Concert Fri Jul 11 2008

Feel the Urge.

Urge Overkill may have had some blows in the '90s when they pissed off a few people and then bombed when their stock was highest post-Pulp Fiction, but the missed potential doesn't erase the fact that for a few years they had the ingredients to be a highly successful American rock band and often delivered excellent results. Even nearly twenty years later tunes like "Ticket to LA" and "The Candidate" sound remarkably raw yet accessible, in a way that anyone who lived and loved alternative rock in the early 90s would know. But that was a long time ago that they took those blows. After a seven-year hiatus ending in 2004, Nash Kato and King are the centerpieces of an Urge Overkill perhaps not so bent on the things that led to their downfall a decade ago. Now they just rock out as veterans with a certain panache.

Chicago garage rock quartet Suffrajett has been rather quiet since their 2007 album Black Glitter. They'll open and hopefully showcase glimpses of what they've been up to since then. Lonesome Cougar also plays. Doors open Saturday at 8PM at Bottom Lounge and $20 gets you in for the rock'n'roll.

- James Ziegenfus