While Urge Overkill was labelled alternative rock, they emerged from Chicago in the late ’80s- early ’90s looking and sounding very different from what was popular at the time. Its members wore giant medallions and velvet shirts. They had a sense of humour and paid homage to Jimmy Web, Hot Chocolate and Neil Diamond.
Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser’s Beginnings
Vocalists and guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser both grew up in Minnesota, but they didn’t meet until 1985 when they both attended Chicago’s Northwestern University.
Before he was known as Nash Kato, Nathan Katruud grew up with Norwegian parents in the racially mixed south side of Minnesota. Nathan’s father was a Lutheran minister who introduced him to funk music and gospel choirs. Roeser was a child of 70’s AM radio including Paul McCartney, Wings, and Badfinger.
Roeser attended Chicago’s Northwestern where he met producer Steve Albini and Lyle Preslar, with whom he was roommates. Preslar had previously played with the hardcore D.C punk band Minor Threat.
Kato started a short-lived band with Preslar, but it was clear that their approach to music was drastically different.
“…I hooked up with Eddie and we started Urge Overkill.” – Nash Kato
Kato told Forbes, “Lyle and I were originally going to start a band. He was in Minor Threat and they broke up because he went to NU. But we were going to start this band and it ended when I asked him, ‘Hey, what are we gonna wear?’ And he was like, ‘What the f—k are you talking about?’ I went, ‘Well, you know, we have to wear something on stage’… And then he transferred and I hooked up with Eddie and we started Urge Overkill.”
Kato and Reoser later added drummer Pat Byrne.
One of the band’s first fans was Steve Albini who acted as producer for the group’s debut EP Strange I… in 1986.
“We were trying to shock people.” – Eddie Roeser
The band became known for their flamboyant and flashy image and humour which was part of their whole package. Roeser told the LA Times the purpose of dressing up like that, “We were trying to shock people. I mean, for all the supposed ‘punk rock’ that was going on in Chicago, the bands all dressed like cops. They all had crew cuts, the black T-shirts, the boots, and they all looked the same. I thought, ‘This is punk? This is think-for-yourself?”
Urge Overkill’s sound was hard to nail down and was described by Rolling Stone as “infused sound arena-rock pop and punk”. Others likened them to the Beatles or Cheap Trick of the 90’s alternative rock generations.
Along the way they changed their drummers, bringing in long-time fan John Rowan in 1989, who later became known as “Blackie Hollywood” and finally “Blackie Onasis”.
“Don’t make any apologies for what you’re doing and don’t worry what your friends in hard-core bands think.” – John ‘Blackie Onasis’ Rowan
Onassis got into rock drumming with a neighbourhood basement band and eventually fell into the rock scene when he moved to the north side. Upon joining the band, he told them, “Don’t make any apologies for what you’re doing and don’t worry what your friends in hard-core bands think. This is a great gag. Let’s run with it.“
The group got a lot of attention from Spin Magazine during the early ’90s before they got signed to a major label. They touted them as the next big thing and compared their 1990 album Americruiser as “a punk rock version of ZZ Top’s Eliminator”.
“We were ready to throw in the towel.” – Nash Kato
Despite all the hype, the band nearly called it quits. Rock was feeling stale by 1990 and 1991 and Kato admitted to Spin, “We were ready to throw in the towel. There was no concrete manifestation or any demand for rock. Nobody wanted to hear it anymore. We were like, ‘We’re in the wrong business,’ and then out of the blue, Nirvana picked us up.”
By the end of 1991, Nirvana took Urge Overkill out on the road with them through Europe and the midwest. It proved to be the biggest favour anybody had done for the band so far.
Urge Overkill Signs with Geffen Records
According to the Chicago Tribune, while the band was on tour in Italy with Nirvana, Blackie and Kato took a walk with Kurt Cobain who told the group not to abandon their fashion gag and to sign with Geffen Records, the same label Nirvana was signed to. That’s exactly what the group did. Urge Overkill inked a deal with Geffen in 1992.
Not everyone was happy with the band’s move to a major label. Allegedly, the move resulted in bitter feelings between Steve Albini and the band. Albini claimed that the band promised in a handshake deal to have him produce their next album and put it out on Touch and Go Records but signing with Geffen afforded the band the ability to work with a variety of different producers.
Bitter Feelings Between Steve Albini and Urge Overkill
Blackie told The Baltimore Sun, “A lot of producers have such a dogmatic style. They want things to sound one way — their way — because their name is going on the record… But in the end, your music should be what you want it to sound like. He,” referring to Albini, “had done a record for us before. He basically took our songs and gave them his sound, and none of us were happy with it…
So when we came back to do Supersonic Storybook, he tried to do it again, and we were like, ‘No. We’re going to keep the guitars clean, we’re going to keep the vocals loud, and we’re going to put some bass in the mix.’ He got all ticked off and at the end, he took his name off the record.”
The tension between Albini and the band led to bickering in the press. Albini referred to the band as “spoiled children” and “a sad comedy” according to Spin magazine.
Urge Overkill Record Neil Diamond Cover for Pulp Fiction
The band delivered their final recording for Touch and Go Records, an EP named Stull. The EP contained a cover of the Neil Diamond song “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”. The cover was included in the Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction. The band’s cover peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Rock Charts by the end of 1994.
The band later met Neil Diamond at one of his shows. Diamond wished the band luck telling them to leave room at the top for him.
The success of Pulp Fiction and its soundtrack, coupled with the band’s major-label debut being released around the same time propelled the group’s sales and resulted in the band’s singles “Sister Havana” and “Positive Bleeding” getting airplay on both rock radio and MTV.
Unlike the alternative rock acts who were popular in the early ’90s, Urge Overkill had a sense of humour, they had stage names, had put a lot of thought into their look, didn’t take themselves too seriously and they didn’t chase trends or have one principal songwriter.
“Our self-confidence is at a level where we don’t have to prove our masculinity with any bogus caveman grunts.” – John ‘Blackie Onasis’ Rowan
Blackie told Spin magazine, “We are for the ladies. Our self-confidence is at a level where we don’t have to prove our masculinity with any bogus caveman grunts.”
It was a far cry from the popular bands at the time who hailed from the west coast, whether it was Seattle or LA. Kato added in the same interview, “We do rock out, but we’re about writing good songs first and foremost. A lot of bands seem afraid to show that they have more emotions than anger. We are not afraid.”
Internal Tension and Drug Use Cause Issues in the Band
The group put out their follow-up album for Geffen in 1995 but this release represented a low point in the members’ personal relationships. Kato and Roeser weren’t on talking terms, recording their parts in separate studios. Adding to the tension, Blackie was using heroin, something he’d find himself in handcuffs for by the end of the year.
The band’s tour to support their final album of the ’90s saw them run into trouble with their opening act Guided By Voices. The band was dropped off the tour after one of Urge Overkill’s roadies and security personnel beat up the group’s frontman after they attempted to perform an encore.
In addition to losing Guided By Voices, the band’s tour was hampered by other problems, most notably playing in half-empty venues and slow ticket sales which resulted in the group scrapping the dates.
The poor album sales, in-fighting and Blackie’s heroin addiction resulted in the group combusting. Roeser told Rolling Stone, “Urge Overkill had the positive energy of the Monkees — an all-for-one, one-for-all type thing. We had songs that were serious, heartfelt rock, but the spirit of the thing was good times. Towards the end, when tensions in the band were overwhelming, the spirit of that became a sham. It was dishonest to continue.”
The End of Urge Overkill
In the summer of 1997, 4 years after Urge Overkill shot to popularity, the band called it quits. After going solo Roesser and Nash would eventually reunite in 2004 with Roeser telling Rolling Stone “I couldn’t go to a show without ten people coming up and saying, ‘You guys have to get back together,’”
The band reunited but not with Blackie. Roeser explained to Rolling Stone, “He hasn’t proven himself to be a model citizen.”
With the band’s reunion, they toned down their flamboyant style. Roeser told Rolling Stone, “We became tired of it. The more we did it, the more people focused on that. It was like, maybe you’ve noticed, but we can write songs. Now we just hit the stage in the tradition of James Brown and some of the soul groups, where you look sharp, but it’s not a big yuk-yuk, wink-wink thing.”
The band toured in the years that followed and put out 2 new albums including 2011’s Rock N’ Roll Submarine and 2022’s Oui. They also appeared as a musical guest at the roast of Quentin Tarantino.
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