This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2011) |
Urge Overkill | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
Genres | Alternative rock, hard rock |
Years active | 1986–1997, 2004–present |
Labels | Touch and Go, Geffen |
Members | Nash Kato Eddie "King" Roeser Nate Arling Adam Arling |
Past members | Johnny "Blackie Onassis" Rowan Nils St. Cyr Chris Frantisak Mike "Hadji" Hodgekiss Brian "Bonn" Quast Burf "Sandbag" Agnew Patrick Byrne Kriss Bataille Grumpy "Crabnar" Carnitas Jack "The Jaguar" Watt Chuck Treece Scott “Fever” Evers |
Website | www |
Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass guitar). [1] They are widely known for their song "Sister Havana" and their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", which was used in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction . Oui, their latest album, was released in 2022.
Kato and Roeser met at Northwestern University in 1985. They formed Urge Overkill (getting the name from a phrase in the lyrics of the Parliament song "Funkentelechy") in Chicago in 1986, [1] with drummer Pat Byrne, and released an EP, Strange, I..., on Ruthless Records. [1] The EP was recorded by Kato's friend Steve Albini. The full-length album Jesus Urge Superstar soon followed, again produced by Albini, and with Kriss Bataille on the drums.
Americruiser saw a change in style. Jack "Jaguar" Watt (of the band Baron Lesh) was the drummer and their sound from then on has been described as a "Stonesy fusion of arena rock and punk". Produced by Butch Vig, Americruiser was widely praised, and scored a college radio hit with the lead single "Ticket to L.A." Watt returned to Baron Lesh and was replaced by Blackie Onassis (real name: John Rowan) on the next album The Supersonic Storybook , which was named by Material Issue's Jim Ellison and was released in 1991.
After opening for Nirvana on the American Nevermind tour, [2] Urge Overkill returned to the studio to record another EP Stull in 1992, which featured the tracks "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" (produced and mixed by Kramer) and "Goodbye to Guyville". Having a strong following by this time, they jumped from their indie label Touch & Go to Geffen Records. [2] Despite some criticism for the label switch, Urge Overkill's major-label debut Saturation received strong reviews upon release in 1993, [1] and to support the album, they opened for Pearl Jam on their Vs. tour. The single "Sister Havana" gave the band a hit record and broad recognition. [2]
In 1993, the band contributed the track "Take a Walk" to the AIDS relief benefit album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization. As the band recorded a follow-up album, cult filmmaker Quentin Tarantino used the group's cover version of the Neil Diamond song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" in his 1994 film Pulp Fiction . When the movie became a hit, the song made it to number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. [3]
Urge Overkill retained their sound for Exit the Dragon , released in 1995. Kato and Roeser started feuding, resulting in Roeser leaving the band. Roeser went on to perform with Jim Kimball (formerly of The Jesus Lizard) as L.I.M.E. and with his brother John in the band Electric Airlines. Now a duo consisting of Kato and Onassis, Urge Overkill moved to Sony's 550 Music in early 1997.
After a break of several years, Kato released a solo album in 2000 titled Debutante . Six of the album's 13 songs were co-written with Onassis.
In 2004, Kato and Roeser reformed Urge Overkill without Onassis, recruiting former Gaza Strippers guitarist Mike "Hadji" Hodgkiss to play bass, keyboardist Chris Frantisak, and drummer Nate Arling. The reformed Urge Overkill performed shows at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, Double Door in Chicago, First Avenue in Minneapolis and the Bowery Ballroom in New York and continued to tour through Europe, North America, and Australia.
On September 19, 2010, on the free form radio program Anything Anything with Rich Russo on WRXP-FM in New York, the first Urge Overkill song in 15 years was played. The song was called "Effigy". Russo also announced an Urge Overkill show on October 4, 2010 at Mercury Lounge in New York. Live shows began happening, including being the musical guest at a "Roast of Quentin Tarantino" on December 1, 2010. [4] The band released Rock & Roll Submarine , their first studio album in 16 years, in May 2011. A subsequent tour followed the release of the album. On October 8, 2011, Urge Overkill opened for Weezer at the Red Bull Riot Fest at the Congress Theater in Chicago.
Urge Overkill had continued to perform live occasionally from 2012 to 2018. [5] [6] By 2019, the band had begun working on new material for the follow-up to Rock & Roll Submarine. [2] [7] Oui, their first studio album in 11 years, was released on January 28, 2022. [8] Johnny "Blackie Onassis" Rowan died in June 2023. [9]
Year | Title | Label | Peak chart positions | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [10] | AUS [11] | NZ [12] | UK [13] | |||
1989 | Jesus Urge Superstar | Touch and Go | — | — | — | — |
1990 | Americruiser | — | — | — | — | |
1991 | The Supersonic Storybook | — | — | — | — | |
1993 | Saturation | Geffen | 146 | 16 | — | — |
1995 | Exit the Dragon | 129 | 6 | 50 | 88 | |
2011 | Rock & Roll Submarine | UO | — | — | — | — |
2022 | Oui | Omnivore Recordings | — | — | — | — |
Year | Title | Label |
---|---|---|
1986 | Strange, I... | Ruthless |
1992 | Stull | Touch and Go |
Year | Title | Label |
---|---|---|
2004 | Live at Maxwells 2/5/04 | eMusicLive |
Year | Title | Label |
---|---|---|
1992 | The Urge Overkill Story | Shagpile |
1993 | The Urge Overkill Story...Stay Tuned: 1988–1991 | Touch and Go |
2012 | Icon | Universal |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [14] | US Alt. [15] | US Main [16] | AUS [11] | NZ [12] | UK [13] | |||
1987 | "Lineman" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
1990 | "Ticket to L.A." | — | — | — | — | — | — | Americruiser |
1991 | "Now That's the Barclords" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
1993 | "Sister Havana" | — | 6 | 10 | — | — | 67 | Saturation |
"Dropout" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Bottle of Fur" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Positive Bleeding" | — | 23 | 40 | 61 | — | 61 | ||
1994 | "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" | 59 | 11 | — | 21 | 19 | 37 | Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction |
1995 | "The Break" | — | — | 34 | — | — | — | Exit the Dragon |
"View of the Rain" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Somebody Else's Body" | — | — | — | 47 | — | — | ||
2011 | "Effigy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Rock & Roll Submarine |
Walking into Clarksdale is the only studio album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 21 April 1998. The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Abbey Road Studios.
In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American rock band Nirvana. It was released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, Nevermind (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albini to record In Utero, seeking a more complex, abrasive sound that was also reminiscent of their debut album, Bleach (1989). Although frontman and lyricist Kurt Cobain claimed that the album was "very impersonal", many of its songs contain heavy allusions to his personal life and struggles, expressing feelings of angst that were common on Nevermind.
"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Scottish musicians Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and performed by their band Stealers Wheel.
"Son of a Preacher Man" is a song written and composed by American songwriters John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield in September 1968 for the album Dusty in Memphis.
"Evil Woman", sometimes titled "Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games with Me)", is a song by Minneapolis–St. Paul-based band Crow, on their 1969 album Crow Music. It reached number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and number 65 in Australia.
Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction is the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction, released on September 27, 1994, by MCA Records. No traditional film score was commissioned for Pulp Fiction. The film contains a mix of American rock and roll, surf music, pop and soul. The soundtrack is equally untraditional, consisting of nine songs from the film, four tracks of dialogue snippets followed by a song, and three tracks of dialogue alone. Seven songs featured in the film were not included in the original 41-minute soundtrack.
Razorblade Suitcase is the second studio album by English rock band Bush, released on 19 November 1996 by Trauma and Interscope Records. The follow-up to their 1994 debut Sixteen Stone, it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with engineer and producer Steve Albini. Its sound is more raw than that of its predecessor and has frequently been compared to Nirvana's In Utero (1993), which was also produced and engineered by Albini.
Saturation is the fourth album by American alternative rock group Urge Overkill, released in 1993 and produced by the Butcher Bros. Saturation was Urge Overkill's debut on Geffen Records, and a deliberate attempt at a hit record. The label released "Sister Havana" and "Positive Bleeding" as singles in the US and Europe. "Sister Havana" charted highly on both the modern rock and mainstream rock charts, peaking at numbers 6 and 10, respectively, while "Positive Bleeding" became a minor rock radio hit. As of 2013, Saturation has sold 277,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Taking Over is the second studio album by thrash metal band Overkill, released in March 1987 through Atlantic and Megaforce Records. The album is Overkill's last to feature drummer Rat Skates, who left the band later in 1987 and was replaced by Sid Falck. It was also the first to be released through Atlantic, who would release all of the band's albums up to W.F.O. (1994).
"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is the second single by American singer-actress Cher from her second album, The Sonny Side of Chér. It was written by her husband Sonny Bono and released in 1966. The song reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week (behind "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" by The Righteous Brothers), eventually becoming one of Cher's biggest-selling singles of the 1960s.
"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" is a song written by American musician Neil Diamond, whose recording of it on Bang Records reached number 10 on the US pop singles chart in 1967. The song enjoyed a second life when it appeared on the 1994 Pulp Fiction soundtrack, performed by rock band Urge Overkill. Other versions have been recorded by Cliff Richard (1968), Jackie Edwards (1968), the Biddu Orchestra (1978), and 16 Volt (1998).
"Overkill" is a song by Australian pop rock band Men at Work. It was released in March 1983 as the second single from their second studio album Cargo. Written by lead singer Colin Hay, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100; No. 5 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart; and top 10 in Canada, Ireland, and Norway. The song was a departure from the group's style of reggae-influenced pop rock, featuring a melancholic feel musically and lyrically.
DGC Rarities Vol. 1 is a rarities album compiled by DGC Records and released in 1994. The songs featured on this album are all B-sides, demos, covers and other rarities recorded by bands on the label. Despite the implications of the title, plans for other volumes were shelved.
Rock & Roll Submarine is an album by alternative rock band Urge Overkill, released in 2011. It was their first album in sixteen years.
Exit the Dragon is the fifth album by American alternative rock group Urge Overkill, released in 1995. Exit the Dragon is characterized as being a darker album than their previous album, Saturation. It was their final album until 2011 saw the release of Rock & Roll Submarine, sixteen years after Exit the Dragon.
The Supersonic Storybook is the third album by American alternative rock group Urge Overkill. It was released on March 15, 1991 on Touch and Go Records, and was produced by Steve Albini, a former roommate of the band. The album was named by Material Issue's Jim Ellison, who was a good friend of the band.
Americruiser is the second album by American alternative rock group Urge Overkill, released in 1990.
Jesus Urge Superstar is the debut studio album by the alternative rock band Urge Overkill. It was released in 1989. The album is noted for its ironic 1970s-worshipping aesthetic.
Debutante is the solo debut album by the American musician Nash Kato, released in 2000. It was Kato's first musical release since Urge Overkill's Exit the Dragon; Kato had failed in his attempt to legally secure the UO name. The album's title was suggested by former Urge Overkill bandmate Blackie Onassis.
Stull is the second extended play by the alternative rock band Urge Overkill. It was released in 1992 and would be the band's final major release on independent label Touch and Go Records. The EP's title and cover are direct references to Stull Cemetery, located just west of Lawrence, Kansas. Since the 1970s, urban legends have been spread that the cemetery is one of the seven portals to Hell. Stull also includes a cover of Neil Diamond's song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", which would later be re-released on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Upon re-issue, Urge Overkill's version of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" charted at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Stull EP received largely positive reviews from critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic and Johan Kugelberg of Spin both complimenting the record.