Micky Shannon and |
| Micky Shannon and |
First, this is not a digital project and was recorded in or around 1989. The songs were taken off of a 15 year old cassette tape so you will hear a couple places where the tape got messed up and kind of crinkled, but all in all I think it held up quite well considering. While the songs are high quality conversions, they are no better then the tape deck I used to get them to the computer for conversion to the mp3's. The picture above does not correspond with the time period that the project was recorded in terms of members, but represents the Runaway John era. Runaway started out Runaway John, after a toilet that wouldn't stop running; i.e. Runaway John. After a couple years we dropped the John and became Runaway. After another year or so and some careful consideration including looking at other bands that were out there decided to feature the vocalist in the name and became Micky Shannon and Runaway! We also went through many band member changes over those years including 4 keyboard players, 5 drummers and 5 bass players. We were working the top 40 scene all over the state of Oregon, up and down the coast and up into Washington. The band worked solid for almost 10 years, until the clubs we played started lowering the amount they paid or switched from top 40 to country so little by little they quit working and eventually disbanded. After Runaway disbanded, Dennis built and setup a recording studio and started a new music project, a funk band called Huzzah. Some of you have probably already either heard of them or heard their music in other areas of the site or on my myspace blog pages. Runaway was a kick-ass, good ol' rock and roll band built on quality and perfection. A fan at one of our shows asked if we knew Taken Care Of Business by BTO, we told them we didn't know that one but we would see what we could do. So on break we all got together to work up the song, we soon realized that none of us knew the whole song, but we each knew a verse of the song and oddly enough, we all knew a different part of the song. By the end of break and time for another set we went back on stage pulling it off like true professionals. I think we got the verses mixed up and sung them out of order, but we pulled it off and the fan who requested it was delighted. After that night we made it a regular part of the show, we learned the song the right way and did it every night. The quality of musicians we worked with in the end, definitely made us one of the best bands in the Pacific Northwest at the time...bar none! Our originals got a great response and were requested every gig we played, we even received some airplay! Dennis and Micky are the strength and creativity part of the band, Carlos Santana is just one of Dennis's influences and Cyndi Lauper is but just one of Micky's. Robbie Butler is the most solid drummer I ever worked with, his influences include Tommy Lee of Crue and Rikki Rocket of Poison so you can imagine what kind of drummer he was...solid and LOUD, 115db's on stage! So when Seagram's Coolers held a contest on a local radio station, they entered 3 songs...Let Me, Life on the Edge and Love Waits...and all 3 songs ended up in the top 10 out of over 300 entries. The songs were Let Me in at 3rd, Life On The Edge in at 5th and Love Waits in at 8th I believe it was, but unfortunately only the top 2 spots paid. Come on though, 3 songs entered and all 3 hit the top 10...not bad if you ask me, we had potential! We were in the same melding pot as New Shoes, the Motels and Nimble Darts who we warmed up for many times...we just didn't get the recording contract. Runaway was also offered a 3 month tour in Japan, but the band didn't want to go and leave all their kids at home...there was even a prevision for an additional 3 months to be added if the tour went well, but they opted not to go! The final lineup was Micky Shannon-Monroe on vocals, Dennis Monroe on guitars and vocals, J.D. Monroe on drums and vocals, Jamie Morris on bass and vocals, Bob Rause on keyboards and vocals and Ken Monroe on sound and vocals from the board. |