Henderson metal band back together

By Becky Bosshart

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 | 5:57 p.m.

They've come a long way since playing in the Basic High School auditorium, causing what the band's lead singer, Chad Smith, described as an "almost riot."

Back in the early 1990s, the heavy-metal group Hemlock sold a six-song cassette entitled "Hard Pressed" for $5. Teens in Metallica T-shirts with black-painted fingernails flocked to shows. They left bruised and battered, but entertained, after smashing into one another in the mosh pit.

They went on to do what most high school rock bands never do: recording, touring and making a living with their music.

This Friday, their fans from Basic, now bruised and battered from children and mortgages, will crush into the Sinister Rock Bar's sunken dance floor for the first official Hemlock reunion show in nine years. Moshing will probably be in order, just like back in the day at Basic High.

"I think it was the senior assembly," recalled Smith, 31, who lives in Boulder City. "Of course we had a big mosh pit that turned into an almost riot. It was fun because the kids were having fun. But the deans and principals got nervous."

Smith, with his long dreadlocks and tattoos, may still make those in the Establishment quake. He has never given up penning socially relevant — and deviant — lyrics.

"I'm stubborn," he said recently, while painting signs for the upcoming Las Vegas concert. "I can never find it in myself to give up. And a full-time job? I haven't worked one in 10 years."

Smith, who graduated from Basic in 1995, is the youngest of the group, which was started with his brother, Brian Smith, Richard Burnett and Mike Johns, all 1993 Basic grads. They became friends at B. Mahlon Brown Junior High and started jamming together after band practice.

"We were band geeks together," drummer Brian Smith said. "Now we're rocking better than ever."

Smith, who also plays bass and sings — or screams — the lead vocals, kept Hemlock alive while life, family and obligations pulled the other members away. He kept forming the band with other musicians.

Hemlock has five albums, from "Controlance" in 1996 to the 2008 release "No Time For Sorrow." It has toured across the country and in international venues with Ministry, Slayer and Slipknot. Smith recently returned from touring in Japan.

Smith carried his life into the band. His wife, Jilynda, tours with him. But, like other times before, the musicians who played with him in Japan had to go back to real life. Smith found himself alone.

In November, he asked his brother and school friends if they wanted to start up again with the original lineup. Their response surprised Smith and set them up for this concert.

"It's been nine years since we had this same lineup do any full shows in the valley," he said. "Friday the 13th, of course, is always a good day for metal shows."

They're practicing in a small shed behind Burnett's stucco house in Henderson. Despite the passage of time, they all still look like heavy-metal rockers.

The band plans to release a new album in the summer.

Becky Bosshart can be reached at 990-7748 or [email protected].