Kane Hodder - RIP

In Hell's Kitchen (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

According to my compatriot and former fellow Seattleite, Ryan Schierling, the tonsil-hemorrhaging NW band Kane Hodder is no more.

For those of you not of the great gray/green Northwest, Kane Hodder is a very loud, very crazy band named after the stunt man that played Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. Ryan was a megafan. I had never heard them live. All I'd seen were Ryan's photos of them. And in those photos, you rarely saw Andrew Moore's (lead vox) feet touching the ground. He was either mid-air or writhing around grand mal style. Only Guy Picciotto from Fugazi did the front stage tortured writhing better. So when Ryan asked if I'd be interested in shooting stills at a KH music video shoot with him, I agreed.

I had no idea what I was in for.

It was shot in a grimey shithole in Tacoma called Hell's Kitchen. (That's a compliment by the way.) It was crammed full of pre-, mid-, and barely post-pubescent fans and the video hot lights lived up to their namesake and kept the interior temperature in the club well above the BROIL setting.

They were awesome. "Reckless abandon" got redefined for me right in front of my eyes. I nearly died of heat stroke. But I have a cache of images from that night I'll hold dear for a long time. The image above is my favorite.

Godspeed Andrew et al.

P.S. Kane Hodder, the person, is still very much alive. And, apparently, a very good poker player.