For Towards Vocalist Jeffrey Runnings Dies at 61

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, Unbiased Mission Data has confirmed. “Jeffrey Runnings was not solely a superb good friend and an impressive musician and songwriter, however somebody whose life revolved round music,” Unbiased Mission Data founder and co-owner Bruce Licher wrote in a press release shared with Pitchfork. He added: “His distinctive voice will probably be missed on so many ranges.” Discover Licher’s full assertion beneath. Runnings was 61.

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 adjustments, 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 Unbiased Mission Data, in addition to the next LPs December (1988), Within the Marshes (1990), and Aperture (1993).

For Towards launched albums for the subsequent 15-plus years, with their closing 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 about for launch later this yr. The LP may also embrace a 4-track EP of uncommon recordings from the late Eighties. Runnings shared “Batman Without end,” his first single from the solo effort, earlier this yr.

Bruce Licher:

Jeffrey Runnings was not solely a superb good friend and an impressive musician and songwriter, however somebody whose life revolved round music. Jeff was at all times enthusiastically sharing music that he thought his associates would take pleasure in, 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 means of the submit. I couldn’t have requested for something extra particular. His distinctive voice will probably be missed on so many ranges.