iSound

his is the story of a band that beat the odds. A band that blasted out of Austin just one year ago on the force of its debut album … and ran face-first into a wall. That's all history now. In the end, what we're left with is the story of a band that got a second chance and made it work. This is the story of Unloco, a band reborn and triumphant on Becoming I. For Unloco lead singer Joey Duenas, 2001 was probably the worst year of his life. He was depressed. His romantic life was unraveling. His voice -- ordinarily terrifying in its power and intensity onstage -- was falling apart beneath clouds of cigarette smoke and a stream of Jack Daniels. Most distressing was the letdown that followed the release that year of Healing, the band's first album. Dark and aggressive, it captured much of the intensity that had established Unloco as hometown favorites among Austin's heavy music community. Even so, Healing wasn't the smash that the band -- and the label -- had anticipated. A tour was ...