Former Fort Wayne band Sfumato (pronounced sfoo-ma-toe) have had a busy year. First, the band got rid of their “Black Tooth Grin” moniker after learning several bands in the United States and abroad already had legal rights to it. Then, they moved to Indianapolis to broaden their performance opportunities. Now, they’re set to release their first album in eight years. Starve the Trend features 12 songs, including “HolzInWood,” from the Extreme Essentials 5 disc and “Low Down,” which is currently getting heavy rotation on Rock 104. Sfumato will celebrate the album’s release May 31 at The Basement in Sneaky Pete’s.

“We are very happy with the new album,” singer Rob Sprowl said. “We could have probably been in the studio for another two months working on it if we had enough money, though.”

Explaining the album’s title, Sprowl said it was a phrase lead guitarist George Mallers coined. “Right when he told me about it I completely agreed with him. There’s always a trend in music, it seems. The trend is a machine. Corporations keep feeding and feeding it. It’s a money-making machine. They feed it with one-hit wonders. But we want to get the message out that bands don’t have to be part of this thing. Do your own thing. If you put your heart and soul into it, it will get out there eventually. Our new album proves the point that you can starve the trend and still be successful.”

Sprowl described the music on Trend as a kind of diverse form of rock n’ roll. “We touch on all realms in rock n’ roll,” he said. “It can go from heavy to upbeat and melodic in ways. It doesn’t seem like too many bands go ahead and say they’re a rock n’ roll band anymore. But we go with it. We’re not going to put ourselves into a particular niche. I don’t like to have a label to name the style we play. Rock n’ roll really allows you to stay out of that niche area.”

Trend offers a snapshot of where the band members are in their lives and careers as musicians, Sprowl said. As Black Tooth Grin, Sprowl, Mallers, Sprowl’s brother Aaron on guitar, Danny Napier on bass and Philip Powers on drums, primarily played with the philosophy, “let’s get a case of beer and have some fun,” Sprowl said. With Trend, the band has gone through a transition.

“We’re looking more into ourselves and finding out how much more there is to creating music and not just covering it,” he said. “It’s gotten so much better. With the cover music the audience nit picks everything. Since we’ve become more of an original act, the reaction has been really positive.”

The name the band ultimately settled on likewise makes a statement of where the band is. “We were searching for a name that really described us,” Sprowl said of Sfumato. “I just read through the dictionary one night and came upon that. According to Webster’s, sfumato means “the definition of form without abrupt outline by the blending of one tone into another.” Sprowl said it is a painting technique invented and mastered by Leonardo da Vinci.

“I put colors and music together in one category,” Sprowl said. “We all have our different likings that we bring together. The name really relates to this album. There aren’t any abrupt outlines. Everything is different, but it all blends together. The name has caught on a lot. People know it now. People were at first, ‘how the hell do you say that name?’ Now they say ‘Sfumato. We like the name change.’ It caught on really quick.”

Sprowl says Sfumato still play the occasional cover. “We’ve taken on more challenging cover music. It excites the crowd. We’ve touched on some new Tool songs and others that have a more challenging structure to them. We want to give the audience something they haven’t heard before.”

After the CD release party and show for Trend, Powers and Napier will leave the band, Sprowl said. “They are leaving the band on very respectful terms,” he said. “I think it was a big shock to them to play in front of large numbers of fans. They both decided they needed to find themselves. They are young guys. We require a lot of time out of ourselves, so I think it was a big culture shock to those guys. But it’s been a complete positive experience with them. I know that they will go far if they continue in music.”

Sprowl said the band is auditioning for a new bassist and drummer in the Indianapolis area. They already have an idea about the bassist and hope to settle on a drummer by June. “The transition with new musicians is going nice and smooth,” he said. “We’re already on our way to finding replacements. It was a tough situation for a week, because we have so much going on. But now we think of it as a positive thing because we will have the opportunity to work with other musicians.”

In Indianapolis, Sfumato are beginning to capture attention. In addition to monthly gigs at a few clubs, they’ve managed to get their music on the variety show “Fox 59 in the Morning.” “They play three or four of our songs during and after their show,” Sprowl said. “We will give them a mastered copy of the new disk so they can use it. They want us to come in and perform live.”

The band is no stranger to television. In March, they appeared on the “Jenny Jones Show” to perform “Low Down.” Sprowl explained the program was showcasing new original music and had picked up on Sfumato after being sent a copy of “Low Down” by independent music promoter iuma.com.

Additionally, the band’s track “The Stripper Song” was featured on an episode of MTV’s “Undressed” in January 2001.

Sfumato have also had considerable success locally and nationally. Their list of accomplishments is impressive. Locally, they’ve appeared on three of the five Essentials discs. Rock 104, X102.3 and WCRD The Bird in Muncie all regularly play the band’s songs. They’ve opened for Lennon, From Zero, Bliss 66, Mesh stl and Fort Wayne’s Jettingham — all national recording acts. To top it off, their song “Stage Freaks” was ranked in the Top 10 on www.collegemusic.com for an entire year.

As far as record label interest, Sprowl is slightly evasive.

“Our goal with the band is to continue to play music live and have our music distributed on a broad level to a bigger audience,” he said. “There’s no other feeling like getting something out to a public who can really enjoy it and respect it.”

The band is planning a short tour this summer. “There’s a showcase we are looking into in Atlanta. It will be a show in front of a mass amount of people, with major label bands. We want to work our way down and back with shows in Tennessee and Florida,” Sprowl said.