TV show has local band on verge of big break

The Wood Dale-based rock band After Never has found a fan base reaching from Wyoming to Virginia -- and everywhere in between.

That fan support Thursday propelled the group's music video for "Late Night Alibi" to the final round of the "Living Room ... Live! Battle of the Bands" contest hosted by CBS' "The Early Show."

With 45 percent of the vote, After Never eliminated two competing bands. If the band gets the most votes during next month's final round, it will perform live on "The Early Show" during the week of Sept. 24.

Bassist Michael Murphy says he was surprised by the far-reaching support the band has gotten.

"That really has put a smile on my face the last few weeks," the 24-year-old Bensenville resident said Thursday morning.

"We've gotten messages from Wyoming, Virginia and Florida -- places we've never even played," Murphy added. "So it's really a trip to see how far the love has reached."

Guitarist Adam Cieslak, 24, of Wood Dale, said the band recorded the EP for "Late Night Alibi" in January.

The band has since been doing live shows, posting on the Internet, calling phone trees and anything else they can think of to get family, friends and potential fans tuned in and voting.

"We're really going to have to get creative in the next few weeks to keep the momentum going," Cieslak said. "But we feel really good about where we are."

After Never was formed last year by five local musicians aspiring to make music their life.

Cieslak, Murphy, guitarist Dennis Mitchell, 25, of Wood Dale; drummer Artie Woods, 25, of Wood Dale and vocalist B.J. Radigan, 22, of Joliet, came together because they were "tired of playing cookie-cutter music."

Their band's name is an ode to the members' school-age laziness and promises to get homework done "after never."

Cieslak said he and his bandmates got together in July and shot the music video "for the cost of a Sony Handycam and a video tape" after being urged by Murphy's mother to join the CBS competition.

The band got a call from "The Early Show" producers one day after submitting the video.

Now if all goes well, Cieslak and the other members are of After Never are hoping to travel to New York next month and field calls from some potential labels.

"The exposure is what it's all about," Cieslak said.