It's 11 p.m., and Plankeye has just finished a show in St. Petersburg, Florida. Eric Balmer, the band's soft-spoken, giant guitarist returns my phone call. His observations of the past several months reveal a band that is coming to grips with the fact that life at times can be a bumpy ride.

On the surface, it would seem Balmer and company have it all together. "The concert we just played was awesome!" he says. "The band was rockin', the crowd was into it. The whole place was movin' and groovin'!"

Plankeye was once hailed by True Tunes News as "the Altar Boys of the '90s," with songs that Youthworker Journal noted "rage with solid, meaty guitar sounds, a collage of topics, and deeper-than-normal lyrics." A review of the band's debut album Commonwealth, suggested that in a perfect world, Plankeye "would be the next Tooth & Nail band to reach the [general market]." Media accolades, an opening set on last year's "Take Me to Your Leader" tour with the Newsboys, a much anticipated new album--yes, to the casual observer Plankeye appears to have it all together, enjoying the best of times.

Reality hits, though, like a double-edged sword. In its success, the band must also learn to deal with disappointment.

Of the recent "One and Only Rock 'n' Roll Paradise" fall tour, Balmer says it was "...probably the roughest we've ever been on in all respects--mentally, spiritually, physically. We had a lot of things happen to us during the first three weeks that were just disastrous. We had planned the tour to coincide with the release of our new record, The One and Only, but the record got postponed so we had to alter our show and ended up touring old material. We also had a circumstance where the cops confiscated our trailer. And then there was a time when the trailer hitch just snapped in half in the middle of the road. It's this big, huge 20 ft. trailer, and it just smashed into a wall. Praise God it didn't hit a car, and no one got hurt!"

The disappointment goes still deeper. "We were coming off of touring with Newsboys, playing to crowds of 2,000 to 5,000 people a night," adds Balmer of the 110-city "Take Me to Your Leader" tour. "It was a humbling experience to go back to playing for 200 to 500 people again. I think we had higher expectations, and in a lot of ways our expectations were not satisfied. It forced us to continue to trust God and be thankful for what He has given us."

Despite the challenges and the smaller crowds, Balmer and fellow Plankeye members Adam Ferry (drums), Luis Garcia (bass) and Scott Silletta (vocals) prefer to headline their own tours rather than open for other bands. They say it's more fun to play to a home team crowd than to try to win over another band's devoted following.

You also don't have to worry about being the object of good-natured, but disgusting, practical jokes.

Newsboys' Peter Furler relished the opportunity to have a little fun with his new friends on the tour's last day. "We were in Boston," Furler recalls, "and on the last day you always play jokes on the other band. We went down to the fish market and bought some fish heads and buried them in the snow until after the show. Then we put them behind the seats on [Plankeye's] bus. We ended up telling Plankeye where they were because they were going absolutely nuts about the stink! Besides that they were polluting the whole of Boston with the smell."

While the Newsboys' tour exposed the Southern California foursome to over 300,000 new fans, Plankeye was to weather even more road troubles.

"We were driving through Kansas one night," Balmer recalls. "The roads were iced over, and the truck slid off the road and down an embankment and was sitting at a tilt. I put on my jacket and my beanie and jumped out of the truck and went about waist deep in snow! We spent the next half hour running in place to keep from freezing while we tried to CB for help. Finally, we ran about a mile back to a gas station. The police had to put up a road block so they could tow the truck out.

"For us [the tour] was a both a positive and a negative experience," Balmer reflects. "But then all of life is made up of blessings and curses. We learned a lot on the road, and in retrospect we realize there are a lot of things we could have done differently. But all in all, it was a great experience. We really admire Newsboys. They are great people."

Though it might be easy to dwell on the hard times, Balmer is also quick to acknowledge the good things that are happening for the band. "We are really excited about the new record!" he says. "I think we stretched ourselves. We tried to go out on a limb, to be progressive and not necessarily follow trends. We tried to experiment with some new stuff, and I think that shines through.

"It is always dangerous to say what sets you apart," continues Balmer, "because it can sound arrogant or prideful, and there is none of that in my answer. But I would say that we are a band that is very progressive in the sense that from record to record we have really grown. It is that growth and maturity in our music that is encouraging to me. And we don't try to mimic anybody. Obviously there are influences from a whole host of places, but I think we have successfully created our own sound, and I am really proud of that."

While Plankeye started out six years ago as just another Christian punk band, its music has continually evolved, pushing steadily toward a more popularly-accepted, alternative pop-rock sound. Beyond the musical evolution, though, is the band's increasingly profound lyrics. Balmer says each of Plankeye's members have more fully embraced the Reformed mode of Christian thought, and a lot of the record reflects that paradigm shift toward salvation by grace and not works. "The One and Only is more thematic than Commonwealth," Balmer says. "It is more upbeat, and it integrates the change in our thinking."

Pointing to the song "Fall Down" as an example, Balmer says, "There were some circumstances in my life that just made me feel so stupid and ashamed. I was sitting in my bedroom when the chorus came to me, and I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs: 'This mire is too often my heart's desire/Pick me up/Dust me off once again.' I'm just glad none of my roommates were in the house at the time."

Plankeye's latest project, The One and Only, is finally out, and the band is eager to test the new project on the road this spring. But while the buzz is strong and the reviews are positive, Balmer refuses to speculate on the band's future. He prefers to leave that to "God's sovereign and almighty hand."