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Las Vegas metal band Hemlock looks back on 30 headbanging years

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Hemlock’s Chad Smith
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Chad Smith’s the kind of Las Vegas music legend who still hangs his own show posters. “I went all through Boulder City and Henderson a couple of weeks ago and hung up a bunch of them for the Apocalypse in the Desert festival,” says Smith, the bassist and vocalist for longtime heavy metal band Hemlock. “I don’t know any other band guy that’s been doing it for 30 years that’s still street-teaming, but I enjoy the connection, just being able to talk to people and invite them out.”

Call it old-fashioned if you want, but that grunt work has kept Hemlock in the game long enough to see it evolve. The 45-year-old frontman remembers gigging with unsigned bands like Papa Roach before anyone had heard “Last Resort.” “We also played with System of a Down before they had a record deal, and they actually got booed offstage at the Huntridge,” Smith laughs. “It’s crazy stories like that, because we’ve been doing it for so long.”

Smith and his brother Brian (drums) founded the band—which also includes guitarists Jerad Johnson and Timothy Groce these days—in their teens, gigging in local bars and high school gyms until they snagged their first headlining gig at the Huntridge Theater. “We sold it out packed to the brim, and everybody was screaming the words. You could stop a part and they’d scream it,” Smith remembers. “That’s when you feel like you’ve made it.”

Since those days, Hemlock has cut 12 albums and supported the likes of Slayer, Ministry and Lamb of God on global tours. But unlike many of its contemporaries, Hemlock did it all without a record deal. “I always tell everybody, we don’t sell drugs, we don’t have a rich uncle, we don’t have Bitcoin winnings. We fund it all ourselves,” Smith says.

To continue touring, the Smiths made the tough decision to leave Las Vegas and move to Iowa 15 years ago in order to “minimize our overhead,” he explains, though they still visit their hometown for months at a time. Each day’s a new adventure for the independent band, but Smith says he wouldn’t trade meeting Hemlockers on tour for anything. Some followers show off tattoos they’ve gotten in tribute to the band; others found their life partners at Hemlock shows—and plan to bring their kids to them.

“We don’t really have fans. We have friends,” Smith says. “We don’t go hide out in the dressing rooms. We hang out at merch, walk around the club, sign autographs, give hugs. It’s like a family reunion each year we go back on tour.”

Hemlock is celebrating its milestone year with its Dirty 30 Tour, which includes a headlining performance at Apocalypse in the Desert, a two-day fest featuring more than 50 metal bands, some of which have shared the stage with Hemlock.

Smith promises each tour set will be a flexible and spontaneous event. Hemlock has always aimed to play 70 to 90 shows a year. And in 2023? “With Dirty 30? I’m hoping, if everybody can handle it and it goes right, by the end of this year, we’ll have done 150 shows,” he says.

Ambitious? Excessive? It’s just Hemlock.

“I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Smith says. “I’m 45 years old, but I’m still ready to rock.”

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Tags: Music, Metal
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Amber Sampson

Amber Sampson is a Staff Writer for Las Vegas Weekly. She got her start in journalism as an intern at ...

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