Rock is a business in which maintaining artistic integrity can be rare, and Devil With Cheese, a Des Moines-based heavy rock band, is trying to change that.

Associations with hard rock often immerse its affiliates in a sea of masks and face paint and the name Devil With Cheese conjures up some metal mental imagery.

But the members of Devil With Cheese are trying to make a name for themselves with their music — not with costumes.

“That trend is dead and thank God,” says Tony Alaniz, bass player, otherwise known as “Taco.”

“Slipknot brought it back and ruled with it, but people saw through the other bandwagon bands and didn’t buy it — the gimmick or their CDs,” Taco says. “I think kids now are just wanting to hear bands play and rule live.”

Devil With Cheese will play live at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at The Break, 115 E. Main St., with River Bottom Nightmare and Seven Point Six Two.

Devil With Cheese was formed after the dissolution of godkillgod, a Des Moines-area band that created a lot of attention for itself around the same time Slipknot began to take off.

Three current members of Devil With Cheese — Taco, Jay Lyon, guitars, and Graham Jennings, vocals — were all members of godkillgod. B.J. Fox on drums rounds out the lineup.

Though Devil With Cheese’s members are seasoned veterans of the Des Moines scene, they’ve never felt the need to buy into current musical styles. Over the years, they’ve stayed in touch with the music they want to produce.

“We have stuck to our style of writing back when it wasn’t cool to sing … We tend to sing harmonies more than most bands — two-part, three-part,” Taco says. “I don’t see most bands even trying to do that live.”

With scene support from a central Iowa radio station and bands like Seven Point Six Two, River Bottom Nightmare and On a Pale Horse, the local hard rock legion is forming a faithful following.

“As far as the local scene goes, we are finally seeing it come around again,” Taco says. “As always, the freaks on Lazer [103.3] are supporting the hell out of the shows and giving away free studio time. They really enable the scene to grow.”

Though the term “nu-metal” has recently been slapped on any hard rock, metal-influenced sound to burst into the mainstream, Taco describes Devil With Cheese’s sound as “rock ‘n’ roll with edge.”

Heavy beats combined with a steady melody and harmony make Devil With Cheese a band tough to describe in a one-word genre, even under the nu-metal listing.

“You take monster guitars, heavy beats and mix it up with killer vocals and write catchy, hooky songs,” Lyon says. “Call it metal, rock or whatever. It’s just powerful music.”

Download the Devil With Cheese MP3 “Beliefs” from iowastatedaily.com.

Who: Devil With Cheese, Seven Point Six Two, River Bottom Nightmare

Where: The Break, 115 E. Main St.

When: 9:30 p.m. Saturday

Cost: $5