There are bands who play rock music, and then there are bands who, quite simply, rock. Who rock with complete integrity and without pretense; With a sound as natural as oxygen, sunshine, or cool water. Classic-rock informed, but with a D.I.Y. attitude borne of the unforgiving desert they call home Unida grab the garish beast that is metal and tame the bad mutha, harnessing it's volume to a sound of pure, gut-wrenching soul. Let the other bands strive to show America at its ugliest -- this crew wants to show you that thunderously loud music can also be beautiful and melodic. "Something so heavy can be pretty at the same time," believes singer John Garcia. "It's a great match. It's the music I've always strived to play in my life." Unida's origins started when childhood friends Arthur Seay (pronounced "see") and Mike Cancino began jamming together in 1989, later forming several musical projects. Unida actually began when Arthur and Mike teamed up with John, who saw in the duo a commitment to excellence and hard work he'd viewed in few others. Soon, they began creating some of the heaviest straight-ahead rock & roll that any of them had ever been involved with. The trio has worked with several bassists, beginning with Billy Cordell who recorded with the band in their first incarnation, Thirteen. After regrouping as Unida they recorded an EP, "The Best Of Wayne-Gro" (MeteorCity), as well as the band's debut album, "Coping With The Urban Coyote" (Man's Ruin) with Santa Cruz's Dave Dinesmore (formerly of Lab and Blast). For Unida's '99 European tour they managed to coerce barefoot-playing bassist Scott Reeder (formerly of Kyuss and The Obsessed) back into the fold after a reclusive four-year hiatus from the music business. Reeder stayed on to record the upcoming release "For the Working Man" but their latest tour found Slipknot's .2 Paul Gray on bass. "We're kind of hard on bass players, I guess" laughs Arthur, "Paul's a big fan and he offered to tour with us while he was on break with Slipknot. Unida's current production lineup includes longtime friend and SoCal desert local Eddie Plascencia. It's the darkness of the sublime that comes through Arthur's seamless hooks and John's soaring vocals. And backed by Mike's subtle intensity on drums and their long friendships with like-minded bassists, the driving power of truth in music sears the ears of the uninitiated even as it's emotive candor satisfies the soul. Unida. The name symbolizes their unity and their sense of purpose. Hear what happens when truth, soul, freedom, love, and canyon-shaking decibels are combined into one massive, low-slung sound. Unida is currently recording a song for the upcoming High Times compilation along with Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet, High on Fire, and Nebula. Provided "Black Woman" on Tony Hawk IV for Playstation II and "Thorn" on the HBO original series "The Shield".