Show Review

“This is Saturday night? You guys feel a little like a Monday...“ Urge Overkill’s Nash Kato mentioned matter-of-factly to the sparse crowd assembled at the fabulous 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. After nearly a decade on hiatus with no new record in tow, and one-third of the original line-up (drummer Blackie Onasis) rumored to be living in squalor and battling addiction; Kato should have been more surprised if the club was packed. Regardless of attendance, the band refused to phone it home, and instead delivered a fistfight tight set that revealed no rust from the extended respite. Eddie “The King” Roeser pairs with Kato for a two headed rock monster-- the bar band blues man with his blistering guitar work and the glamorous smoky throated spaghetti armed rock star with an affinity for cheap guitars. The match worked in the nineties and these men playing those same songs proved timeless tonight in Athens.

Urge Overkill rolled into town on tour with fellow Chicago rockers The Last Vegas and the emotive Americana musings of Kentucky’s Stoll Vaughn. It was a bit ambitious for this tour package to make a trip to a college town in the heat of summer when the population thins itself considerably- especially without a popular local opener to appeal to townie types. Throughout the evening UO hobnobbed with the local ladies rather than hide backstage, and not surprisingly they had the best looking leg and tail in the club-- the envy of all the thirty-something swinging Richards that showed up stag.

The as-a-rule late arriving Athens crowd missed out on Stoll Vaughn’s vivid blue-collar rock. Vaughn fronts a band that captivated those early birds lucky enough to catch the brooding bunch that conjured first impression comparisons to the Boss, Petty, and David Gray. Among the set highlights, “Comin’ To Me” (from the group’s Hold on Thru Sleep &Dreams release) a story of the love of a man’s life only being around when she’s on the way down. The frustration and the reluctance to let go are genuine and impressive.

The Last Vegas ripped through a face melting set that made me thankful for the earplugs in my pocket. Admittedly, it’s probably not too loud and I’m on the way towards too old, so I was saving gas for the Urge tour de force on the horizon.

“The King” proclaimed something that aside from “mother fuckers!!!” was impossible to hear despite the amplification, and Nash, with tongue firmly in cheek introduced the band, “We are REM, and it’s good to be back.” The set was a healthy mix of kitschy posing, not nearly as over the top as earlier incarnations of the band, and a full-on demonstration of the aforementioned two headed rock monster. Kato’s pop rock head bop, and Roeser’s bull in a china shop rawk swagger were worth the price of admission. Regrettably absent from the set list was “Emmaline” from 1991’s Supersonic Storybook, but that’s my selfish opinion. Regardless, there were several strong performances. “Take Me” and “Break” (from the band’s last release, 1995‘s Exit the Dragon), coupled with a memorable encore that featured the shirtless Kato crooning the Neil Diamond cover “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon“ adjusting the lyrics to the delight of the birthday girls in attendance, “soon, you’ll need a...big strong muthafuckin’ man” kept the loyal crowd wanting more. In fact, according to a set list retrieved from the stage, we may have been slighted, as the song “Stalkers” was never performed-- yet listed. Rumor has it the band was haunted by semi delusional female fans that may or may not have been close with the band in the past. Anyway, the spurned resorted to writing an underground zine, ironically published in Athens, Georgia, that badmouthed the band. While shooting the breeze with an Urge diehard that spent the entire evening belly up to the stage at the 40 Watt I learned there were all sorts of unusual wrinkles to the riddle including wedding proposals and a clandestine north Texas rendezvous between stalker and band that never materialized. We’ll let another reporter decipher the truth from the juicy hearsay and horseshit.

It would be nice to see UO make there way back to Athens without letting another ten years expire between visits. Here’s hoping the rumors swirling regarding the new record are true. This band still has a lot to say, and even if that’s not entirely true, at least the things they used to say still sound cool.

Photo originally appeared on urgeoverkill.net.