For well-seasoned Sonic Saints, pleasure shows in the playing

Reality fades along with the daylight as we cross the threshold from one room to the next.

“It’s kind of like going into another dimension,” Eric Hill smiles as he leads the way into Back Room Comics, a windowless, densely packed portal into a fanged, caped fantasy world adjoined to Zedagem Mart, an Ethiopian grocery store thick with the aroma of spices and grains imported from Africa.

Hill and his wife own and operate both.

Hill’s no kid — the streaks of silver in his hair underscore as much — but in here, the kid comes out of him as he chuckles along to the punch line in a “Big Trouble In Little China” comic book and proudly shows of his wares, which range from Matchbox cars to baseball cards to gory graphic novels with crimson entrails splattered across their covers.

This store is one of Hill’s labors of love.

The other: rock ’n’ roll.

A similar kind of ageless enthusiasm unites both.

Hill’s a Vegas punk lifer, a first wave guy, who’s been fronting bands here since the late ’70s.

Soon, another longtime scene staple, Adam “Bomb” Segal, joins us.

Segal and Hill, along with veteran drummer Chris Moon, guitarist Ben Dubler and bassist Ernie Castaneda, are The Sonic Saints.

It’s a new band consisting of some old familiar faces, their combined pedigree including such notable groups as M.I.A., Shattered Faith, Bad Habits, The Faction, The New Waves, the Happy Campers and plenty more.

Together, they bash out these instantaneously infectious jams that span power pop, garage rock and punk all at once, Hill singing of dead-end jobs and shady ladies in his distinctive rasp over go-go-go guitars and a rock steady groove.

It’s the sound of five dudes who’ve been around the block and then some, just getting together for kicks — and in not trying to be all that serious, they’ve come up with some seriously tight and catchy tunes.

“To be back into it at almost age 50, it’s 100 percent purely for pleasure,” says Segal, who’s also a producer who’s tracked hundreds of bands at The Bomb Shelter studio. “It’s a completely fun vibe.”

The Saints started with Segal and Moon, who were going for a loose, Dead Boys-type vibe when they reached out to their future singer.

“I said ‘yes’ before I heard any of the songs,” says Hill, who began emailing lyrics to Segal, who then set them to song.

Segal, a die-hard record collector with more than 10,000 albums, notes that his only goal originally was to get enough songs together for a picture disc EP, which The Saints released in July.

They never even intended to play out, but they ended up having such a good time together, that they penned another 10 songs to have enough to book their first gig, which they played at the Double Down on Sept. 26.

Who knows where the band goes from here — what makes the Saints work is how off-the-cuff everything is.

“You gotta keep doing it long enough to embarrass your kids,” Segal tells Hill with a grin.

“I think I might have already done that,” Hill chuckles.

“I always want to keep playing,” he adds, no longer a young dude, but still sounding like one on this afternoon.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @JasonBracelin.