A black SUV pulls up to a pizza shop in Kansas City, and four men dressed in VANS Warped Tour gear step out and walk into the restaurant ready to eat after their big performance.

Only six months after forming the band Final Alibi, the four musicians just finished a show on the Warped Tour and are on their way back to their homes in Iowa City.

“We felt like rock stars,” said the group’s vocalist, Adam Jennings. “In college, we had all gotten to go [to the Warped Tour] as fans, and we were so stoked that we were able to play on the stage this time.”

Final Alibi was one of five bands chosen out of 100 applicants to perform at the Kansas City stop of the 2009 Tour as part of “Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands.”

One year later, Final Alibi continues to create new music and play at local venues. The alternative-rock band will perform at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Admissions is $5.

Matt Peterson, the band’s bassist, said that while the group was excited to play on such a famous tour, the members really enjoy playing in smaller venues such as Gabe’s.

“Gabe’s is pretty much the perfect venue for us,” he said. “We are looking for clubs like Gabe’s that can hold a smaller group of people and that has a more intimate experience, where you can stand at the back of the room and see the expression on the musicians’ faces.”

The band released its latest album, War Against the Setting Sun, in 2009, and it is working on songs for its upcoming 2010 release. Final Alibi will play many of its new tracks for the first time on Saturday, revealing a heavier sound than on its first album.

“This next CD will be similar [to the first] but a little less pensive and little more hard-core,” Peterson said. “We are trying to build on what fans have said they liked and have tried to take that in addition to our personal tastes in music and tried to write songs that we like even more.”

All of the band’s songs are written by Peterson, Jennings, and Jamison Prickett, the group’s guitarist. The three write each song individually, then combine their work to create a song that best represents the band.

“We like to go through more of an abstract form of writing; it’s pretty applicable in tons of situations,” Jennings said. “If I can write about something that 20 different people can relate to in their own way, that’s my favorite type of writing — when they can listen to the same music and interpret it their own way.”

The band members have been busy recording their newest work in a spare bedroom in Jennings’ house. The musicians put up blankets and pillows to sound-proof the space during their weekly jam sessions, which they record on a MacBook.

All four band members have full-time jobs unrelated to the music scene, but they hope that the band will be successful.

“We do our jobs daily, but our true love and our passion is playing music,” said Jennings, who works in the Parks and Recreation Department in Coralville. “If we had the chance to make it big, I don’t think that any of us wouldn’t take that opportunity.”