There comes a time in a band's life when it's either time to put up or shut up. In the case of Duke Fame, the band has the intention of doing neither. After making "Regrets", a record devoid of pretension, attitude and some may argue, talent, there was only one thing left to do. Make another. "Too Proud to Practice" - it's not just an attitude. It's a CD.

Four reasonably intelligent musicians have dedicated themselves to the concept of playing music they like with people they like. "I'm tired of playing with assholes", as one member so delicately put it. Picture these four guys with a common goal of drinking a lot of beer and an intense desire make some noise, and you have Duke Fame.

Now you may be asking yourself, "What separates this band from all of the other bands out there?" This is a valid question, to which we may not have a valid answer. But you have decided to read this far so you must be at least a little bit curious.

Well, we won't bore you with superlatives such as "kick ass rock n' roll"," creative geniuses" and "the best band in America right now". We already know this is true, so why flaunt it? Anybody with a reasonable sense of intelligence should be able to recognize that. We don't want to tire you out with even more clichés like "god's gift to women", "stunningly handsome" and "enormously talented". We could come up with a lot more but we would rather you do it for us.

Since you already know the obvious, why don't we let you in on what may not be so evident. To prove why Duke Fame is the best band in America, here are some little known facts about the band:

1. Duke Fame can drink more beer, man for man, than any band in America, or pass out trying.
2. Each member of Duke Fame has a different name, none of which is Ramón.
3. Unlike every other band in the world, unfortunately, none of us are dating strippers. At the moment.
4. We don't play golf.
5. Duke Fame is the real name of someone in the band, but at the risk of looking too pompous, he changed it to Steve.
6. No one has died, been ripped off by managers, made a comeback after our careers were thought to be dead, filed for bankruptcy, became a junkie, got cheated by a record company, slept with Pamela Anderson, went to rehab or went to jail - that means we won't be on Behind the Music (except for the bass player did a lot of those things).
7. The reason some people don't understand our music is because they don't like it.
8. Duke Fame's main objective is to make enough money to cover the bar tab. And enough tip so that we don't get diluted drinks the next time we play.
9. Duke Fame will not let the drummer sing.
10. Duke Fame was the best name the four guys could come up with - that says a lot.

Duke Fame is (at least for the time being):
Steve Tockerman - guitars, vocals, beer drinker
Brandon Firfer - vocals, guitar, superhero
Mike Ciarochi - bass, happenin' dude
Damon Breeland - drums, triangle