The last time that My Scarlet Life was in Central Iowa, the group played to a nearly sold-out crowd at the M-Shop during a raging blizzard.

For those in attendance at the show, it was a toss-up as to which was more memorable — the fourteen inches of snow that fell during the night or My Scarlet Life’s excellent performance.

The day after the blizzard, the group hopped aboard its tour bus and braved numerous snow drifts and icy patches to get back home to Chicago.

After all, each one of the group’s members has a day job that helps to pay the bills, and work is rarely cancelled in Chicago for a little snow.

Now, a full two seasons later, My Scarlet Life is heading back to Iowa. This time around, the group will be playing to its largest audience ever as part of KKDM’s “DotFest 2.” As of press time, the festival had sold more than 11,000 tickets.

“Being from Chicago,” keyboardist Preston Klik said in a recent e-mail interview, “we’re not sure how big ‘DotFest’ is.

“We’ve played for over a thousand people a few times,” he continued. “If there’s more than that [at “DotFest”] actually watching us, grooving to the music, it’ll be pretty interesting.

“We’re not nervous yet,” he added, “but maybe we just don’t know what we’ve gotten ourselves into!”

But more than likely Klik knows exactly what he has gotten himself into. He is a very clever man when it comes to the music industry.

He knows plenty of people with all kinds of connections. He knows that his music is worthy of major record label consideration, but he’ll only sign on the dotted line if he gets the deal that he wants.

He treats his fans and audience with respect and dignity. He remains completely accessible, even as the group’s popularity continues to soar into the heavens.

He created his own record label, DivaNation, to release material from his band and two other groups that he is friends with (Eggs @ 8:14 and July).

As Preston excitedly points out, things are looking really good for the group, despite the fact that it is currently on a small label.

“We are on a tiny label with minimal distribution,” he stated. “Most stores can’t get our CDs even if they wanted to, so our sales are pretty small.

“As our reputation spreads,” he continued, “the CD sales do too. But we’re talking a few thousand, which is pretty damn small. We’re a long ways from the Billboard charts sales-wise, although the quality of our music could, and possibly will, put us there some day.”

In the meantime, however, the group is popping up all over the place. It contributed a cover version of Kate Bush’s “Suspended In Gaffa” for a tribute CD called “I Wanna Be Kate,” which will be released by Brown Star Records.

The group is releasing a CD of remixes this fall, and is working on several new songs that will hopefully be recorded by the end of this year or early next year.

Perhaps the most exciting piece of news, however, is that My Scarlet Life was selected by Chicago radio station Q101, one of the biggest radio stations in the United States, as one of the fifteen best bands in the Chicago area.

Q101 received over fifteen-hundred entries in the contest.

“Being chosen as one of only fifteen out of fifteen-hundred entrants was pretty dang exciting,” Klik said. “I was yelling out loud!! I called a bunch of friends, and probably some strangers!

“Q101 is really big,” he continued, “and for them to choose our music is an honor and a blessing.”

Klik also feels honored that he and his bandmates (lead vocalist Christy Cameron Smith, lead vocalist and flautist Julie Scheiber, guitarist and percussionist Paul Fini and guitarist, bassist and percussionist Amy Spina) were chosen to be a part of “DotFest 2” and the upcoming “Convergence 4” in Toronto this August.

The story of how My Scarlet Life landed on “DotFest 2” is rather bizarre and involves a triangle of musical personalities.

Klik used to play with Stella Katsoudas and Grey Parker of Sister Soleil in a group called Juniper several years ago.

Katsoudas went on to sign a major label contract with Universal Records this year. Two of the songs on Sister Soleil’s major label debut, “Soularium,” were co-written by Klik (“Little Girl” and “Blind,” which features backing vocals from Peter Gabriel).

KKDM programming director and disc jockey Sophia John had a large hand in getting Katsoudas her contract. But John did not ask My Scarlet Life to play at Katsoudas’ request.

“I met Sophia at Stella’s birthday party in Chicago one Saturday evening,” Klik explained. “We talked, but not about our roles in the music business. We got along great.”

Two days later, on Monday, Klik got a call from John. He answered the phone and discovered that it was the same woman he had met at Katsoudas’ birthday party, and that she had listened to the group’s CD and had liked it. She was also surprised to find out that she had met Klik a few days earlier.

“So, she invited us to come play “DotFest 2,” Klik concluded. “We’d not heard of it, but we decided to take the gig anyway. It was very kind of her to invite us, and it was a cool break for us.”

The “Convergence 4” concert in Toronto was a complete shock to Klik, even after his dejavu-like experience with KKDM and John.

“It is an acclaimed ‘GothFest’ of sorts,” he explained. “I find it endlessly fascinating that we were invited to play. I cannot for the life of me figure out what they were thinking, unless all the goth bands had already played at the first three concerts. Which is possible.

“But our trip-hop/diva-pop/earotica/alterna-electronica style of music crosses quite a few genres, so I hope they’ll like us. Our music is often somewhat melancholy, but it is also so much more full of light and energy that I’m still surprised!”

My Scarlet Life will be playing at DotFest 2 this Friday. Tickets are still on sale for $12, but ticket prices will rise up to $17 the day of the show.

“DotFest 2” will be held at the Ankeny Aviation Expo grounds.