Kane Hodder Is Fucking Dead (2002-2009)

The title of this post comes from the MySpace page of one of my favorite bands of the last few years, not the obituary of the actor known for playing Jason Vorhees in the Friday The 13th movies. Though as you probably could have guessed, and as you can see from the poster advertising their two final shows, those movies were the inspiration behind the band's name:

(click images to enlarge)

I'm not very useful in a discussion about music and can rarely describe why I like a song, album, or artist in any more detail than to simply say "I like the way that sounds", so I won't bother going into the specific merits of Kane Hodder's music other than to say that I REALLY like the way they sound(ed).

I first discovered Kane Hodder when they were signed to Fueled By Ramen in 2005 and bought their CD "The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless" on the day that it was re-released on that label (having previously come out a year prior on Suburban Home/Cowboy Versus Sailor). The funny thing is that at the time I didn't know that the album had seen a previous release, so I ended up buying the original version with different album art (which I actually prefer) instead of the FBR release that came out that day.


Back then I was a big fan of Fueled By Ramen and their artists, and while I still appreciate most of the music I was into then, I've since lost most of my interest in bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, The Academy Is..., and Gym Class Heroes. Whether it was my own personal taste in music that changed or the bands themselves (which seems to generally be the case), most of them don't excite me the way they used to. However through it all, "The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless" has remained one of my most listened to albums of the past 5 years and is easily one of my favorites of all time.

Honestly, Kane Hodder doesn't have as much music out there as any of the other bands that I mentioned, but over the course of 8 years, 2 EPs, and 1 LP, their sound hasn't changed very drastically at all. Some would surely say that's not something to praise, but considering that so many new bands that I discover disappoint me by leaving behind the sound that I initially loved them for in subsequent releases, it is an attribute of Kane Hodder that I cherish.


Not long after I became a fan, Kane Hodder began recording a sporadically updated podcast which I began listening to regularly. Through not only hearing the members of the band bullshit about what music and movies they were into, but also by writing in to the show and having them reply to a number of my questions and comments "on the air", I feel like I got to know and appreciate vocalist Andrew Moore and the other guys more than I have any other band over the years.






The final episode of the podcast (episode 31) was released on iTunes on September 10th, 2008, and since then the podcast's blog and the band's website have both disappeared from the web. When I started noticing these disappearances and cancellations around the internet I began to worry, but finding out any information about a little known band with the same name as a famous actor is nearly impossible, even on search engines like Google. My fears were finally made tangible a little over a week ago when I visited Kane Hodder's MySpace page and saw the headline which I appropriated for this post's title.

It sucks that the band is breaking up, but perhaps moreso that I never got to see them perform live. I don't think they ever toured far from their homes in Washington state (see: the opposite side of the country from me), even during their brief time on a fairly major label. I suppose I'll always have their existing albums to listen to though, and if I haven't gotten tired of them yet despite how frequently I play them, I doubt that I will any time soon.

One thing's for sure though: I'll be keeping a watchful eye on Andrew's MySpace page in hopes of hearing about any new projects that he may work on in the future.


In the event that I've piqued anyone's interest in Kane Hodder with this post, HERE is the link to a .ZIP file that I've prepared with a few noteworthy tracks from over the years which you can download for free, along with my musings on the chosen songs.

You can also visit Kane Hodder's YouTube Channel, where you can see live performance footage, clips of the band members just messing around, and the official videos for "I Think Patrick Swayze Is Sexy" and "Siberia 1908".

If you like what you hear (or see), you can purchase "A Frank Exploration Of Voyeurism And Violence" and "The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless" on Amazon.com or download the band's latest EP, "Through The Bloody Channels We Raise Our Sails", directly from iTunes.

R.I.P Kane Hodder