If ever a band seemed destined for stardom in the early '90s, it was Urge Overkill. Hailing from Chicago, they had killer riffs, ironic attitude, and adulation of critics and fans alike. They had opened for Nirvana on the Nevermind tour and Pearl Jam on the Vs. tour. Saturation had been a critical and commercial hit (by this author's estimation, it was the 18th greatest album of all time) and "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" had been featured in the landmark cultural touchstone Pulp Fiction.
Yet after releasing Exit The Dragon, the band dissolved, victims of its own success. Blessedly, they have re-emerged in recent years, playing shows and even releasing an excellent album, Rock & Roll Submarine, in 2011. Lucky fans in Orlando and Atlanta get the pleasure of seeing them with another band-of-the-moment, Phoenix, this week. In anticipation of this, I caught up with guitarist/vocalist Eddie "King" Roeser to talk about the shows, their music, and how Urge fits into the musical landscape of today.
You're scheduled to appear with Phoenix on May 8 in Orlando and May 9 in Atlanta. What sparked that collaboration?
Phoenix invited us to join them for those shows. Apparently they've been fans of Urge for a long time and consider us an influence. So does Daft Punk, who is part of that whole scene with them in France. Three or four of the guys came to one of our recent shows and they reached out to us to have us play with them, which is a righteous thing to do.
You're not actively touring right now, but you are supporting your latest album, Rock & Roll Submarine. Prior to that it had been sixteen years since your last album, Exit The Dragon. What got Urge back into the studio?
We wanted to see if we were still capable of doing anything "Urge-worthy" and differentiated from our solo work. I'd been trying to have a career after Urge doing solo stuff. I had some music I didn't even bother releasing. I was signed to Matador at the time, but they called me up and said they didn't even know how to promote it, which was really hard. The fact is Nash and I both had a half-hearted approach to solo projects. Ultimately, the band chemistry... it's just better. When you're playing with a band, if you have that chemistry you get better musical results.
Someone hanging with Nash suggested an Urge show. We had a lot of support in Chicago to make that happen. We were hesitant; people don't understand how intense the creative differences were, or how insane and acrimonious it could be. When we broke up, I was really down. It was a horrible experience. With what happens with success... well you can fill in the blanks.
We probably should have taken some time off at the time instead of breaking up. But we did end up taking a break, I guess, and when we got back together it ended up being a lot of fun. We slowly started playing more shows. We were still re-establishing ourselves. We needed to make sure we were happy with what we were putting out there.
