Hemlock
Keeping It Real For The Long Haul
By Dean Bonzani
10.10.05
Chad Smith is one of the hardest working men in Metal. As bassist, lead vocalist, and last standing original founding member of Henderson, Nevada’s hardcore Metal foursome, Hemlock, his is the primary guiding vision for this steadily rising, internationally acclaimed act from the burning sands just outside of Las Vegas.
Since their inception 13 years ago, Smith has seen Hemlock through countless personnel changes, including the departure of his brother, drummer Brian Smith, after ten years with the band. His determination unwavering, he’s learned through trial-and-error how to keep a band on the road to the big time, and has seen no small measure of success for his effort— Hemlock has notably shared stages with Slayer, Hatebreed, Chimaira, Otep, System Of A Down, Soulfly, Danzig, Poison The Well, Snot, Sevendust, Snoop Dogg, Ill Niño, Sworn Enemy, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Sepultura, Misfits, Cypress Hill, Arch Enemy, Taproot, Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber, Hed Pe, Pappa Roach, Saliva, A.W.K., Six Feet Under, Machinehead, and more.
For all the physicality and intensity of their music and live performance, Hemlock is as well known for their keen sense of humor and their devotion to their many fans. With the current lineup of Smith, drummer Marcus Bryant, and guitarists Cory Noble and Brandon Wiebke, they’re touring exhaustively and building a fanatical base from coast to coast, and dream of touring Europe soon.
I interviewed the eminently cordial Chad Smith as the band took a pit stop in Colorado.
Dean Bonzani: How’s the cologne and perfume selling?
Chad Smith: We actually sold three of them last night. We started it as a joke, but we sell quite a few of them.
Dean Bonzani: And the snow globe?
Chad Smith: We’re actually out of the snow globes right now, but the perfume and cologne are still a hot item.
DB: The snow globes will probably see a spike in sales just before Christmas. Are you planning a Hemlock nativity scene?
CS: That’s a good one. It would be cool to get some action figures, because I collect tons of action figures and toys and stuff. Right now, it’s mainly in storage because we’re always on tour. I’ve got a bunch of Simpsons, Star Wars, He-Man…
DB: Do you scout out toys on tours?
CS: Well, we’ll go to the mall to pass out flyers, and stop to see what’s there, or we’ll stop at little collector shops if we have time. I got a PeeWee Herman doll up in New York one time— it’s pretty funny, he’s got the scooter and everything. I’ve got all the stuff from when I was growing up. I saved all of it.
DB: You grew up in Henderson?
CS: From when I was one year old ‘til now, but we’re always on tour now. Eight or nine months out of the year, we’re on tour all over the United States, a little bit down in Mexico.
DB: How’d Mexico go?
CS: It was awesome. I don’t know how to speak Spanish, so it was kind of funny, ‘cuz I’m used to saying, “Everybody put your hands up!” or “Wall of Death!” or “Get a circle pit going!” and nobody knew what I was saying. There were like, three people there who could speak English and Spanish, and they were trying to get people going and let them know. We had to transfer our merchandise, like our CD’s and shirts and lunchboxes into peso amounts, which was really difficult. Those guys are definitely into the Metal scene down there. A lot of them had seen us when we opened up for Slipknot and Fear Factory in San Diego, on the Jäger tour.
DB: (Turning queasy at the mere mention of the abominable German liqueur) Do you have a sponsorship?
CS: Yeah, we’re a Jäger band. They give us a bunch of promo items to hand out, they put us on tour with Slayer—they put us on tour with Slipknot. They give us CD samplers with their Jäger spiel on one side, and Hemlock on the other side. We pass those out for promo items. They put us on some of their compilations— they actually put out 150,000 Jäger compilation CD’s, and we were on there with Slayer and Hatebreed and Chimaira and all that. I think we were the only unsigned band on there. It was cool. Last night at the show, a guy came up and asked if we were the band that was on that compilation CD. It helps spread the word for Hemlock.
DB: You don’t have a record contract?
CS: We’ve had tons of offers— for one reason or another they back out. We’re just trying to be safe about it, and not get locked into something that we’re going to regret. We’re doing okay on our own, but it would be nice to get somebody who understands the Metal scene, and realizes that the finances go straight towards touring instead of trying to push for radio, because we’re not a huge radio-marketable band. Bands like Sepultura and Slayer, they tour for years and years, and they build up a fan base that way. Even Metallica, back in the day, when they were first starting out— all they did was tour and tour.
DB: If you sign to a record label, you’re going to make sure it’s on your own terms?
CS: We don’t want to be difficult to work with, but we do want to be sure that we’re going to get pushed, and not put on the back burner. A lot of the record labels are signing a lot of the screamo bands, just because it’s hot right now, but I like bands like Hatebreed that have been around for years. Now they’re finally starting to get what they deserve. There are a lot of good bands out right now, but it seems like the record industry only goes for what’s hot right then, and what they think’s going to sell a kajillion albums. We want longevity— we want to build a career that can go another 10, 15 years.
DB: You’re the only original member left.
CS: I’m the original gangster.
DB: Do you guys have a hookup with ESP guitars?
CS: Yeah, we’re sponsored by ESP. They hook us up with free guitars. It’s about time— all the money we make goes back into touring, so all those free little things like that definitely help out. We’ve got Crate and Ampeg now, which is cool. EMG pickups…Jägermeister helps us out a bunch.
DB: You’ve got something to play, something to play it through, something to drink, cologne to wear…
CS: If we could get sponsored by Taco Bell…
DB: How do you do this as a life?
CS: It’s definitely difficult. You have to basically put your normal life on hold. You have to try to minimalize all your bills, if possible, make sure you don’t have huge car payments and rent. You just have to be able to go out and say, “Hey, I’m going to keep truckin’ and give it my all and go out on the road, and every bit of money you make, you don’t party it away like a lot of bands do— you put it back into new stickers and new shirts. You try to grow— we’re still trying to figure it out as we go. We’re trying to get twenty times as big as we are now. It’s been such a long road, and we didn’t have anybody to pattern after, really, because all the bands that we knew were already signed, and they had the record label helping them out. We had to figure out all the little kinks and all the promotional ideas ourselves. It’s just sticking to it and working as hard as you can. You meet other bands, and try to hook up with them. “We hook you up in Vegas, you hook us up in Phoenix.” You meet more bands, and keep branching out. The bigger and bigger we get— the bigger our name gets— the more people are excited to work with us. We just use our leverage and try to befriend the band. Let them know that we’re hard workers and we’ll go out there and hustle— get our street kids involved. We’ll even go through town a couple of day before and hang up as many posters as we can. Emails and postcards…whatever we can do.
DB: You’re a marketing juggernaut.
CS: We definitely are.
DB: And you’ve got your own fragrances. Are there any band pheromones squeezed into this stuff?
CS: People always joke with us— “What is that? Is it sweat or piss or what?” We’re like, “Nah. If you want it to be, I guess we could make you a special batch.”
DB: You had a sign in Hollywood, on the Roxy, where you’re all a bunch of midgets.
CS: We made that all ourselves with a jigsaw. It wound up staying up for about a year. It was huge exposure. All the bands in Hollywood, and all the bands that go on tour always go to the Rainbow, right there, and they saw it. A lot of bigger bands knew us from that— just from sitting there and looking at our midget sign.
DB: “Who are those little guys?”
CS: The Rainbow’s patio faces it, so it was right there in everybody’s face. We were out there hanging out with Cypress Hill, and Jenna Jamison was with them, and we’d see the guys from Deftones and Lemmy from Motörhead— we’d be hanging out with all of them, and our sign was right there.
DB: What’s the difference between “Wall of Death” and “Split The Pit”? (During the song “Conniption Fit,” Chad choreographs a parting of the audience into two masses that then rush each other on his signal, and during “Sour,” oversees the formation of an all-girl moshpit.)
CS: It’s the same thing. A couple of people have even called it “The Braveheart” before.
DB: Can you sum up the new album for me?
CS: Everybody says it’s the best album so far. It’s called “Bleed The Dream,” and it’s talking about not giving up on your dreams, no matter how hard it gets— just keep on going. That definitely sums it all up.
Hemlock, with Black Orchid, Regicide, and Dracolich, Monday, October 17 th, at the Boardwalk. All ages.