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

Richard Corben's Non-Comics Work

"Richard Corben is the best comic book artist ever."

That's not something you're bound to hear a whole lot of people say. Honestly, I'm not going to say that either. However I will say that Corben shares the title of "my favorite comic book artist" with Travis Charest, meaning that I like his artwork a whole lot to say the least.

If you know me personally, you've probably seen a lot of Rich's comic book covers and interiors as I am known to champion them to anyone within earshot (and eyeshot) whenever the chance presents itself. What most people (even those who call me their friend) are probably not familiar with, however, are Corben's works of art outside of the comic book industry.

If you plumb the depths of a stack of dusty old science fiction paperbacks in the corner of a mom and pop used book store you've got a pretty good chance of uncovering one or two titles with Rich's work adorning the cover. However, to hunt down and display those here would undoubtedly have an unpleasant effect on my sanity, so instead what I've got to share with you, my beloved readers, are some more mainstream works of art.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
First, we have the one you most likely have a pretty good chance of having seen before. This is one of two posters produced for the Heavy Metal movie from back in 1981. The other poster (which you can view here) is the one most people know because it has been used for all of the packaging and promotion of the movie on DVD and Home Video over the years. If you'd gone into a theater showing the film back in '81 though, you probably would have seen one of these bad boys, which prominently features Corben's own creation, Den:


After the Heavy Metal poster, the non-comic book Corben painting the average person is most likely to have seen (depending on your music taste) is the album cover for Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell. Apparently this artwork was a rush job (though I'd be hard pressed to prove it based on the quality of the art itself) which arrived at CBS records less than one week from the day they commissioned him to paint it. Amazing!


Now we get into the more obscure work. I'd never heard of Jim Steinman before, but according to Wikipedia he's a record producer, composer, and lyricist who has worked with Meatloaf on multiple occasions, which explains how he ended up with a Richard Corben painting on the cover of his album Bad For Good:


Now here's one that I found truly bizarre. Everyone's heard of Brian De Palma, director of such films as Carrie, The Untouchables, Scarface, Carlito's Way, and Mission Impossible. But did you know that in 1974 he wrote and directed a rock opera version of The Phantom Of The Opera called Phantom Of The Paradise? Well, if IMDb is to be believed, he did just that and Richard Corben painted one of the original posters for the movie. For those who have seen the Berserk anime or read the manga of the same name, is it just me or does that dude in the mask remind you of Griffith when he's got his helmet on?


Last, but not least, we have the movie poster for a no-name 80's horror movie called Spookies. Apparently it's one of those "a group of people spend the night in a haunted house" flicks. Having looked up the directors and "stars" of the film on IMDb, even though I've never actually watched it, I can pretty much surmise that this poster is the best thing about the movie:


In closing, I'd like to give props to the internet in general for helping me to discover, locate, and share these pieces of artwork with others. Of note is an absolutely invaluable resource for anyone wishing to learn more about Richard Corben, which goes by the name "The Most Complete Comicography Of Richard Corben", or Muuta.net for short. Then of course there's Richard Corben's personal site: CorbenStudios.com.

Now go spread the word: Richard Corben is (one of) the best comic book artist(s) ever.

Re-Animate Your Feet!

I saw Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator for the first time a few years ago (late to the party once again, I know) and became an immediate fan. Not only of the movie, but of Gordon himself and Jeffrey Combs. Not long afterward I tracked down both of the sequels. Neither were directed by Gordon, nor were they anywhere near as good as the original, but both had their redeeming factors (first and foremost, the return of Combs as Dr. Herbert West). The second film, Bride of Re-Animator, just felt like a re-hash of the first movie. The third film, Beyond Re-Animator, is rather peculiar.

I actually thought that Beyond Re-Animator was a more original and enjoyable film than it's immediate predecessor, but to cut production costs the film was shot in Spain with an almost entirely Spanish cast. Apparently the English dialogue spoken by most of the characters was so difficult to understand that the majority of their lines had to be over-dubbed, which is quite obvious and sometimes jarring when you watch the film. The entire look and feel of the Beyond Re-Animator is quite bizarre, but the oddest thing of all is the music video included on the DVD. To my recollection this song doesn't appear anywhere in the movie, and as you'll hear when you listen to it, it would be quite hard to miss in a moody, suspenseful horror film. I mean, it's a full-on house/techno song that would fit better in A Night At The Roxbury than Re-Animator. When I first saw it after having just watched Beyond Re-Animator I felt as though I was in some alternate dimension because of how out of place it is.

There really is no way to describe the video, so why not just give it watch:



I'm not sure what's more odd, though: the fact that this video is in any way related to Re-Animator or that I actually find the song kind of catchy...