From: David Whittaker (dmw@lookingglass.net)

                         THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

                   June 28, 1996, Friday, HOME FINAL EDITION

SECTION: GUIDE; PREVIEW; Pg. 33

LENGTH: 317 words

HEADLINE: Gender benders are retro-groovy by accident'

BYLINE: Kendall Morgan

KEYWORD: PREVIEW:  IMPERIAL DRAG  AT THE ORBIT ROOM

 
   No song could sum up the gender--confused '90s as succinctly as  Imperial
 Drag's  current single, Boy or a Girl.

   A sugary piece of pop candy, the tune manages to sound both '70s- and
'80s-influenced at the same time, as well as being chock-full of lines like, "Do
you get off casting hexes/assuming forms of either sexes?"

   "Growing up in the South, I guess I used to hear a lot of snide comments,"
says singer--guitarist Eric Dover.

   "I wouldn't say I'm sensitive, but you'd hear, Are you a boy or a girl?' a
lot.  There comes a time when you're 12 or 13 and you've never kissed a girl and
you have people calling you names, so there's a little gender confusion."

   Not to worry, Mr. Dover survived childhood and went on to join the acclaimed
pop band Jellyfish.  Now, he and former Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Manning have
enlisted drummer Eric Skodis and bassist Joseph Karnes to create  Imperial
 Drag's  groovy noise, which has been compared to everyone from Humble Pie to T.
Rex.

   Although the band does have a glam-rock feel, Mr. Dover says his real
influences are a bit more buried.

   "I don't think it's Jellyfish Mach 2 or whatever.  A lot of the sound was
like making a pot of stew.  If it's retro, it came out by accident.

   "I don't have any influences at this particular time, but in the future, I
may want to do an homage to somebody. . . .  I may wind up doing an homage to
Mrs. Drysdale if I happen to be watching The Beverly Hillbillies."

   And the band's name?

   "It's sort of open-ended.  Drag' could be hot-rod hick culture or drag queens
- take your pick.  We think it sounds cool.  It's something grand, maybe it's
sublime.  It's a little bit beautiful in its ugliness."