The Urge

Formed in 1987 in St. Louis, the ska-punk group known as the Urge had vocalist Steve Ewing and bassist Karl Grable as its founding members, who continued to anchor the band amid numerous personnel shifts over the years. Their initial configuration issued Bust Me Dat Forty as a cassette-only release in 1989, with the LP Puttin' the Backbone Back arriving the following year. Saxophonist Bill Reiter along with trombonists Matt Kwiatkowski and Todd Painter came aboard prior to the 1992 album Magically Delicious, after which guitarist Jerry Jost and drummer John Pessoni joined in 1993 to help create the live recording Fat Babies in the Mix. Exposure from touring alongside 311 expanded their audience considerably, and the strong performance of Receiving the Gift of Flavor in 1995 attracted the notice of Immortal, an Epic subsidiary, which put out a reissue of that album in 1996. The follow-up Master of Styles appeared in 1998, while Too Much Stereo emerged halfway through 2000.