Anyone familiar with Denis Leary's sardonic, gritty dramedy "Rescue Me" knows actor Michael Lombardi -- a.k.a. Mike "Probie" Silleti. Lombardi, 32, recently put together a band called Apache Stone, which will be featured in an upcoming season of the show. He fronts the band, which also features bassist David Leatherwood, drummer Mark Greenberg and guitarists Nick Bacon and Hank Woods.

Citing some very '90s influences -- Pearl Jam, Audioslave, Stone Temple Pilots, Guns N' Roses and Alice in Chains -- Lombardi said, "It's definitely influenced by all that heavy rock of the '90s. It's not cookie-cutter music. It's real rock n' roll."

Apparently, the band's name gets some fun poked at it during the upcoming season -- after all, anyone who knows the show's dark, dry humor shouldn't be expecting it simply to praise Lombardi's band. Although the band does perform original material on several episodes, Lombardi admits, "The name Apache Stone is sort of made fun of by the other guys. They don't expect how good the music turns out to be."

Lombardi was realistic about the challenges of the music and entertainment industries. "It's hard, because you're never really certain in this career path, so things are great today but who knows about tomorrow?" he said. "I came from nothing. It's not like I have anything to fall back on. Sometimes when you become successful, to a certain degree it becomes even scarier because you really want to hold on to what you've accomplished. You buy a nice apartment or whatever, there's more of a fear of losing it. There's a bigger fall, you know?"

Indeed, even being featured on a hot television show doesn't guarantee success. "It's a financial commitment and a risk," Lombardi said of his career choices. "But that's what I've based my whole life on. I've just worked really hard, and hope for the good to come out of things -- and if it doesn't, then it's a hell of an experience and I learned a lot along the way, and enjoyed every bit of it."