With a good year under their belts as a group, the members of Fynal Tyme 2 are working on a CD of original tunes.

The band has been playing regularly at various spots, including Friday's year-opener at Auggie's Roadhouse in North Strabane. But as bass player (and Ringgold grad) C.J. Swaney says in one of the many e-mails he sends out to keep fans informed, "nothing sucks more than loading the trucks at 2 in the morning when its 10 degrees outside!" And so they're spending part of the dead of winter working in the friendly confines of the studio.

Fynal Tyme 2 has a show scheduled for Friday the 13th (always a magical night) at Monessen Hilltop Firemen's Club #2, where the band has played some well-received shows recently. The guys have another show booked at Auggie's on March 11, perhaps when the weather is a bit more agreeable.

In the meantime, they also will update their repertoire to include requests passed their way by fans, adding to a widely varied song list that goes back to the good old days of the Beatles and Monkees, through Kiss and Tom Petty, U2 and Poison, Oasis and Sublime, right on up to Matchbox 20 and Vertical Horizon.

For those who haven't caught Fynal Tyme 2, the band features a distinctive instrumental lineup. Along with C.J. are percussionist Joe Sopchak, acoustic guitarist Greg Minkus and drummer Jason Cursi of Charleroi, who came aboard this fall and adds another quality vocalist to the proceedings.

Keep an eye out for their return to action - C.J. promises some changes, and we'll figure that they'll be for the better.