Any similarities between the Bing Bell Band and their musical role models (Steely Dan, Steppenwolf, the Rolling Stones) are purely coincidental. World class musicians they -- admittedly -- are not. They are two editors and a reporter from The Philadelphia Inquirer, two free-lance photographers, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. The band is just one of the spirited groups of journalists across the country who moonlight in rock 'n' roll.

The Bing Bell Band started as a lark: a couple of journalists from the Inquirer has a few beers, jammed real loud, and hit just enough right notes to sound like music. That was a decade ago. Some members have since moved on to the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Detroit Free Press. But with the arrival of new and more musical players and the gradual refining of the original members, the band has managed not only to stay alive but to improve. The group has played any number of Philadelphia bars and at private and public journalism bashes, including Pulitzer Prize victory parties and an Investigative Reporters & Editors convention. They've even found time to champion the Pen & Pencil Club, the nation's oldest surviving all-journalist watering hole, which was on the edge of financial ruin due to the "dying off of older, harder-drinking journalists," as one member puts it.

In terms of longevity the Bing Bell Band is neck and neck with the Fabulous Nosecaps of the St. Petersburg Times, which has also been playing for just over a decade. (Not every journalist-musician wants to be a rock star; the St. Petersburg Times is also home to Stalled on the Tracks, a country-western band that splintered off from the Nosecaps about a year ago).

The Subheds, a rock band put together at The Boston Globe, has yet to cross the half-decade threshold but has managed to raise about $ 40,000 in donations for Globe Santa, a charity that provides toys for underprivileged children.

Two defunct bands, Fat Chants, a Washington Times band, and the Love Pushers, a punk-rock group from Hoboken, New Jersey, made up of mostly rock critics, played some gigs for friends and co-workers, but after a few years called it quits. "People get busy," sighs Jim DeRogatis, a pop music editor for the Chicago Sun-Times and a former drummer for the Love Pushers. "They switch papers, they move away."

So as workloads increase and free time disappears, why do some journalists keep plucking, banging, and tooting away? Self-gratification? An occasional free beer? Fulfillment of a rock 'n' roll fantasy? All of the above -- as almost every band member interviewed agreed.

Mostly, however, "It's fun," says Louis Sahagun, Denver bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times and rhythm guitarist for the Topy Fiske Experience, a band that plays galas for co-workers and their families three to four times a year. Journalism, Sahagun says, "is a high-stress environment, and plugging in the amp is a hell of a good way to relieve stress."

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