Jim Hodder: A Look Back

As mentioned in the July edition of Metal Leg, Jim Hodder, bronze God, pulse of the rhythm section and one of the original five members of Steely Dan, died on June 5th, 1990 by drowning in his swimming pool at his Point Arena home. He was 42.

Jim began his musical career in Boston as a child when he learned to play the accordion. But, he knew even then he was not following his natural calling because "I was always banging something." Eventually he got his first drum kit and just kept "banging away" until he joined the Bead Game, Boston's own resident hippie band. "You know, we all lived together in one house, never rehearsed, and when we got on stage, we were really sloppy. But people came to hear us anyway."

During his stint with the Bead Game, Jim met Gary Katz who became the band's producer and it was he who suggested Jim to Donald and Walter as drummer for their soon-to-be assembled group. In an early group biography, Jim was quoted as saying: "I like what I play in this band. I like to play strong rhythms, nothing too fancy, but strong. I like to make things go."

Not only did he drum on the first three albums, he actually sang two fine lead vocals, firstly on Steely Dan's debut single, "Dallas," and then "Midnite Cruiser" from "Can't Buy A Thrill." During the Dan's UK tour in 1974 the Melody Maker described his drumming as "metronomic, the perfect foil to Jeffrey Pocaro's more ambitious approach."

Speaking about his drum duet with the prodigious Pocaro which was then featured in Steely Dan's set, Jim said, "I like having the two of us drumming. It doesn't always work in groups and both of you have to forget about your ego. With us it sounds like one guy playing at times, but it makes for a better combination of sounds. From the time the band was put together, Donald wanted two drummers. I was against it at first, but what the hell, we had two guitarists and two keyboard players, so why not two drummers? And my favorite band has two drummers -- Frank Zappa and the Mothers. It can work like a locomotive, especially on tunes like "Do It Again." It gives us both time to relax in different parts and we can concentrate more on the next fill.

And of course, you can pick your nose or drop a stick and nobody notices! What we have to watch out for is Donald when he conducts those long endings. It's great material to play in this band and we only clash occasionally, but not so that anybody in the audience would notice. That first LP we did was only rehearsed for a couple of weeks and I didn't even know the other guys. So it turned out remarkably well."

Asked about his time before he was invited to join Steely Dan, Jim said: "Before Steely Dan I did a lot of session work around the Boston area and got screwed by managers, the usual thing."

To the members of Steely Dan one of the most irritating things then was the "glitter and platform shoes" image which a lot of bands were utilizing to good effect. Jim told the Melody Maker: "it seems everybody has to have a glitter image and I can't stand that. Nobody in the group can stand it! But the fact is we've been accepted without glamour and fancy clothes. The whole glitter bit is stupid -- it sucks."

"It's true we had two hit singles, and our second LP we didn't have any hits, so we had to be a little bit more commercial on the third one. Artistically, "Countdown" was our best LP, but for the sake of survival of the group, we had to go more commercial on "Pretzel Logic." But I think Donald and Walter are the two best songwriters since Paul McCartney and Paul Simon. You've gotta have material. Us and the Doobie Brothers and the Eagles all started off at the same time, and I think good American bands are coming back."

Jim left Steely Dan in 1974 at the same time the 'Skunk' left to join the Doobie Brothers. It was widely reported at the time that both departures were due to Becker and Fagen's staunch refusal to tour again, and that probably isn't far from the truth.

Issue 15 contents | Metal Leg overview | The Steely Dan Internet Resource