from Jeff (via email):
Jeffrey sent me some a couple emails from which I extracted this exciting news:
We're doing two records right now:
On March 16-17 we play our first european dates, in Athens Greece of all places! [We will also] play Barcelona, Salerno IT, plus Germany, Holland, Belgium and Paris in November.
It's me, Paul and Harry this time around, seventeen songs total!!
In a Tagalong post, Steven Hinrichs gives us some excellent news:
The website looks great! This is the first time i've really checked it out. We are currently finishing songs for a new album, hopefully to be recorded this spring. Thanks for all the support & kind words.
Jeffrey sent me a letter, along with a couple T-shirts. He has stunningly good handwriting and a very rich writing style. I'll leave in all his abbreviations, punctuation, strange grammar, and capitalizations!
It's a marvelous thing to find people on this planet who get behind what they FEEL IS IMPORTANT, albeit only a pop group no one knows.
The design on the tees enclosed don't represent anything of special significance; I felt a (new) shirt was in order so I had these done; I'm enamoured with that Kinda 'Crest', 'Shield', 14-15-16th c. byzantine slash viking design, I wanted something REGAL, some 'class' as opposed to "Gimmick Rawk T-Shirt #101" (find a pop culture produce a la dishsoap, cologne, cola, etc. and put the band name on it --> YAWN...)
I'm swooning2 to a GORGEOUS, extremely loveable Britlot who goes by the moniker RIALTO and their three singles are v. v. good, steeped deeply in 60's (Motown, Tamla) 70's, 80's, etc. etc. They might be a "Love em' or Hate em'" affair but I'm in their corner. I can't hear "Untouchable" (second single, 'A' side) ENOUGH!!! They're on east/west worldwide and their full length debut is appearing soon (with a U.S. release) I'm sure ALL the singles will be there, hip hip!! Save yr. $ and avoid the import singles; I think the LP is out late January. Another band I've been enjoying a la "up n'coming n' can't-wait-for-a-full-length" is BALLROOM; their two singles on Mother U.K., "Silent Singers" and "Take It", both really accomplished, I like em!
Lots of info from a phone call with Jeffrey Runnings:
Shelf Life, recorded back in January, is slated for a November 1997 release on World Domination. This is the same label that Scenic and Shriekback are on, and Jeff expects Shelf Life to get a good distribution, so that it should be fairly easy to find the album in "any good record store."
The band also hopes that Echelons will be released on CD soon. This task is currently in the hands of Bruce Licher at IPR, who is waiting for enough time and capital. The plan is to release Echelons and In the Marshes together on one CD.
The band is very ready to start recording their next album, and will hopefully begin doing so after the holidays. They would also like to tour.
Jeff requested hardcopies of these web pages for him and the others to look over. I can't wait to hear their suggestions! He also says he doesn't mind audio clips or album cover scans being put online, though he's not sure on the legality of it. So, I plan to put more samples online when I have time - any requests?
According to Jeff, December was made for under $1000, on an 8-track! This is especially incredible considering the tremendous sound they got out of it (which he accredits to the guy running the 8-track)!