Exit The Dragon

October 1995: O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of murder in a trial that gave ‘media saturation’ a new meaning. Separtists in the massive Canadian province of Quebec nearly succeed in breaking apart the country, losing a referendum by less than 1 percent. And a Chicago hard-rock outfit quietly release ‘Exit The Dragon’.

Sure, one could be forgiven for not remembering the release of Urge Overkill’s fifth full-length album with stirring admiration. But put it in a historical context; ‘Exit The Dragon’ turned out to be an important rock record of the ‘90s. The 14 largely dark tracks weren’t just the last that Urge Overkill would release for then major player Geffen Records; ‘Exit The Dragon’ was the last record Urge Overkill would end up releasing for 16 years.

As Eddie Roeser, vocalist/ guitarist and founding member of Urge Overkill notes, it was a different time, one that he still doesn’t look back on with a sense of regret. “We were very fortunate to have benefitted from the time when labels had a lot of money,” says Roeser, on the phone from his Chicago home. “If you were a priority, it was a good life. If you weren’t on a label or didn’t have a cheerleader, it was a rough time. There was no way to tell what was going to happen, but we did have a good relationship when we were on Geffen. They were the band’s biggest cheerleaders. Things might not have worked out for the best, but we have no complaints about them. They didn’t prioritise our last record with them, ‘Exit The Dragon’. And that happened, and it hurt us.”

Unfortunately, being dropped by Geffen wasn’t the only hurdle Urge Overkill had to jump over. In-fighting began, and then-member Johnny ‘Blackie Onassis’ Rowan was nabbed with charges of drug possession not long after the band parted ways. A sense of disappointment surrounded the band, considering Urge Overkill had at one point opened for the two stalwarts of the ‘90s rock movement — Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Always seemingly on the verge of stardom, when asked about how the drugs affected the band’s relationship with Geffen, Roeser gives genuine insight.

“There had been some serious heat around the people pushing Nirvana to keep working, even though those close to (Kurt Cobain) knew he had these horrible problems. They wanted them to tour the world and keep the machine running. Any rumours of any kind of drug activity with any band became an issue. We had some very public problems with drugs and Blackie, in our band. So they were just not going to have anything to do with us. And that hurt us.”

But rock and roll, the timeless and durable artform that it is, can’t be held down. Roeser and the rest of Urge Overkill returned in 2011 with ‘Rock & Roll Submarine’, a loose but still punishing listen. And for Roeser, the timing couldn’t have been better. “We had discussions with different labels and stuff. But I think in hindsight, we made the right choice. I think we got it right in terms of this record and timing. It might have taken a while, but it came out at the right time. We got with the right people, and we’re very happy about that. Now with our own imprint, we’re ready to go.”

Roeser continues to expand on the album’s sound, hinting that while they had ideas about how they wanted ‘Rock & Roll Submarine’  to sound, they still left a lot to chance.

“Before we started working on (‘Rock & Roll Submarine) we had this idea of it being a very polished record with a very tight concept. And it was going to be more direct, not so loose and shambled. We envisioned one thing, and it just wasn’t happening that way. The stuff we like was all over the map. We looked into a few labels but we never got a ton of money to make this big, heavily produced record. We kind of made it on a shoestring. It’s a collection of tracks from the last six years. There were some songs that we knew were going to be on there, but they still took shape on their own. We thought we’d have a more focused idea, but I guess that’s not what we’re about.”

It says something about the inner-workings of Urge Overkill that they’re still figuring things out. What the band went through in the ‘90s would have been enough to turn many musicians off the industry for good. But Roeser doesn’t sound convinced. “We had some early conceptions of fame, but things never really work out that way. Maybe we realised this wasn’t going to be our last record by any means.”

Urge Overkill play The Zoo March 9. ‘Rock & Roll Submarine’ is out now.