IMPERIAL DRAG RECORD COMPANY BIO
"When I first start writing lyrics, I take something in real life and pervert it," explains Imperial Drag guitarist/vocalist/Capricorn Eric Dover. "I see it as a little surreal...I have no clue what people are going to think of these songs." "I've always liked lyrics the listener can read into," offers keyboardist/vocalist/Gemini Roger Manning. "We try to blur the idea ad naseum."
Imperial Drag's self-titled debut is testimony to the honestly twisted true perceptions of its complimentary songwriting duo. It's the electric koolaid acid test of rock. What you find spinning around in Dover's and Manning's collective imagination is nothing short of Liquid Sky with a dose of reality thrown in. Somehow we ARE capable of relating to what goes on between the lines. We know what THEY mean...
Another fine example is the infectious "Boy Or Girl," a "Lola" meets "Bang A Gong" paean to gender confusion: "Do you get off casting hexes, assuming forms of either sexes?" - "How many people know themselves well enough? I'm not sure I do...," Dover queries. Or the rueful "Man In The Moon": - "They used him, bruised him, screwed him hard, until they were sore, now no one really seems to give a damn anymore," - which Manning says is "the aural equivalent of 2001: A Space Odyssey," and concludes that "America's space program is a 25-year-old washed up celebrity." And in keen observation of the world in which they live and thrive is "Stare Into The Sun." - "You're most inclined to do things you know you shouldn't -- everyone faces this dilemma on a daily basis," observes Manning. " "Pay the price of pleasure now who said life was fair?" Of course there's the tres cool "Playboy After Dark" which conjures up images of Hef in his smoking jacket and bunnies dancing in the rumpus room.
"Free love, free sex, free-dumb. This is really the only song we climb into the time machine for," Manning explains, "with Hefner as your master of ceremonies."
Both musicians have lived a bit of the rock'n'roll "been there, done that," but managed to keep their sense of humor through it all. Roger and Eric got to know one another when the latter signed on as a touring member of Jellyfish, whose two early '90s albums on Charisma/Virgin earned early acclaim for their elaborate productions.
Manning however had concluded that Jellyfish's garnished pop was too constraining and was ready to move on.
"I was writing more like what's happening with Imperial Drag," the Northern California-raised keyboardist-vocalist explains. "It was more hard-edged, more groovy."
When he and Dover began writing for Imperial Drag, it clicked.
"I seem to have a certain flair for fucking things up," Dover adds, "but Roger seems to welcome that."
In 1994 the two assembled a 15-song demo, but to capture the songs' spectrum of colors in the correct light, it required the right combination of like-minded players with like-minded musical sensibilities. Manning and Dover hooked up with drummer Eric Skodis, Leo, and bassist Joseph Karnes, Virgo, and the prism was "Illuminated."
Recalls Skodis, "I heard Roger and Eric were forming a band and I thought since we all came from the same place musically it just seemed a perfect match."
Karnes meanwhile was so impressive at the audition that he didn't have to wait around for an offer.
"They just kind of went off to a corner and came back and said I was in," he shrugs. AND, the planets were aligned that night...
After signing with Work, Imperial Drag entered the studio at the end of '95 with a slew of songs and co-producer Brad Jones (who's worked with Jill Sobule, among others) assisting Mannning with production. The result is an assortment of musically and lyrically adventurous songs that meld Manning's musical intricacies with Dover's instinctive immediacy.
Dover concludes: "As a kind of reflection of the times, we wanted to make something with a bit of hope in it." "I'm not a saviour or a seer - I'm as lost as anyone, but if the chance of living scares you then you'll never be alone, I will grow some optimism for you in the garden so you'll know...no matter what I still believe in love."
