Heavy metal band going strong since ‘93

A favorite heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, Hemlock, made a stop in Gallup on their 2017 “Skele-Tour” at the Juggernaut Aug. 25.

Together for more than 17 years, since 1993, they have played concerts with the likes of Lamb Of God, Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Slayer, Korn and others.

Chad Smith – Lead Vocals, Bass, 1993–present; Jezy Ward – Guitar (2010–present); Brian Smith – Drums (1993–2002, 2009–present); and James Gelber- Guitar (2013–present); have been a local favorite for over 10 years. The last album “Mouth of the Swine” produced in 2015, has created an even stronger following amongst the hardcore rockers here in the Southwest.

Considered a heavy/thrash metal band, Hemlock has always focused on their fans and their live shows, typically touring for 8 to 9 months out of the year. The band, fronted by bass guitarist/lead vocalist Chad Smith, makes a valiant effort to be real with their fans while on tour, often staying at the venue hours after the last song to hang out with fans.

Smith, with his long dreadlocked hair and workingman attitude, also handles the merchandise booth at venues and is the heart of the band. Nine albums are currently available from Hemlock: Mouth of the Swine, The Only Enemy, No Time For Sorrow, Bleed the Dream, Pigeon Holed, Shut Down, Controlance, Back in The Day, and Viva Lock Vegas.

The Sun got the chance to speak with front man Chad Smith, outside the venue prior to them taking the stage.

Sun: Chad … Hemlock … dude.

Smith: What’s up, how you doing?

Sun: Good. How’s it going with you guys?

Smith: Rocking and rolling we love it, it’s been a beautiful day here in Gallup, playing here, and it’s going to be a fun time.

Sun: When was the last time you guys were here?

Smith: We played here about a year and a half ago, and another time out in Window Rock during the summer time with Devil Driver; and that was a big show too. One in April the other June here in this neck of the woods, and it was fun.

Oh, we love it out here, been playing here probably since 2001, so here we are still rocking and rolling having fun The people out here are awesome.

Sun: Pretty soon they’re going to just have to change the name of this place to the House of Hemlock (laughing).

Smith: Oh, right on (laughing), yeah we try to always come back once a year or twice if we can. When we’re rolling through, Gallup is always on the tour list.

Sun: How is the tour so far?

Smith: Amazing. We started out in July, and so far we’ve done 47 shows and on the last stretch of it. All the shows have been awesome. We’ve been up to Montana, Colorado, down to California and played at the Whiskey a Go Go about two weeks ago and it was fun. Now we’re working our way through Arizona, New Mexico and into Texas. We’ve also been doing some fun sightseeing, rafting, hiking, and went to Yellowstone.

Sun: Cool. What’s new with Hemlock these days?

Smith: We had an album come out, and we’ve been touring hard behind that album, Mouth of the Swine. We’ve been playing the new stuff and playing the old stuff.

Next year is our 25^th anniversary, so we’re going to do a bunch of shows next year; we’ve been writing some new material so we’re hoping to have a new album out next spring.

We went through all of Europe last year, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, Berlin, lots of rocking and rolling, lots of head banging.

Sun: Did you ever think this would happen back in 1993?

Smith: Ah, you know of course you always want it to happen, to dream about it, but you just keep working and working. Too stubborn to give up, but I love to do it.

Here we are and it’s still a lot of work and a lot of fun too. It’s cool because we’ve been so many places and met so many people that we wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the music.

Sun: Same guys still with you?

Smith: My brother Brian and I still ... and we’ve gone through a couple guitar guys because it’s a lot of time out on the road and away from their families, so it’s pretty rough. Or someone gets married, or has a kid, or something like that.

Sun: Cool.

(Looking at the band’s enormous black school bus parked out front, I just had to ask this next question.)

Now no one can’t mistake you guys being here, you have your huge Hemlock ride here; I got to ask … do you guys have a name for it?

Smith: The bus, I call it the Tour Tank. We thought about calling it some other name, cool like Betty, Frank, or something. We actually don’t have a name for it, but it’s a 35-foot long international school, but that we painted black and it looks like a prison bus. (Both of us are laughing.)

We were hoping to get a year out of it, but here it’s been going on seven years now. We’ve driven it all over the United States, all through Canada … everywhere. We built bunk beds in it; it’s the ultimate tour RV for a band.

Sun: You’ve toured with some heavy duty bands, huh?

Smith: We’ve toured with everybody you can think of. Bands I thought about when I was a kid. All the bands I grew up listening to as a kid. And it’s cool sharing the stage with them all.

Sun: You’ve heard Testament is going to be here next month out in Window Rock?

Smith: Yeah, I’ve heard that from my friend, Vice President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation. He’s actually been to three of my shows, and he said he’s a metal head (laughing).

Sun: Okay, here’s strange question for you Chad. What’s one thing people don’t know about you?

Smith: My nickname is Tender Bear because I don’t like needles at all … so that’s why I don’t have any tattoos at all. I do have a little blue dot on my right leg when I was a kid teasing my sister, and she stabbed me with a pen (laughing). That’s my prison tattoo (laughing).

I collect action figure dolls like He-Man, Star Wars; I collect Garbage Pail Kids stickers, Muppet toys, all kinds of stuff … I like silly things.

Sun: Well, Chad I know you guys have to get ready, so I’ll end it here and check you guys out inside.

Smith: We are going to rock tonight, and always so cool to be here. Keep your chins up and look for us next year. We’ll see you all soon.

For more information visit Hemlock, www.hemlockworld.com, or on Facebook/Hemlock.

By Dee Velasco
For the Sun

Rating: «« out of 4

Running Time: 142 min.

The latest comic book movie to hit cinemas this week is Wonder Woman, part of the DC Universe that includes the likes of Superman and Batman. The good news is that this film is far, far superior to the efforts featuring those superheroes. In fact, the movie is helped tremendously by the fact that previous titles were so poor - this looks phenomenal in comparison. The bad news is that there are still flaws present and that the feature makes a few of the same mistakes as previous DC releases, though not on as grand or epic a scale. In the end, it’s reasonable enough to entertain children and fans of the character.

Child of the Queen of the Amazons, Diana, aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is a warrior princess living with her people on the Island of Themyscira, hidden from humanity. Her life is changed when Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes his plane in the vicinity while being hunted by German officers during WWI. After learning of the conflict, she decides that this event coincides with her purpose in life - to vanquish the God of War, Ares, who is turning humankind against each other. She is taken to London and introduced to Sir Patrick (David Thewlis), who agrees to fund the pair on a secret mission on the front lines. Wonder Woman believes that General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) is Ares in disguise and sets out to assassinate him. However, helping Ludendorff in his activities is his sinister yet tortured chemist, Dr. Poison (Elena Anaya).

The movie feels a bit wooden early on, with some stiff dialogue and awkward exchanges, as well as some surprisingly dodgy and unconvincing special effects. Gadot capably handles the physical stuff, but isn’t given much to work with in relating to the other characters. However, things do improve somewhat when the lead leaves home and travels to London. The fish-out-of-water material makes for more interesting fodder and plays much better as the idealistic Diana must deal with the era’s conservative social attitudes and the duplicitous motives of those around her.

And of course, it’s also fun to watch the superhero take down the bad guys. There are some decent action scenes in the middle of the film as the character fights some villains using hand to hand combat and other, more exaggerated methods. It’s always fun to see a female character break with old tradition and stereotypical gender roles. Unfortunately, one wishes that a little more could have been done with the supporting male characters summoned to help her on the quest. They come off as one-note stereotypes. I suppose one could argue that it draws attention to some of the issues being dealt with onscreen, but I don’t really believe this was the movie’s intention.

Things also fall off of the rails during the nonsensical final act. Some of the absurdities include a battle in a watchtower that receives no attention from nearby soldiers in the area. This escalates into explosions and a fight on a German base covered in flames (reminiscent of a previous DC movie entry), with some histrionics about the power of love ironically uttered around the time a character fires a devastating, disintegrating beam. It’s also unfortunate that more isn’t done with one of the feature’s most interesting characters, Dr. Poison. She doesn’t play much of a role in the finale. Perhaps the filmmakers are saving the villain for another feature, but they certainly don’t make the most of her in this effort. It’s unfortunate that the climax ends up devolving into complete silliness.

So, in the end, this is a mixed bag that does some things well but messes a few elements up along the way. As long as you can shut off your brain, the film should provide just enough thrills to make it enjoyable. In the end, Wonder Woman is a decent but imperfect superhero movie that plays much better thanks to the dreck of what has preceded it.

Visit: cinemastance.com

By Glenn Kay
For the Sun

Still looking for suspect(s) in death of Isiah Terrell Billy

Staff Reports

A little over a year ago 30-year-old Isiah Terrell Billy was found dead in a wash in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation.

The cause of death was determined to be strangulation.

Now the FBI has doubled the reward for identification, arrest and conviction of those responsible for Billy’s death to $10,000.

"The FBI and our partners on the Navajo Nation are committed to holding accountable those responsible for violent crime," Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of the Albuquerque FBI Division said. "Victims like Isiah Billy deserve justice, and we're hoping the publicity that comes with this higher reward will prompt someone to come forward and help us solve this crime."

Billy lived in Shiprock and was found east of the Sinclair gas station near Mile Marker 23 on U. S. Highway 64.

The FBI and Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety are investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (505) 889-1300 or go online at tips.fbi.gov.

Rating: «« out of 4

Running Time: 128 min.

It’s important to know when to say when. Back in 2004, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (based on the Disney theme park ride), was far more entertaining and enjoyable a movie than it had any right to be. However, it was soon followed by increasingly flawed and unmemorable sequels. To be completely honest, I can barely remember the last film.

The latest sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is still not a return to form. The witty banter and humorous pirate shenanigans remains less-than-razor-sharp and can’t match the original’s charm. Most of the new characters aren’t particularly interesting. And there is very little in general that can be added to a pirate battle than what has already been captured in this series. However, despite its flaws, this is a handsomely mounted production featuring a few new wrinkles here and there. By the close, most of the plotlines continued throughout the series have been wrapped up. This is a good place to bring events to a close, allowing the participants a graceful exit.

As the film begins, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) has been having a rough go of it, with heist after heist failing to bring in coins and leaving his skeleton crew ready to walk away for good. On Sparrow’s trail are several characters from varied backgrounds. Henry Turner (Brendan Thwaites) is the grown son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and seeks Sparrow to help in his search for Poseidon’s Trident. Located somewhere at the bottom of the sea, Henry believes that the magical spear will free his father from a curse and reunite them. However, they must contend with the ghost of a Spanish Navy Captain named Salazar (Javier Bardem), who wants the item’s power to return him to his human form. Also involved in the hunt is Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), who is also on a quest to find her lost family.

As mentioned, these movies are all about action, adventure, humor and character interplay. Depp is given the usual routine with Sparrow, stumbling around drunk and cracking wise at the events occurring around and within the group. We’ve seen this all before, but at least he manages to sell the odd exaggerated expression here and there. When veterans like the actor and Rush are trading jabs, they land with far more efficiency than in some of the other moments.

However, a lot of the other dialogue and gags don’t hit the mark, often landing flatly. The new characters of Henry and Carina aren’t very sharply written, coming off as rather bland and forgettable. There isn’t a whole lot of onscreen chemistry between the pair either, making any sort of budding romance between them less-than-compelling. It’s too bad that there is little in the way of exciting material given to these main characters to help them stand out from the more familiar and distinctive supporting cast.

At least there are a couple of good visual gags when the dialogue lags. A spinning guillotine provide a solid running joke during one action scene. Also providing some amusement is an early heist-gone-wrong that results in an entire bank, walls and all, being pulled down a street. The finale, which involves the ocean opening and closing as the characters hurry down and up, is impressively photographed and looks great. This is an elaborate and expensive production, and every bit of money spent is right up there on display. The movie was previewed to the press in 3D and the depth also works; there’s a lot of ship parts and water spray flying off of the screen.

Just about every sequel made these days leaves some loose ends. Thankfully, this film ties most things up. Admittedly, there is a post-credits tag that suggests further adventures if box office grosses are strong enough. But after five films and revenue of nearly 4 billion dollars, I’d advise them to let it go and end things here. As it stands, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales feels a bit worn, old and ratty, but at least it will provide a proper and satisfying close to fans of the series. It’s not great, but no embarrassment either. Let’s hope Disney knows when to say when.

Visit: cinemastance.com

By Glenn Kay
For the Sun