Success comes in the back of a tractor trailer parked on an asphalt lot with the afternoon temperature hovering around 90 degrees and the smell of diesel exhaust penetrating the air.

At least that is the case for the Warrenton-based heavy metal band Bleed, which acted as the second opener for the Music as a Weapon IV tour Saturday afternoon in Reading, Penn.

Sure, they were only performing on the side stage, which was free and open to the public. But being on the same bill as platinum-selling act Disturbed, which headlined a near-capacity audience in the Sovereign Center (comparable in size to the Patriot Center in Fairfax) across the street, is testament to just how far the boys from Fauquier County have come over the last 10 years.

"How y’all doing today? We’re Bleed, we’re from Warrenton, Virginia" said vocalist Rodney Shelton four hours from home to the crowd in the upper hundreds gathered between a series of booths and canopies at 2:26 p.m.

Bleed earned its name locally by appearing frequently at venues in Fauquier, Prince William and Fairfax Counties. The band was a main-stay at old Manassas venues like Sharpshooters and Veronas until the former closed and the latter stopped hosting shows. In Fauquier and PWC, Bleed gathered a following of friends and fans with do-it-yourself style house and field parties.

The benefits to hosting small gatherings like that particularly in Fauquier come from what the band members described as a close-knit community where word of mouth spreads like wildfire.

"Everybody runs their mouth," said guitarist Jason Oliver, who co-founded the band with drummer Ryan Dickson when the two met as students in Liberty High School in Bealeton in 1998.

Each member brings a different musical background, ranging from death metal to jazz to hip-hop. But the band finds common ground in a pursuit to make music where heavy is a really heavy thing.

The band broke up earlier this decade only to rejoin forces with vocalist Shelton three years ago, eventually releasing their full-length album Bleed the People in 2008.

Oliver and Dickson both could be seen with Pantera shirts on the side stage of Reading, paying homage to one of the band's chief musical influences. Modern chunks and grooves emanated from the Krank amplifier cabinets of Oliver and rhythm guitarist DJ Smith but they kept an old-school metal element of implementing a constant barrage of riffs with little room for rests or breaks.

As Shelton paced around the center of the stage Saturday, he called for a mosh pit which instead was met by another heavy metal salute: head banging from the front two rows.

Though it took a couple songs, a pit finally broke out in the center of the crowd gathered near the front with a man sporting a blue and green mohawk leading the way.

Just getting that opportunity took years of work that culminated when Smith received a phone call the day after Easter telling him the band was selected the winner of a battle of the bands competition at Jaxx Nite Club in Springfield, thus earning the right to open for Disturbed on the side stage.

"I was not expecting it because we were supposed to hear on Sunday," he said, later adding, "I was like, ‘We won? Yeah!’"

Bassist Mike Culton recalled Smith pretending to be depressed on the phone before breaking the news to him on a rainy, muddy and otherwise-miserable day.

"It made everybody’s Monday," said Culton.

In order to win, Bleed first needed to sell 50 tickets to the show run by Outerloop Productions, which is typical for local bands performing at Jaxx. A dedicated fan base of metal-heads and various friends willing to travel from all across Northern Virginia made that number a reality, which meant Bleed just needed to concentrate on putting on the best performance possible with their songs Walking in Fear, Seven One Five, Dream, Tyranny and It’s Too Late.

"[We] thought it would be a good opportunity," said Smith about entering the competition against more than 20 other bands for a chance to win an opening slot for a single date on the tour featuring main stage bands Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira.

Ultimately performing at such a high-profile show brought numerous benefits to Bleed aside from just gaining exposure. The gig is a resume-builder for the band that had previously landed opening spots for modest club-size nationals like Dope and Devildriver.

"Even if it’s just one show, that’s just pure satisfaction," said Dickson.

Oliver and about 20 other people even got to join Disturbed on stage for one song after meeting the band during a meet-and-greet Saturday.

For a band that does everything itself, including the actual pressing of designs on T-shirts and printing CD packages, band members agreed that getting a taste of the big time brings even more motivation for them to put in the necessary work that it takes to getting signed so they can tour full-time.

"Every single person wants this as a career," said Smith. "You’ve got to go for those opportunities. You’ve got to have the gumption to go."

"I have fun when I get on stage," added Shelton. "That’s where I’m supposed to be."