Henderson man provides refuge for young rockers

The underground lives in Lord ClovenHoof's garage.

It's stuffy and damn hot, like entering a giant gym sock, but hey, if you're one of Vegas' leading patrons of infernal underground metal, then your homebase should approximate Hades' swelter at least a little bit.

"In the summertime, it's a little rough in here," he chuckles, glancing about the room, where stacks of amps and guitars rest next to lawn care equipment. "We put in an air conditioner," he adds, "but it doesn't do much."

And so it is with the lair of the Lord, an easygoing heavy metal dad with long black hair tucked into a backward ball cap and specks of gray in his thick goatee.

For almost 10 years now, ClovenHoof (aka Patrick Kaedy) has been releasing records (41 in all, from groups all over the world), recording bands and helping young local acts get shows under his ClovenHoof Productions banner.

His Henderson home is a refuge of sorts for aspiring rockers, where kids can practice, rehearse and record for free.

"We haven't charged one yet," Kaedy notes from his kitchen table. "The last band that came up here to record was Severed Corpse, and they all work at Pizza Hut, so I told them to bring up some pizzas."

"We've had times when there's been 20 kids in the living room and another 15 in the backyard," Kaedy's wife, Lisa, says. "It's a zoo. We go through cases of soda."

A drummer since the age of 4, Kaedy's a metal lifer especially fond of one of the genre's most brutal strains: raw, remorseless black metal, which sounds like hell invading your living space.

He's a family guy -- he started the studio to record his son's first band some five years ago -- the rare dad who sports a pentagram wristband, occasionally decks himself out in corpse paint and digs groups such as Black Funeral and Satanic Warmaster.

Some moms and dads surely will take issue with black metal's bleak, violent subject matter, but there's no evil overtones at the Kaedy household, which is like "Leave it to Beaver" with blast beats.

"We've never had a complaint from any parent," Kaedy says. "If anybody ever did, we would invite them over. We don't allow any drugs or alcohol here. It's a positive experience."

And it's mostly a labor of love for Kaedy. He releases CDs in small pressings of 50 or so, and doesn't profit much from his efforts.

"To be perfectly honest, it's been a money-losing situation. I don't even break even," he says. "I'm doing it for the love of it and to get the music out there."

He's also trying to open a new all-ages venue/local music outlet, some place for kids to hang out at other than his couch.

"We want to go ahead and find a place where we can do all-ages shows and focus on local stuff," he says. "We're trying to break through the garage door, you know?"

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.