St. Louis natives, The Urge, are getting ready to record their third album, and they’re definitely prepared.

“It’s very cool, we have about 30 songs we’re kicking around right now for recording,” frontman Steve Ewing says from a cell phone somewhere in his home city.

The Urge was first seen in Iowa four years ago when it opened for 311 at the Civic Center in Des Moines in support of its first major label release “Receiving The Gift Of Flavor.”

It has since built a solid following, appearing at what was once the Safari Club, People’s Bar and Grill and two Dotfest music festivals, among other places.

In 1998, The Urge released its follow-up record “Master of Styles,” which possessed a more pop-oriented style but was still as original as ever.

“Jump Right In,” the first single from “Master of Styles,” featured 311 vocalist Nick Hexum as it reached MTV and radios across America. But that wasn’t the last time The Urge featured other musicians.

“There will definitely be guests on this album,” Ewing says excitedly. “I can’t tell who right now; it depends on when we get into it and who can actually make it or whatever.”

The Urge’s success on MTV didn’t last long, only three weeks to be exact. And its radio play has been healthy but nothing that could promote it to superstar status.

But the group keeps a positive attitude and puts the majority of its focus on touring the country.

“I was really thankful that we got played that much,” Ewing says humbly. “To me, we expected to put [‘Master of Styles’] out and go to radio with it and put most of our emphasis on touring. Those two things clicked for us and that was cool.

“When MTV put us in the play list we were like, ‘Oh shit!’ We got pretty good coverage while we lasted. Three weeks in rotation was pretty good.”

With the fusion of rap and rock taking on such mass popularity, The Urge, who have been combining such genres for a number of years, are beginning to see doors open for their style.

“It’s been around for ever,” Ewing says of rap-rock. “Korn pretty much broke it open, and I think it’s cool. Maybe I could be seeing it differently, but I think they kind of cornered something, and Limp Bizkit came up through the ranks, and they have their thing which is really cool.

“But what The Urge is looking to do is create their own thing, that next musical segment where they’re talking about what we do, like what No Doubt did. That’s what we’re working on creating with this record, a new definitive sound for us.”

Like Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who serves as vice president of Interscope Records, Ewing and bassist Karl Grable were approached by their label, Immortal, to carry a similar job.

“If I had the time, I would do it,” Ewing says. “Eventually down the line I think we’ll both do it. Because who better to have that job than a band. Labels are looking for bands, and there is nobody who knows a cool band better than somebody who is on the road, hanging out and getting demos from bands.”

While writing material for the upcoming project, Ewing and company have found themselves heading in the same direction as their last effort.

“I would not compare it to ‘Receiving the Gift of Flavor,’ you know,” Ewing explains. “It’s going to be more like ‘Master of Styles,’ more of a stream-lined kind of sound for us. On that particular record we went for broke on everything; this time around we’re going to find something that really works for us that we like and focus in that direction.”

One way of making a better record is finding the things that are wrong and fixing them. The Urge has scanned its previous efforts, looking for things it needs to do differently, to make its next album the best it can be.

“As far as arrangements go, we arrange more melodically, using more chords and chord movement as oppose to riffs,” Ewing says. “And utilizing more instruments like strings or synthesizers or just getting crazy sounds.”

Though Ewing says he is already happy with his band’s status and what it has achieved, he still has dreams.

“Just growing, and we’ll always continue to do that,” he said. “I think five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought this way, but right now it would be nice to go into wherever and play in front of, like, 5,000 or 10,000 people every night.”

How will The Urge make these dreams come true? They have set high expectations for the upcoming album.

“The songs we have for the next record, are in all of our opinions, just better songs,” Ewing says. “We were on the road for the last two albums pretty hard-core for three or four years. I moved to L.A., and we took some time off from each other.”

To sum up The Urge’s next project, which should hit stores in March of 2000, Ewing tries hard to cover up the pure excitement he feels about the group’s new material.

“Cool things,” he says with confidence and delight.