This weekend, Schoolyard Heroes and Kane Hodder will die. Both bands have been a part of Seattle’s all-ages scene since the early 2000s, and neither will be leaving the decade alive. They’ll both dig their own graves this weekend at El Corazón as part of the annual (and appropriately morbidly themed) holiday celebration Home for the Horrordays.
The farewells are bittersweet for me—both bands began what came to be their pretty impressive journeys about the same time I was starting mine here at The Stranger. I met Kane Hodder in 2004, when they were the subject of my first long-format music feature. I met Schoolyard Heroes one year earlier, when they were the second place standouts at EMP’s Sound Off! competition. I still vividly remember being absolutely floored by singer Ryann Donnelly, who back then performed wearing just jeans and an Interpol T-shirt (a far cry from today’s iconic “prom queen trying to outrun the zombies” look).
I spent a few days on tour with Kane Hodder—we played basketball in the middle of the night in Montana, and they played at my 25th birthday party. A few years ago, Schoolyard let me stay over at their house to write about 24 hours worth of exploits (it involved listening to a lot of Queen and, if I remember correctly, a late-night doughnut run—those kids love their food).
For these final performances, the bands are going to return to their roots: Kane Hodder will be playing with both the original lineup (featuring Jeremy White and Nick Cates) as well as the newer one (with Aaron Yost and Jerome Sauer), and Schoolyard Heroes are bringing back the recently departed members Brian Turner and Steve Bonnell (I doubt Donnelly will be wearing that Interpol T-shirt, though). 
It will, no doubt, be the most raging funeral anyone has ever attended. RIP. Thanks for the memories.
Fri Dec 18: Kane Hodder, Alligators,
…Is Electric, Muratorix at Coffee Oasis (Bremerton), 7 pm, $8.
Sat Dec 19: Schoolyard Heroes, These Arms Are Snakes, Kane Hodder, Blood Cells, Sirens Sister at El Corazón, 8 pm, $15.
Sat Dec 19: The Rural Alberta Advantage, Blunt Mechanic at the Vera Project, 7:30 pm, $9/$10.
Sat Dec 19: Rosie Thomas Christmas Show with Josh Ottum at Town Hall,
8 pm, $15.
Wed Dec 23: Talbot Tagora at the Vera Project, 7 pm, $5/$6.
