The freshest faces to draw the attention of the music world to Iowa belong to the boys of Rearview Mirror. The members, all under 21, hail from the sleepy community of Cresco in northeast Iowa.

With a sound that promises to join, if not take over, the likes of Creed and Fuel on the radio, Rearview Mirror has come far in the five years since it began. While the boys, Matt Olson, T.J. Kammer and Adam and Jason Ptacek, started out playing Limp Bizkit and Pearl Jam covers in bars, they now are spreading their own sound around the Midwest.

Norbert Nix from Refugee Management of Nashville, Tenn., discovered Rearview Mirror in La Crosse, Wisc., last year. Nix, a native of La Crosse, was in town visiting family when he caught a show in a dive bar.

One week later, Nix was Rearview Mirror’s manager.

Afterward, the record industry became anxious and began to show interest in the band. Steve Lillywhite, whose production credentials read like a who’s who of late 20th century rock icons (the Rolling Stones, U2, Dave Matthews Band), read about Rearview Mirror in the music industry newsletter Demodiaries.com. Lillywhite flew to La Crosse to see them play, and soon signed them to his own label, Gobstopper Records.

For Rearview Mirror, working with Lillywhite was “really good, he really pushed us,” says Olson, guitarist, and the oldest at 20.

“Which at the time we didn’t really like much,” adds Kammer, drummer, 17.

However, Lillywhite’s pushing helped them achieve their best, as he constantly told them to “change something here, try this there,” the members say.

But Lillywhite’s expert guidance and constant prodding eventually paid off.

“It was an experience,” says vocalist Adam, 17. “Steve was expecting a lot.”

And he got it.

The boys have high expectations for their first album, “All Lights Off,” which is slated for a late spring or early summer release. The main goal for the band with the album and this tour is to “sell enough [CDs] to record another one,” Olson says.

“We want to give it all we can while we have the opportunity,” adds bass player Jason , 19.

With strong support from their friends and family, the fellows of Rearview Mirror are currently on a tour that will take them all over the Midwest, from Minnesota to Louisiana, stopping at nearly every college town along the way.

For most of the band members, parental support came easy. Over the last several years, they enlisted their parents to drive their trailer of equipment to shows all over northeastern Iowa and adjoining states.

Olson’s parents, however, are just now “kind of warming up to it,” thanks to their recent success, he says.

“They weren’t too receptive at first,” he continues, referring to when he dropped out of college shortly after being signed to Gobstopper early last fall to devote his time to the band.

Jason also dropped out of college, and Kammer and Adam graduated high school early, all to make Rearview Mirror a success. Now, armed with what Jason calls a “good rockin’ bunch of songs,” they promise to deliver a set of shows for a “really good time but with nothing fancy,” Jason says.

That means no Slipknot masks, no matching outfits, just straightforward rock `n’ roll.

“We’re trying to make it pretty natural,” Adam explains.