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The members of Flyleaf may be young, but they seem to know how the rock ‘n’ roll game works pretty well.

Sure, there are untold pressures and temptations that come with having thousands of fans, selling thousands of records and touring the world on a major-label budget. It’s easy to get rock star-itis — an inflation of the ego that comes with being put on a pedestal by fans and into the trophy case by record labels as a cash cow.

Being away from home, constantly on tour and at the beck and call of record executives, it’s easy to get jaded. Fortunately for Flyleaf guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya, the fans keep him and his bandmates grounded. Take, for example, a recent encounter with one such young man on a Family Values Tour stop, of which Flyleaf was a part, in Indiana.

“I try to hang out with people whenever I can, and I was hanging out with some fans, just having fun and joking around — the conversation was real light-hearted and stuff,” Bhattacharya told The Daily Times this week. “All of the sudden, this guy looked at me and started crying. And then he said, ‘You just don’t know, man. Your music saved my life. I was going to kill myself.’”

There’s a long pause on the other end of the line. There’s no gloating in Bhattacharya’s voice, no sense of triumph or superiority. If anything, he tells the story with uncharacteristic humility.

“This industry caters to you — anything you want, they get it for you,” he said. “We’re so spoiled, it’s easy to not be grateful, to just be spoiled and jaded. But everyone in our band, we keep everyone in check and remind each other of how blessed we are and how fortunate we are to be doing what we’re doing.

“Everything’s been given to us, and it is hard to be humble sometimes. I get so arrogant and big-headed, and I can be a jerk, easily. But my band, the music, the fans ... they all bring me back to earth. And sometimes, I just look outside and see the world, and I realize, ‘What am I thinking? This world is so much bigger than me.’”

If Bhattacharya sounds well-grounded, a good deal of it can be credited to his Christian faith. (Although Flyleaf is often described as a Christian band, the members don’t overtly proselytize, in interviews or on stage.) The band centers around singer Lacey Mosley and got its start in Belton, Texas, in 2000, counting among its influences such bands as Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Incubus. At first, the band called itself Passerby, playing shows all over Texas and releasing three EPs.

In 2004, the band played a showcase for the president of RCA in New York; although RCA put the group on hold, the president of Octone Records, who attended the New York show, set up his own showcase and immediately signed the band. A self-titled EP was released, and the group toured with Breaking Benjamin, Staind and 3 Doors Down. Mosley’s angel-in-distress vocals, layered over hard rock riffs and a thundering rhythm section, found a niche on modern rock radio, and the band’s first full-length, self-titled album, released in 2005, spawned the singles “I’m So Sick,” “Fully Alive” and “All Around Me.”

In 2006, the band moved to J Records, playing the mainstage of the Family Values Tour and, later on in the year, with Disturbed, Stone Sour and Nonpoint. Another EP was released, and this year, the band has been traveling full steam ahead, Bhattacharya said. In fact, the group was originally scheduled to play Blue Cats in Knoxville’s Old City, where they’ll headline on Tuesday night, earlier in the summer, but Mosley was sidelined by vocal cord problems.

“She could taste blood in her throat when she sang, and the doctor told her she needed to cancel the rest of the tour,” Bhattacharya said. “We decided to just cancel a couple of weeks. It’s just what we do, you know? She recovered a lot after a couple of weeks, but she still has problems with it. As long as she rests and takes care of it, she’ll be fine.”

Despite the disappointment at having to cancel shows, the band members were on the other hand relieved, Bhattacharya said. It gave them a much-needed break and an opportunity to return home, briefly, before rejoining the Family Values Tour.

“It’s hard to tell when we’re busy and not busy, because everything shifts to the next thing so seamlessly,” he said. “You notice it when you start getting irritable about little things, but really, I don’t think of this as hard work. My parents (both of whom are respiratory therapists) — they worked hard. I play guitar for a living.

“The hardest thing is just being away from home and not having a normal life, not being able to watch friends and families grow up, not being able to be at birthday parties and weddings. I don’t get to see my nieces and nephews grow up. But we’ve chosen this. This is the world we live in.”

The trade-off, he added, is feeling like he’s found his calling.

“It’s just knowing that you’re in a place that God has put you,” Bhattacharya said. “Everyone is equipped to do something, and to know that you’re doing the job you’ve been equipped to do since birth ... that’s the trade-off. We’re all songwriters and musicians and artists in our own way, and this is a perfect occupation for all of us. It’s the perfect place to harness our abilities to the fullest.

“There’s peace and purpose in what I’m doing, and our music, for me, has such a powerful message. I feel like what I’m doing is important.”