Topping the list of the many rock ’n’ roll clichés is the old adage that musicians must tour to make an impact with the public. However, in this age of the Internet, it’s now possible to keep a band in the public eye online, allowing a group to be more selective about its live performances. Whereas in past decades an act might struggle to fill every date in its schedule, today the choice to play fewer select shows makes each concert an event. A key example of this is local rock band Deadline Friday, which performs at Winston’s on Saturday, July 25. Eschewing gigging for gigging’s sake gives band members the room to perform session work and play in numerous side projects. Made up of guitarists Mike Spurgat and Jimmy Diez, drummer Bill Coomes and bassist Earl Schreyer, the band came together in 2001. “Mike and I met while we were both attending USC (University of Southern California),” Diez said. The pair knew they wanted to make music together, but were unsure of where to head, post studies. They decided to leave the final decision to fate. “When we left school, we flipped a coin to decide whether we’d go to New Orleans or San Diego,” Diez said. The band’s name came through the same sense of urgency. “Having decided to form a band, we had a show on a Friday and didn’t have a name,” Diez said. The band has released two CDs to date, “Wear Yourself Worn” and “Days Gone By.” Diez concedes it’s harder than ever for bands to shift copies of an album, but he intends for Deadline Friday to eventually record a third. “It’ll happen, but there’s no big rush,” Diez said. “We’re playing about every six weeks right now, and that allows everybody to do shows with other groups (Spurgat and Coomes also perform in Citizen Band, among others) and be hired guns for various albums that need session players.” He acknowledges the band’s sound has shifted since its inception. “When we first started we were very jam-oriented,” Diez said. “We had open-ended songs where we sort of had a conversation between the musicians’ instruments on stage. That was definitely a big driving force. “But the years of working with other people, like producer Jeff Berkley, has brought more of a song-oriented drive towards the band,” he said. “There’s a lot more song structure and definition to our set than before.” Diez said Deadline Friday’s current mix of rock, blues, funk and jam band sounds is influenced by a wide range of artists, from blues guitarist Buddy Guy to indie duo The Black Keys, and he gives at least partial credit to a local music retail institution. “I go down to Cow Records in OB once a week,” Diez said. “I’m always looking for new music, and it’s a great place to find things.” Even with all the side project work, Diez said the band is everyone’s top priority. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “We’re going to continue to make music and try to make every show something unique and different.” While Diez enjoys playing before an audience, he cites onstage magic between the musicians as the key motivator to his performances. “It’s not necessarily about shows themselves but about reaching a magical moment as we play, the sort of thing that you couldn’t put down in the studio if you tried,” Diez said. “It might last for 30 seconds, the entire show or three seconds, but that ‘moment’ is the draw to music for me. “It’s not about popularity or changing tastes in music,” Diez said. “It’s more about getting to that one point where everything connects on the perfect level.” To this end, Diez said Deadline Friday fans have come to expect the unexpected in their favorite band’s concerts. For Diez, this aspect of the band is the most important of all. “We never play the same set, never play the same show,” Diez said. “We try to make something new happen every time we perform. As long as we’re doing that, we’re going to keep going and having fun. That’s what it’s about.” Deadline Friday plays at Winston’s, 1921 Bacon St., at 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 25. The show is for 21 and up. For more information, visit www.winstonsob.com.