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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT DICK PRALL, PLEASE VISIT
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DICKPRALL
FOR CURRENT BAND INFO). THE STARCH MARTINS ARE NO LONGER A TOURING BAND!"Dressing Up The Failure finds Prall's STARCH MARTINS deftly combining influences drawn from classic 60s-era hit-makers (Beatles, Byrds, Zombies, Kinks), post-Fabs power-poppers (Raspberries, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Dwight Twilley Band) and an assortment of contemporaries (from R.E.M. to fellow midwesterners The Honeydogs, Wilco and The Jayhawks) to achieve a sound thats at once undeniably retro and yet thoroughly up-to-date.Throughout this richly layered collection of ebullient rockers, aching ballads, and dynamic, bittersweet mood pieces, Prall goes to battle with a host of demons -- among them struggling relationships, flickering identity, responsibility, self-doubt, paranoia, alcohol, the nature of parenthood and the vagaries of the music business.But, if he rarely emerges victorious (the notable exception being on Stay, Little Baby, an exquisitely tender, Buddy Holly-esque benediction to his young daughter), he's always still in there kicking, probing -- and rocking -- at the end.Like their previously mentioned predecessors, STARCH MARTINS have essentially created a hook-laden, wide-ranging blueprint for an idyllic rock 'n' roll radio station that seems to exist only in the minds and hearts of true believers anymore. Still, there's always hope..."
