You've got to hand it to Strata: They've got balls.

Well, actually, one ball. After they were forced to pull out of their tour with Nonpoint and Skindred due to singer Eric Victorino's ailing vocal cords, they did what any responsible group would do. They went bowling.

"We found out we had to cancel the rest of the tour, and we're not the type of band that sits around, so I told the guys we should do a 'Bowling Across America' thing," said guitarist Ryan Hernandez. "Our drummer, Adrian [Robinson], is going to buy his own shoes, I thought it was time for us to get embroidered bowling shirts and Hrag [Chanchanian, Strata's bassist] owns his own ball."

And thus, the Bowling Across America Tour was born. While Victorino rests his voice in New York, his bandmates are heading back home to California, stopping at bowling alleys along the way to roll a few frames with fans. Dates are posted on the band's Web site (www.Stratadirect.com).

"Fans can come out and bowl with us. It's us and our two crew guys, and we'll take on fans," Hernandez said. "If [the fans] win, they'll get a free CD or something. I just wanted to do something fun for our fans, I didn't want to make us canceling the tour a disappointment. We have a week to kill, anyway."

The tour began Thursday night in Chicago, stops Friday night (August 27) at the AMF Sonesta Lanes in Denver and wraps up Saturday at Salt Lake City's AMF Ritz Classic Lanes. And fans don't exactly need to bring their A-games to compete: Chanchanian's average is only about 160, while Hernandez rolls a paltry 120.

"Whenever I bowl, I start out getting strikes, but as the games go on, my scores get lower and lower," Hernandez said. "That's not too good."

But a lack of talent hasn't stopped Strata from issuing an open challenge to any band out there. Inspired by "The Big Lebowski," they're ready for some serious competitive play, yet so far they've had little luck finding any opponents.

"Bands just want to play Halo on their tour buses. And bands would take it to us in Halo," Hernandez said. "So we'll take it to bands on the lanes. Plus, bowling is good exercise. It strengthens the arm, which is important."