Iraq and Roll

"A lot of people will assume that we're conservative or pro-war or non-creative just because we wanted to serve our country," says Lu. "No matter what anyone's feelings on the war are, I think everyone who thinks about it knows that it's not the soldiers' fault. Soldiers are individuals like everyone else. If you just met us, you wouldn't think: 'These guys are robotic soldier guys.' Hopefully you'd think, 'These are four level-headed, cool guys who like to play music.'"

Lu, Dave, Geoff and Chris will also send their music to managers, publishers and record labels, just to see what happens. In show business, the question of who survives and who doesn't usually comes down to timing, strategy and luck. Which, in a certain sense, makes it a lot like war.

"We know that we are literally starting from nowhere," Dave says. "But we've been in worse places and done okay. Our attitude is, compared to what we've been doing, this is all right. If we work hard, something will happen. How hard could it be?"