” Roeser, UO’s guitarist and bassist.

But in 2004, Roeser and UO singer/guitarist Nash Kato began playing some low-key shows, leading to their first album since 1995 (2011’s ROCK AND ROLL SUBMARINE) and a new commitment to the band. Now a quartet (and without Onassis), the group plays Atlanta’s Tabernacle Thursday, May 9, opening for French group Phoenix, whose most recent album made the U.S. top 10.

Roeser says UO’s return is more of a continuation than a comeback.

ATLRetro: How did you get hooked up with Phoenix, and will their audience like UO?

Roeser: They were at our shows in Paris and New York. It was Daft Punk that turned them on to us. Phoenix are giving something back to their musical elders. They are in a position to have muscle now. And I think they are rising to international domination.

We’re not on tour, just doing a couple of shows at the request of Phoenix. We’re playing a couple of shows, then they fly back [to Europe] to do festivals. I look at Phoenix and see some things in common with UO – the team dynamic, brotherly love, and the outlandish potential, evocative lyrics that give you a sense of what the song is about but aren’t always on the nose.

Tell me about your new music.

It’s sort of a miracle it has held up for us. We started playing again long before a record materialized. We thought it would be quick work, but it wasn’t. The fear after a break was that you can’t get the sound back easily. Eventually the sound was very recognizable as Urge. The goal was more of a continuation. We weren’t reinventing the wheel. We knew we had a good wheel. We wanted to make a record that stacked with the others and did.

ROCK AND ROLL SUBMARINE fits in with your other records.

It wasn’t quite as polished as SATURATION [UO’s big-budget  1993 debut for Geffen Records]. We didn’t have the big production values; we did SATURATION to the hilt. Then we went radically the other way with EXIT. One thing about Urge records: we didn’t have a defined sound, like Weezer or something. We spread the approach song by song.

You and Nash got back together, but Blackie Onassis did not. Didn’t he stay in UO after you left in the ‘90s?

Those two [Kato and Onassis] tried to continue the band – but no records were released. Nash said I didn’t see the worst of it. If you get a dependency problem, if you end up needing heroin every day, that’s your priority. He [Onassis] was so ashamed of it, so secretive. He kinda bailed at the last minute – more than once.

When will there be a new Urge record?

We’re nearly done with kind of touching up the tracks, mixing them now. The next step is to try to get a release date. We are releasing it ourselves; a big label takes a share of the publishing and merchandizing. This is by necessity a low-key release. Our hope and expectation now are to keep our music in line with what it has always been. We aren’t making radical changes in our sound, we’re not gonna come up with gimmicks. We’re keeping it real, continuing to do what we do best.