By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 24, 1995
Urge Overkill; the Geraldine Fibbers
7 tonight
Riviera, 4746 N. Racine
$15.50
Urge Overkill is at a precarious point in its career. The Chicago-based trio got a taste of stardom with the one-two punch of its last album, “Saturation,” and the inclusion of its cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” on the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack. Finally, the flamboyant band that dressed for success was dressed appropriately. They made TV appearances. They not only had fans, they had a celebrity fan (Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders).
Now with their new CD, “Exit the Dragon” – both an homage to the late Bruce Lee’s film “Enter the Dragon” and a reference to the accidental death of Lee’s son Brandon – the trio has a lot to prove. Folks are just dying to see if these nattily dressed musicians are all packaging and no substance. And the band, according to vocalist Nash Kato, is up to the challenge.
“When we started out, I very much considered us to be a punk band,” Kato said. “But the way we dressed sort of got us shunned from the punk rock movement. (Urge Overkill) always shared a certain fashion flair, but there was also this element of, `There are a million bands out there standing in endless breadlines and how can we flap our wings a little and be noticed?’ And our clothes were one way. The irony is that punk was always preaching, `think for yourself,’ and so we did. But it didn’t groove with what all the other bands were into. But that’s cool.”
Urge – which also includes drummer Blackie Onassis and guitarist Eddie “King” Roeser – is on its first U.S. tour in 1 1/2 years and plays a homecoming concert tonight at the Riviera Theatre. The band can croon with the best of them, but it’s the rockers that make their gigs come alive.
The band likes to reinvent itself, but “Saturation” fans will be pleased to know that “Dragon” doesn’t stray too far from that album. The anthemic rock songs that Kato is so adept at writing are there, as are Onassis’ darker, moodier numbers. While the CD doesn’t have an obvious single (such as “Positive Bleeding” and “Sister Havana” from “Saturation”), there are a couple of radio potentials in the catchy “Take Me” and “View of the Rain.”
As with its fashion sense, Urge Overkill’s biggest musical influences spring from ’70s rock gods such as Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy and Foreigner. But the band Kato likens his group to in terms of longevity is Chris Isaak’s.
Both bands have had more or less the same lineup for the last 10 years, and both dress up for public appearances. But when the two fashion-plate bands had a schmooze fest after a recent Isaak concert, Kato good-naturedly acknowledged that Isaak’s camp easily won.
“If I had any illusions at all about being a good dresser, they were all laid to rest when Chris walked onstage wearing this incredible mirror ball suit,” Kato said. “I looked at it and was just like, `I give up.’ It weighs a good 60 pounds, but Chris is in total shape and can pull it off. I think I’d tip over.”
Then when Kato heard the mirror ball jacket had been stolen, he sympathized.
“I’m so bummed for him,” he said. “People can get really obsessive. We’ve been ripped off. Fans used to always be after our medallions and articles of clothing, which is a little strange because you don’t think of things like that when you pick up a guitar. But when you get onstage, all of a sudden you become this thing that they’re not and they want a piece of it. You just learn to deal with it.”
Something more difficult for him to deal with was the billing for the recent Smashing Pumpkins; Cheap Trick show, in which the latter was the opening act.
“I like the Pumpkins and am really happy for their success,” he said. “But I don’t care how big Urge ever got – I could never have Cheap Trick open for us. Cheap Trick shouldn’t open. They’re legends. And after (Trick vocalist) Robin (Zander) sang, there’s no way I’d even have the nerve to go onstage. You just can’t top them.”
Not even wearing a mirror ball suit.
