In the basement of an Annandale home, amongst weightlifting equipment and some children's toys, the FOB Mob is gearing up to be one of the premier rock bands in the [Washington, D.C.] area.  A giant stuffed bear and a statute of the Virgin Mary watch on, as the group improves with every practice.  Drummer Steve Tran, a 24-year-old "computer geek" and Beatles fan, bangs away at his drumset like a musician with years of experience.  Only his musical instruction videos, sitting on the VCR nearby in pristine condition, belie the truth.  Meanwhile, Greg Han and Mark Chang belt out their lyrics while playing the guitar and bass, never missing a beat.  Get ready, D.C., the FOB Mob has arrived ashore.

The FOB Mob formed in January 1999 when Han and Chang, both YP board members last year, got together for an informal jam session.  "I found it easier to sing while playing guitar and Mark found it easier to sing while playing bass.  Hence, I ended up on guitar and he ended up on bass," said Han.

Though both were born in the U.S.A., Han and Chang decided to call themselves the FOB Mob.  Chang says they chose the name because they were "tired of people acting like they're better than FOBs.  Our creed, 'fresh off the boat and proud,' our mission, 'worldwide respect for FOBs.'"

Yet the duo needed a drummer.  In earlier performances at friends' parties, Tammy Tang served as the controller of prerecorded drumbeats.  Then a happenstance meeting at a YP event resulted in the completion of their group.

"Destiny brought me to the spring OCA-YP progressive dinner and destiny dealt me the number that sent me to Steve Tran's table.  The rest is history," Han reminisces.

The group has perfected a couple of songs written by Han, with more songs to follow written by all three.  They also plan to perform their own style of rap.  Their future goals are creating a demo tape, playing at OCA events, and eventually performing in small clubs.

But hope of fame and fortune is not the motivating force.  The FOB Mob is a means of escaping from the daytime drudgery of being a working stiff.  They want to reach out to the proletariat, "the working wounded, the lost souls out there that make the commute to day jobs in cubicles programming code, doing the grunt work, pushing paper."

By day, Mark Chang, 29, is a videoconferencing entrepreneur.  He has played the guitar off and on for 15 years and was in a couple of other bands.

"I'm just tired of dressing myself like a monkey and selling myself to the man for the last ten years," Chang explains, while wolfing down a pineapple bun.

Greg Han, 26, is a transportation planner who has personally suffered from the yuppie flu, lower back pain, and love handles.  He says of the FOB Mob's mission, "The message we'd like to send is that there is hope.  There is hope that you too can have fun.  You too can break the mold; just let us show you the way."