Chances are great that music fans who frequent Triad bars in search of live guitar-driven blues and rock 'n' roll have already stumbled across The Promise Breakers, a Winston-Salem band scheduled to perform at 5 p.m. Thursday at Alive After Five at Corpening Plaza.

The band - bassist Steve Hodge, guitarist John Tatum and drummer Bob Tarleton - has been performing together, under a variety of names, for 15 years.

Snakes Alive, Fast Blue Rhythm, The Skidmarks - all classic bar bands, all, in essence, The Promise Breakers, add a keyboard player here or subtract a female singer there. "We just can't seem to stop," said Hodge, laughing. "It's too much a part of who we are and what we do."

All three Promise Breakers are veterans of the local music and blues scene, with roots stretching back to the late 1960s and early '70s. The charismatic Tatum, a true rock 'n' roll character, has been turning heads and perking ears for years, first as a bluegrass player and, by the early '80s, a fleet blues guitarist whose playing combined sass and flash with a dash of class.

Years of playing together has produced a hard-rockin' band that is telepathic tight and a great deal of fun to experience.