The Bullet Parade's Jeff Van Fossan is nothing if not modest. "That's not necessary," he said when asked to answer questions for a band profile.

Aside from fronting The Bullet Parade, which has played countless shows in State College, Van Fossan is the organizer of the mostly weekly concert, Roustabout!, one of the saving graces of local music in State College.

Van Fossan has been the foundation of The Bullet Parade, which over its history has employed, in some way, shape or form, 18 members. The current lineup features just four including: Mark "Kleeb" Kleback on drums, Eric Myers on guitar and Jenn Partyka on bass. The band is currently working on its first release, all the while playing shows in New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pittsburgh in addition to local shows and balancing jobs and classes.

The Bullet Parade's current lineup has been intact for just over a year, and thanks to the members' collective juggling act, it has struggled to release an album. Van Fossan said the restrictions on the band are frustrating.

"Unfortunately, I wish I had nothing to do but work on The Bullet Parade," he said. "Our goal is to have something out for the spring, but who knows if that will happen."

Myers said the stressful life of balancing the band with other priorities could be frustrating. "I think we all kind of wish it could go more quickly, but it's tough to be a band, active and playing shows, and [succeed] academically."

The band members said their frequent shows were also a factor in the slow pace of the album process. "We've been playing a hell of a lot," Van Fossan said. "We've been focused on putting our live show together."

Kleback said the band had a reputation for playing anytime and anywhere when he joined, and since then the Bullet Parade has played shows at famous venues like The Black Cat in Washington, D.C. and North Star Bar in Philadelphia.

"When I joined the band, they were like, 'If you want to play shows, this is the band for you,' " he said.

On top of its outside distractions and frequent live shows, the band has been forced to deal with a transitional period since changing its lineup. Kleback said the change in personnel has brought a slight change in style.

"The older stuff seems to be more poppy and the new stuff seems to be more psychedelic," he said. "Every song's really different and as every new song is formed, it sounds better than what we've written before."

Adding to the changing dynamic of the band is the variety that each member brings to the table. Van Fossan is on an early Britpop kick while Kleback has gotten into new indie rock. Myers listens to primarily newer music, while Partyka is a fan of old school garage rock. Partyka said the variety of influences has had a positive effect on the songwriting of the band.

"If I write a guitar part or something, then Jeff or Eric might come up with something that I wouldn't have thought of," she said. "People have been asked to describe our sound and they've had trouble doing it. That might be a common goal, that we don't want to sound like anyone else."

Myers also said the team environment of the band has been beneficial to the songwriting.

"I find that writing music with other people is more interesting," he said. "You come up with good stuff that goes right on top of other parts. We can find common stuff in good music there."

The band is currently experiencing the painstaking process that making an album entails. Although songs have been written and recorded, it may be difficult to release the album without the monetary backing of a record label.

Van Fossan said while the possibility exists that the band would self-release the album, there are also some labels, both local and international, that have expressed interest in the band.

"Interestingly enough, it's mostly UK labels," he said. "The one U.S. label I'd have interest in joining on is Prison Jazz, a label based in Scranton."