Urge Overkill

Maybe time has finally caught up to Urge Overkill's sense of humor. Just as the trio was hitting its cocksure stride in the '90s, grungy imports from Seattle made its glammy shtick seem tragically unhip. Something about the crushed-velvet sweatsuits, gold medallions, and fluffed chest hair just didn't jibe in the post-Nevermind world. By Y2K, the chart-busting success of Saturation (with notable hits in "Sister Havana" and "Positive Bleeding") was ancient history.

If Urge Overkill's tactless braggadocio was an inside joke, no one cared enough to wait for the punch lines. When the group disbanded -- taking the numbingly predictable route of bad record deals and drug addiction -- the news barely made a blip on the pop radar. The final statement of their behind-the-music-style . . . ahem . . . overkill was singer Nash Kato's solo effort, on which he appears head-to-toe in white, the messianic vision of a bloated woulda-been. But, strangely, after a six-year hiatus, the band's amped riffing and rock-star mockups seem sweeter in this ironic age. It shouldn't have been a surprise when the group announced a reunion. But -- considering the $15 ticket price -- the joke could well be on us.