Theo Hakola, where are you now?

(The world still needs you.)

If I had the power to pluck one band from the depths of obscurity and the clutches of time, it would have to be Passion Fodder. The band's singer and songwriter, Theo Hakola, had this great, harrowed blend of rage and sensitivity. His lyrics were smart, literate and intense. Beaudelaire with an electric guitar. Nick Cave with broader vision. And Hakola's band put together a sound like no other (well, on one song they sounded a little like U2, but it was a great song--"I'd Sell My Soul to God"--so the sin was easily forgiven). Passion Fodder hailed from Paris and (briefly, near the end) Los Angeles. I caught them in concert at San Jose's One Step Beyond, back in the spring of 1988. Bought all their albums, which I still have on LP.

A quick Google search tells me Hakola's been writing novels lately. Not surprising. Here's a plug for a novel (which he wrote in English, I suspect): A Longing Like a River. Sounds great.

In any case, this band deserved far more attention than it ever got. Hakola deserves to retire to a villa in the Lake District or, better yet, to piss away a vast fortune in Monaco, leaving bastard children in every port... The guy deserved to be heard, and still does.

For those who haven't encountered Passion Fodder (which, I suspect, will be most everyone who happens to read this post), here's the song "Heart Hunters."

I found a cool, surreal, animated video for the song "Blood Thicker Than Love":



UPDATE: A little more digging. First, Hakola's English-language site: TheoHakola.com.

And here's the excellent video for "Luz Blanca":



PS I don't mean to suggest that Passion Fodder was entirely obscure in its day. They had a following. But even then, I couldn't understand why I got to hear them in a tiny club instead of a huge, old, ornate theatre. No justice.