In 2006 Tryg Littlefield and his three band mates quit their jobs. Littlefield gave up the home he'd purchased in West Seattle seven years earlier for a life of couch-surfing and Top Ramen dining. All this for the chance to tour and play his music professionally.

It's the far-fetched lifestyle that aspiring musicians strive for but few attain. Yet hard-rock band Fall From Grace found success just a year and a half later after they entered a battle of the bands competition on a whim.

While checking the band's MySpace page one day Littlefield noticed an email requesting that they submit an MP3 for the chance to participate in a televised competition. The winner was promised a $1 million contract with the major label BoDog Music.

Still, the members of Fall From Grace maintained low expectations. They had entered more than one such contest and the promoters usually profited much more than the bands.

But after Fall From Grace won the first three rounds of the competition they started taking it a little more seriously.

"I thought 'Wow, this might really be something incredible,'" Littlefield said.

Three months later, after touring the country with the televised competition, Fall From Grace found itself in the finale at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.

Queasy from his nerves and the energy drink he'd chugged moments earlier, Littlefield and the band stood onstage with the other contestants and listened to host Dee Snider announce, "The winner of the first annual BoDog battle of the bands is...Fall From Grace!"

"I felt completely numb," Littlefield said. "We had worked so hard for so long. I was like 'You're kidding me, right?'"

Suddenly the members of Fall From Grace were the most popular guys in the room-hanging out with Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise and getting help with their gear from Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

"It was the most surreal moment of my life," Littlefield said.

Two years later the band members are living no more lavishly today than they were before winning the competition. Though they were awarded a $1 million contract from BoDog Music, every penny has been invested in the production and promotion of their new album, "Sifting Through the Wreckage."

In fact Littlefield is currently living with his parents and is still dining on Top Ramen.

"We're still broke musicians," said Brian Olson, guitarist for Fall From Grace. "BoDog has been taking care of us, but we're still living month to month. If we were in this to make money we would have quit a long time ago."

But don't feel too bad for the guys. They've been able to spend the last year recording an album and touring across the country. Still, the band members describe it as the hardest they've ever worked.

"Rock and roll is supposed to look easy but the truth is you really have to work your butts off and sacrifice a lot," Littlefield said.

After three months of pre-production the band started recording at Bad Animals studio, where Alice in Chains, Johnny Cash and B.B. King have all recorded.

The band members said that BoDog Music gave them complete creative control to produce what they describe as their best album to date.

"We're very excited," Olson said. "We've been getting really good reviews. I really want to hear what the public has to say now."

But the band has not lost touch with their roots. After returning from tour in June the band members spent a month working in their former fields. Olson returned to graphic design work and Littlefield did construction.

It could be the last opportunity for normalcy that the band has for a while. On August 2 Fall From Grace will release their first album on BoDog with a live show that night at El Corazon. The band will join the punk rock festival Warped Tour for several dates down the West Coast soon after.

And while they are on the verge of living the rock-star life, the band members are also looking to settle down. Littlefield and Olson are hoping to buy a house this fall in West Seattle where Littlefield spent part of his childhood at Gatewood Elementary School and previously owned a home.

"I'm very focused on doing this professionally," Littlefield said. "But I want to build a life above and beyond music too."

Rose Egge can be reached at rosee@robinsonnews.com.