live @ Metro Cafe 6.3.2000
Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser were the twin beacons of Chicago rockers Urge Overkill, last seen interpreting the “Star Spangled Banner” in the sleazy bowling film Kingpin. That cameo capped a 12-year run in which the band evolved from dark and noisy indie sound sculptors to rock stars: martini-sipping, power chording, major-label hepcats. Kato has recently slipped back into the rock star jacuzzi with a solo LP, Debutante, and a tour, which stopped at the Metro Cafe Saturday night.
With a solid power trio supplementing his own electric guitar, Kato was in fine voice, offering a smart overview of his new disc alongside a pair of treats from the beloved UO songbook. During the 11-song, hour-long set, the band sounded most effective on straight ahead rockers like “Queen of the Gangsters”, the snappy “Zooey Suicide” and “Born In the 80’s”, a clever pop-culture melange. The band powered along confidently chiefly because of the astonishingly hard-hitting drumming of Nash’s latest “King” sidekick, a Keith-Moon like player going by the moniker King Richard.
Mid-tempo exercises like “Blow” and “Blue Wallpaper” proved more problematic, as the guitars of Kato and Nils St. Cyr muddied up with bassist Dan Polansky. The string-men were sharper during the fatter, crunchier grooves of “Cradle Robbers” and “Octoroon”, and superior as Kato tossed the crowd a pair of Urge bones: “Monopoly” (from their strange, slow finale Exit the Dragon) and the infectious Kiss overtones of “Bottle of Fur” (from their best-known work, Saturation.)., Despite a rather indifferent Saturday night audience, the evening was a clear indication that Kato’s solo coming out is indeed on the right track.
Washington Post, June 2000
