Debutante Reviews...

CONSUMABLE ONLINE, ISSUE 206 [April 12, 2000]

REVIEW: Nash Kato, _Debutante_ (Loosegroove)

For a band supposedly ruthlessly ambitious in their pursuit of rock star fame, Urge Overkill's former members have been conspicuously absent from the record racks since their demise some three years ago. There was a one-off charity show in 1997 featuring guitarist Nils St Cyr in place of the by then departed King 'Eddie' Roeser, and Ed himself has recorded demos and toured a little with his Electric Airlines and Kimball Roeser Effect projects, but no new albums to enjoy - until now!

Evolving from the buzzing of a guitar amp - evoking the mechanical noise that opened UO's most successful release, 1993's _Saturation_ - the first track, "Zooey Suicide," bursts out of the speakers with a sinuous feedback guitar riff and strong beat. Lyrics too - and of the following track, "Queen Of The Gangstas," - are of the same kind of camp adventure/spy story fiction spun on UO's "Sister Havana."

The poppy "Octoroon" follows, like many of the songs on the album, featuring the bright vocal backing of Veruca Salt's Louise Post, though her finest moment on the record is possibly on the next track "Cradle Robbers" -- a cautionary tale of middle-aged man's lust for younger women. "Blow" is the album's first ballad, opening with acoustic guitar and with a rich organ background- like the rest of the album, really nicely produced by (ex-Tori Amos associate) Eric Rosse.

Influences come from many quarters, and in the case of a small boy then still called Nathan Kaatrud, the soul records played by his babysitter gave him a real love for that genre- proof enough being this album's title track, "Debutante". A low, low bass line, together with street-corner whispers sets the scene, sounding like something the O-Jays would have been proud of, then despite the later rock riffing the track oozes soul. It's the album's stand-out track, and a particular delight for fans of the older UO in that it marks the return of "The Supersonic Storybook's" Lynn Jordan technicolour vocal backing, plus the lyrics were penned by Blackie Onassis.

Via the riffy "Rani (Don't Waste It)" and Mexican brass of "Los Angelena" comes the ultra-smooth "Black Satin Jacket"- a track that shows that Nash doesn't really need to cover Steely Dan (which he does on a forthcoming soundtrack album anyway), he can write his own Steely Dan songs, complete with swirling electric piano and multi-layer harmonies. The lyrics are also intriguing "on my back like a black satin jacket -- they really hate me, you ought to know".

After the slightly-Beatle-esque "Pillow Talk" comes a song that first debuted at the 1997 charity show mentioned earlier (incidently, the guitarist of that night, Nils St Cyr plays lead on this album too) -- "Born In The Eighties" though presumably the lyric has been recently brought up-to-date with its reference to MP3s. In view of the '80s being very much the era of the yuppie, the song also features the great line "fax the hippies, we've arrived!"

Finally, the album closes with another song debuted at that gig, "Blue Wallpaper," which is that strange combination of sounding slightly downbeat but hopeful at the same time- like many of the great Urge songs.

In conclusion I really like the album and I'm sure both Urge Overkill fans and anyone else willing to give it a listen will be delighted too. On the evidence of this, plus the fantastic cover of William Bell's Stax tune "Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday" available as a free download at http://www.nashkato.com, who knows, the next Nash album just might be the great soul album that Urge often aspired to. I can't wait!

Reviews of CMJ Show

Sept. 16, New York City, Wetlands

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss dept.:

Former Urge Overkill frontman Nash Kato introduced his new solo project at the downtown club Wetlands, backed by an enthusiastic four-piece band, and it became instantly clear that his musical direction -- and showmanship style -- hasn't changed at all. And that's generally good news for old U.O. fans.

Kato whipped his long, middle-parted mane around like Johnny Winter (and dressed typically, for him, in '70s vibe: white fishnet T-shirt, white jeans, white go-go belt, white pimp shoes), displayed his impressive collection of vintage guitars, and showcased a full set of new songs from his upcoming Loosegroove album, Debutante, slated for release Feb. 15, 2000.

The bad news was that, although each song sounded like it was from Saturation, beginning promisingly with a beefy riff, each seemed to lack a snappy chorus hook -- Kato could use the pop sensibility of his old U.O. partner Eddie "King" Roeser. At the end of the evening, he playfully delivered what everyone was waiting for, randomly choosing the obligatory U.O. song via a dartboard. The winner: "Bottle of Fur." (John Bitzer)

NME 2 November 1999

Band: Nash Kato Place: Wetlands Frequency: Ex-singer from Urge Overkill, also back after 'health' problems (the last Urge album wasn't called 'Exit The Dragon' for nothing), now playing, well, pretty much the same: LA cheeseball rock with massive choruses.

What happens: After someone positions a copy of the Keith Moon biog onstage, Kato comes on dressed all in white, looking like the smack rock Bjorn Borg. His hair is so long every time he shakes his head the front row get whiplash. He does a song called 'Cradle Robber', a couple of old Urge tunes and then disappears.

What next? A debut album is pencilled in for February on Loose Groove. More worryingly, there's a rumour that he's been asked to produce the next Regular Fries album. James Oldham