"Nineteen-ninety-seven will be remembered as the year of the Urchins!" proclaims bassist Andy Gesner with a mixture of self-deprecation and earnest conviction during a phone call a few days before the band's scheduled interview.
"There's a feeling in the air, an energy when we get together, that's almost electric," he continues. "The addition of Dave and Amy seem to've recharged the band and we're all very excited about the way the Urchins 'feel' again."
"Dave" is new Urchins drummer Dave Harman (ex-Swing Set), who replaced longtime Urchin Dave Reynolds; while "Amy" would be guitarist/vocalist Amy Jacob (ex- Ex-Vegas), who first appeared as a guest vocalist on 1995s, Yummy, before joining Gesner, guitarist Albie Connelly and vocalist Karen Bradbury as a full-time Urchin last year.
Touted as a potential New Jersey "break out" band in the wake of their outstanding 13-song CD - the first single, "I'd Like To See You," looked like a sure ticket to bigger and better things for the group when it began receiving extensive local airplay in the summer of '95.
A delicious slice of murderous angst, the song (co-written by Yummy producer Jody "Shonen Knife" Gray) pitted a deceptively sweet melody, lonely harmonica and heartbroken vocals against a macabre account of a spurned lovers' desire for bloody revenge - and did so long before The Murmurs voiced similar sentiments on the not-quite- as-catchy, but much more successful, "You Suck."
Regrouped and still in the running nearly two years later, the babble of voices on the phone a few days after Gesner's initial call supports his claim of a "recharged" band.
"We're on our way to rehearsal," laughs the bassist as he attempts to patch a few phones together amidst a din of one-liners, jokes, loud crashes and competing voices, "so we may be a bit, uhm, amped."
"Hello? Hello? 'Year of the Urchins interview?' Albie here," chuckles Connelly. "Seriously, though, it very well could be our year, you know? Everything seems to be moving in a very positive direction for us right now, and there's a lot of good stuff happening for the group."
"A few songs from Yummy are being used in Pat (Happy Days and The Karate Kid) Morita's new movie, Earth Minus Zero," interjects Gesner with but one example. "That'll be in the theaters in March."
"Don't forget that woman (Marcia Strassman) who was the wife in Welcome Back Kotter," adds Jacob, "she's in the movie, too."
"You know," says Bradbury after a brief pause, "Amy and Dave seem to've added a shot of something to the band. There's a lot more fullness and a much bigger sound coming from the stage now. We're a much tougher sounding group than we've ever been."
"More sonically bruising than ever," laughs Gesner.
"I've pretty much always thought of myself as 'the lost' Urchin anyway," jokes Jacob, "so joining the group was an easy transition for me. I knew the songs and was already friends with everyone. It was a fairly painless decision all around."
"Amy and I are starting to write together more and we're really locking into a tight vocal sound," comments Bradbury.
"And Albie and I are really beginning to mesh perfectly with our guitars," adds Jacob. "There's a pretty good chemistry going on in this band."
"Actually, we're finally beginning to realize our full potential as a group," offers Connelly. "We haven't changed our musical direction - so much as we've all come closer to realizing what we can achieve as a band."
"It's 'The Year of the Urchin'," laugh Gesner and Jacob in unison before the band heads down to Andy's basement to make some noise and dream a little.
