Jeffrey Runnings, the vocalist and bassist with Nebraska post-punk band For Towards, died on March 3 as a consequence of stage 4 most cancers, Impartial Mission Information has confirmed. “Jeffrey Runnings was not solely a superb pal and an excellent musician and songwriter, however somebody whose life revolved round music,” Impartial Mission Information founder and co-owner Bruce Licher wrote in a press release shared with Pitchfork. “His distinctive voice will likely be missed on so many ranges.” Runnings was 61 years previous.
Runnings was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1963. He fashioned For Towards in 1984 in Lincoln, Nebraska, at first taking part in keyboard within the group. After a collection of personnel modifications, the band solidified with the core trio of guitarist Harry Dingman III, drummer Gregory Hill, and Runnings, who pivoted to bass and vocals. For Towards launched their 1987 debut album, Echelons, on Impartial Mission Information, in addition to the following LPs December (1988), Within the Marshes (1990), and Aperture (1993).
For Towards launched albums for the subsequent 15-plus years, with their remaining full-length being 2009’s By no means Been. In 2014 Captured Tracks launched a field set of their first three albums; Phrases on Music had beforehand reissued the the LPs within the early 2000s. In 2018, Saint Marie launched a restricted version vinyl field set of For Towards’s handful of albums from the Nineteen Nineties.
In 2024, Runnings recorded a solo album titled Piqued, which is ready for launch later this 12 months. The LP will even embody a four-track EP of uncommon recordings from the late Eighties. Runnings shared “Batman Endlessly,” his first single from the solo effort, earlier this 12 months.
Bruce Licher:
Jeffrey Runnings was not solely a superb pal and an excellent musician & songwriter, however somebody whose life revolved round music. Jeff was all the time enthusiastically sharing music that he thought his buddies would get pleasure from, and for years he would ship me handwritten letters typically accompanied by information he thought I ought to have, or a mixtape he’d made that he thought I ought to hear. Even now, in the course of the second decade of the twenty first Century, when he despatched me his new album to listen to for the primary time, it was on a cassette tape that he mailed by way of the put up. I couldn’t have requested for something extra particular. His distinctive voice will likely be missed on so many ranges.
