Three MSU students strummed their guitars and beat bongo drums in front of a smiling Sarah Jessica Parker, a few oblivious fish and zoology sophomore Jessica Pyle at around 9 p.m. on Friday.

The students — three quarters of the band "After We Fall" — had politely invaded Pyle's room in Holmes Hall and played a few songs from their CD, "In The Moment," after she paused an episode of "Sex and the City."

The mini-concert was part of Friday's campus tour, in which the band visits a dorm and knocks on doors, hoping for permission to play a few songs.

The group has been touring dorms since the fall and sold its 300th CD on Friday.

"We were having so much fun doing it that we couldn't really stop," said Dominic DeFlorio, an international relations freshman who plays guitar for the band. "We can go out and meet people and play for people and share our music with people, and they're so receptive to it.

"Sometimes we only play for one person and it's very personal, and sometimes we play for 15 people and it's equally satisfying."

DeFlorio and no-preference sophomore Brian Ziegler, who also plays the guitar, played for Pyle while their drummer, Evan Fowler-Guzzardo, ran to put more quarters in the meter where they parked.

DeFlorio and Ziegler briefly debated over which song to play for Pyle, with DeFlorio strumming a few chords of "Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer before stopping and saying with a grin, "Just kidding."

They finally decided on "Seventh Avenue," a song about losing a loved one in Hurricane Katrina, and Fowler-Guzzardo returned ticket-free from the parking meter, grabbed his drums and joined the song mid-way through.

The request to play for her surprised Pyle, but she was impressed by the performance.

"I thought they were really good," she said. "It was kind of a shock at first, but then it was no big deal.

"It's a really good idea because people like watching and hearing other music."

DeFlorio, Ziegler and the fourth member of the band, University of Michigan student Gayan De Silva, went to high school together in Farmington Hills. DeFlorio met Fowler-Guzzardo in Case Hall.

"Evan heard us playing downstairs and bought a CD," DeFlorio said. "We didn't even know Evan played drums until about three months after we met and we're like, 'You play drums? We're looking for a drummer.'"

When they first started "campus tours," Fowler-Guzzardo, a political theory and constitutional democracy and international relations junior, said the band didn't know what to expect.

"Once we found out that people were really receptive and liked the music, it was like, we should try another hall," he said. "It went from there."

The band passes around a clipboard for people to sign in every room they play in, and then they send them invitations to join their Facebook group. The group has roughly 350 members, and the band members are getting some recognition outside the dorms.

"(Saturday night), I was at NCG Cinema in Eastwood," Fowler-Guzzardo said. "I was waiting in line and two of these girls came up and were like, 'Hey, aren't you in 'After We Fall?' I was like, 'Are you serious?'"

The traveling band idea works because it brings the music to potential fans, DeFlorio said.

"There are so many people in one concentrated area, especially people who probably would like our music," he said.

Once they get into a dorm, the next step is locating the female wing. The band knows who its potential audience is for its soft rock/pop style, and accordingly, never heads down a male wing knocking on doors.

"We played once for a couple of guys and it's so hard because they're just not responsive at all," Fowler-Guzzardo said. "We don't know if they like it or if they don't like it."

After playing for Pyle and one other girl, the band moved to another dorm room where it was standing room only. The guys joked with the four girls in the room, who oohed over the pink "After We Fall" T-shirts and snapped a few photos.

They played the song "All We Had is Gone," which the members told the audience was inspired by Fowler-Guzzardo's rejection from the Backstreet Boys and his break-up with Paris Hilton.

"The story gets more elaborate each time with Paris Hilton," Fowler-Guzzardo said later. "It started as totally impromptu and now we keep it around."

Courtney McNett, the no-preference freshman who lived in the room, said she enjoyed the relaxing music.

"I want them to sing me to bed every night," she said.

Savanna Boutwell, a no-preference freshman and McNett's roommate said she had heard of the band through a friend and thought the campus tour was a good way to get fans.

"They actually put themselves on your level," she said. "They're not egotistical, they seem down-to-earth. It makes them more appealing.

"It's the right approach if you want to get college kids to listen to you."

During winter break, the band recorded a few songs and plans to have a new CD out next fall. The members usually write songs during the week, Ziegler said.

"If Dom writes one, then I feel compelled that I have to write one," he said. "He called me one time and said he wrote a song and wanted me to come over later that night. After I talked to him, I wrote one so I was ready to play mine. It's kind of like a competition."

The band will perform at an American Red Cross benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Katrina at 7 p.m. on Friday at Farmington High School. Tickets cost $5 and all proceeds go to the Red Cross.

On Sunday, the band will play at Wilson Hall's Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. in C-102.

In addition to the concerts, the band will continue to traverse campus, playing for new people in new dorms.

"We're getting our fans one person at a time," DeFlorio said.