Saving Abel is at that point in their young career when it pays to be as busy as possible.

"We never say no," lead singer Jared Weeks said. "We do every show, we do every interview, we do every performance.

"You gotta pay your dues."

In time, it could very well pay big dividends. With several hit singles already under their belts, a slot on one of the summer's biggest concert tours and a new album in the works, the Mississippi rockers are quickly rising through the ranks of contemporary rock acts.

On July 14, Mr. Weeks and the rest of Saving Abel will be at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain as one of the opening acts for modern rock superstars Nickelback. Hinder and Papa Roach also will be on hand. The tour has provided the band a chance to see what life is like playing in front of huge arena and amphitheater audiences - hopefully an accurate glimpse of what's eventually in store for Saving Abel, Mr. Weeks said.

"Some of (Nickelback's) head production guys said to us, 'We never had so many people show up for an opening act,'" he said during a recent phone conversation from a headlining club gig in Sioux Falls, S.D. "It's been sort of a learning experience. We're trying to soak it up like a sponge."

Hit parade

Fans attending the Montage show can expect the band to perform all of the hits from their 2008 self-titled debut album, including "Drowning (Face Down)," the military-inspired ballad "18 Days" and the up-tempo rocker "Addicted," which was the most-played song on rock radio last year.

Most of the album's songs were written several years ago, when Saving Abel had yet to exist. It was just Mr. Weeks and guitarist Jason Null, who met up in their hometown of Corinth, Miss., about eight years ago.

"We met at my one friend's house," Mr. Weeks said. "It was kind of like a date. We got together and just wrote songs for a good three years before recording."

Once they had a batch of songs, they went looking for a band. Drummer Blake Dixon and bassist Eric Taylor were old childhood friends, and lead guitarist Scott Bartlett came on board after joining them in the studio near the end of the recording of the CD.

And the name Saving Abel? Mr. Null came up with it after doing a Google search of Cain and Abel and being struck by the line, "There was no saving Abel."

Had the band not hit it big, Mr. Weeks said he'd probably still be working as a phlebotomist at a Corinth hospital. It was there that he wrote the lyrics to "Addicted" while wandering the halls one day at 4 a.m.

"Now I go to bed at 4 a.m.," he said with a laugh. "I like it."

In the studio

Mr. Weeks said the "sexy, raw, edgy" energy found on "Addicted" served as "the foundation" of the type of songs Saving Abel will have on their next album, which they're now recording between concert dates.

"We are really excited about some of this new stuff," Mr. Weeks said. "I was just listening to it. And I'm digging it. I'm really proud of the guys."

Ultimately, the members of Saving Abel would love nothing more than to reach the level of stardom of one of Mr. Weeks' heroes, fellow Mississippi-bred rockers Three Doors Down, whom Saving Abel recently befriended.

"When I heard those boys were from Mississippi, I felt that if they could do it, we could. It lit a fire under (me)," Mr. Weeks said. "So I definitely give credit to those guys."

"We want to progress as a band, we want to progress as musicians. We want to write better songs. We want to write about life," he said. "We definitely want to be doing this years down the road."