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 Life on the road can be an exhausting and liberating experience for any performer but for a rock band on tour, the road becomes a testing ground for new material, a venue to get the word out about the music and – with any luck – a step closer to a record deal. New York-area rock band Your So-Called Friends has been touring the East Coast, southeast and Midwest since October 2010, playing its original tunes in local clubs and with each show, tightening grooves and polishing their performance. On March 5th, Your So-Called Friends takes a break from the road to make their New York City debut at Crash Mansion on the Lower East Side.
 “We’re a rock band with keyboards and harmonies with a ‘throwback to the ’70s’ kind of feel but still modern,” Tulin says. “And it’s all original.”
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Drummer Mark Tulin, keyboards and lead vocals Jordan Diamond, guitar and vocals LeeRoyK and bass player Charlie Valentine just returned from three weeks in Florida, playing clubs in St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Before that, they were in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and West Virginia and this week, they’re hitting the road for gigs in Bloomington, Indiana, St. Louis, Missouri and the windy city of Chicago.
“We also played a few times down the Jersey Shore,” Tulin says. “We played one show and people from other bars were at that show and offered us gigs based on that performance.”
When they’re not on the road, the band rehearses in a professional studio building in Union City, writing, arranging and rehearsing tunes. Some songs date back to when Tulin and Diamond played in a jam band in Los Angeles back in 2007. They moved to the East Coast and the Metropolitan area to start a new band with more of a focus on songs. Today, the band writes and performs original songs and the experience has made the band a more cohesive group.Â
“From my experience, the best bands are the people that like each other and hang out,” Tulin says. “I’ve been in bands where you show up, play and leave. They had no momentum to do anything else.  Jordan and I know each other four or five years already and this band spends a lot of time talking about music. We’re all on the same page as far as where we want to go and why we’re here. It’s basically the love of music.”
 March 5th
Your So-Called Friends
Crash Mansion
199 Bowery
New York, NY
Show:Â 10 pm
Tickets:Â $10
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To learn more about Your So-Called Friends upcoming tour dates, visit their Facebook page at Facebook.com/yscfband; and to hear their tunes visit their MySpace page at myspace.com/yscf.