In the beginning—Jareth's POV...

For me, HitnRun began in 1989 when I returned from a year of living in Los Angeles while I attended the Musicians Institute (GIT). I came back to Scranton PA with the vision of building a band that would be worthy of taking on the LA music scene, but would operate on the East Coast. Although Scranton PA wasn't exactly a hot bed of hard rock talent, I knew a few area musicians that would be up for the task of putting this kind of band together, among them was my brother Beckett who, despite being just 16, had become a solid rock drummer.

Beckett and I soon partnered with guitarist Mark Sutorka, who would go on to be with the band almost until its demise. Along with singer Michael Weiland and bassist Bob Grogan, we formed the original version of HitnRun. Although this line-up had every intention of being an original band, we succumbed to the pressures of the local music scene and focused primarily on learning cover songs. That's not to say that we didn't write several originals though. In fact, the track Forever, which is featured on our debut record was written during this time by myself and Michael.

After a year of steady rehearsals and gigs, the band came apart at the seams. Bob had to move away to finish his college degree, Michael was struggling with his voice, which caused some frustration for the entire group, and I wound up getting an interesting opportunity to join a band in Philadelphia that I decided to pursue.

My time in Philly would prove short lived, however, and I soon returned to Scranton to reassemble HitnRun with Beck and Mark. Soon we had recruited a new bassist in Dan Whitman and decided to give Michael another go at the microphone. This time there would be no cover songs. We decided to strictly focus on writing originals. Although it seemed promising at the start, the partnership with Michael went south once again, and our new line-up soon found itself without a singer.

Despite this setback, we remained focused and determined, and continued writing new material as we searched for a vocalist. After about 4 months of this, we started to get concerned. The response to our search was minimal. It seemed like there was no one out there. Fortunately, the universe seems to respond when you just continue putting one foot in front of the other. Through a stroke of good fortune, our flyer fell into the hands of a talented vocalist from a band in New Jersey who just happened to be looking for a change.

SPOTIFY FOR THE MASSES!

Hitting the bricks!

Back in the day (yuck)....the way a band got the word out that they had a gig and an album and merch was largely word of mouth, an industry paper called the "EAST COAST ROCKER" and rigorous flyer distribution and or mailing list contacting....with telephones that had CORDS.....and this was all before caller id thankfully lol.....



The latter was an HnR specialty.....We would call up the good folks on our mailing list and verbally let them know we had a gig....IN SOME CASES WE HAND DELIVERED TICKETS!

We would flyer just as it was depicted in the movie ROCKSTAR...cars...telephone poles, buildings...and as depicted in that movie...there were rivalries with other bands and yes, drama there....



And dont let me forget about all the angry boyfriends that would pick up the phones that diddnt know their girlfriends signed up for our list ...more and more DRAMA....

The state of the scene for the original artist was a pay to play  situation....We would buy a block of tix from whatever club we were playing and then we had to fight tooth and nail to get that block sold...filling busses...promoting caravans and anyone that had a vehicle and the gas money to get out to jersey lol.....NOT easy....

Fighting with clubowners was possibly the worst thing about this arrangement...always a hassle believe me....Jersey clubs were the worst as far as administration goes...Studio one and Obsessions anybody?

We also had a fanclub!.....Dana and Sue god bless em' were basically the superfans that helped us so much i must give them a shout out here...Thank you so much for your efforts ladies...

Could we have avoided all of this drama/blood/sweat and tears? Yes ofcourse if we chose to be a cover band...The crews that dominated the scenes in the cities we were targeting WERE ALWAYS COVER BANDS......

To be an original act was a monumental undertaking before the internet...If each and every member of HnR wasnt a total believer in this path, then it would not have worked as well as it did...(debateable? maybe)....

Thank you for visiting THE HAIRCLUB FOR MEN...i wasnt just a client..i also owned the company folks....

Third time's a charm!

SO!

Reeling from the wreckage that was my psyche after not just one but TWO labels walking away from us, Jare and i decided not to let this get to us. But this time we kept the effort just between us. Streamlined and focused on finding a company that would best represent us and get our music out there.

I now need to back pedal a little here, to let you all know where the rest of the guys are in their lives, or atleast let you know what I know which may or may not be correct but here goes...

Danny (bass): Started a family and a thriving lawncare business in the scranton-wilkes barre area. I try to connect with him monthly because talking to him will brighten anyones day.. He no longer has any interest in being in a band anymore and might be our biggest supporter in this new endeavor. If you have lawn that needs care, YOU NEED DAN THE LAWN MAN!!

http://whitmanlawncare.net

Beckett (drums): Also started a family and works for the E.P.A. and makes an amazing living in N.J. and has been in a couple projects since HnR. Due to some personality conflicts between us, i havent spoken to him in a few years.

Mark (guitar): The blues man of the crew....Got married and is still living in the coal region and never stopped playing out in various and numerous bands over the years. He put out an amazing christmas album also...I try to connect with him once or twice a year in either text or phone call, tho i wish it was more he is a busy man..... Check out his stuff..you will not be disappointed!

http://www.markplaysguitar.com/

And Jareth, my best friend and partner in the craziness that is navigating this new music industry can let you in on his situation personally if i can ever get him on this blog!

As for me, My son is having a great time in the Navy.. I have done a bunch of studio work with different artists...tried my hand at some solo stuff (ugh) and did a couple voiceovers for radio. But my heart was always with HnR as stupid as that might sound.

Now back to the topic here....Jare and i put out a bunch of feelers and got a bite with an up and coming label out of Denmark http://www.lionspridemusic.com/  or http://lionspridemusic.bigcartel.com/ they are going to be re doing their site and hopefully we will be featured on it soon lol.....They just released our physical CD as well!



"out now in Germany, Austria & Switzerland via Pride & Glory Music/Edel Music and via Comeback Media for the rest of Europe."

One of the american distributors is:

https://www.nehrecords.com/SHOP/HitNRun.htm

Without Jare this wouldnt have come together and without Lions Pride Music we wouldnt have such a great european support structure, and amazing CD out there for everyone to check out!

Now we have a label.....and now the focus is on the NEXT ALBUM!

But before i get to that....i will be covering what we have been thru back in the day...and god i feel old saying this but BEFORE THE INTERNET you had to promote your band in all different ways...the phone calls...the mailing lists....the fights....the club owners!!

More to come on the next Episode of "HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW"

Losing control....

The next label that stepped up to this plate of dysfunction was DEMON DOLL RECORDS out of L.A.

They were willing to work with us and were very open to negotiation. I was not a part of the negotiations in any meaningful way due to my diminished role in band "stock" if you will.

When a band creates and copywrites a tune,  it gets divided up to what each person contributed. This then becomes each members equity for lack of a better word.

The time came to remix and remaster the album accidents happen back in 09', i was seriously unemployed and did not have anything to put towards the proceedings accept for my voice. There were others in the band that had the wherewithal to front me the money i owed with the agreement that once the project started to make money, i would pay them back accordingly.

This meant i surrendered some rights and control....and it sort of bit us in the ass...

There were contract negotiations going on over a 5 or 6 week period of time. I was busy designing a new logo and getting the cover and graphics ready to be pressed and distributed. (the old logo for the band that i designed back in 91' was soooo dated and in my opinion goofy at this point...i just felt it was time to enter the current look and feel of the millennium)..



When i looked up from photoshop, DDR had pulled the deal from the table.....It seems there were way too many revisions added and for a crew that never had a deal before, it wasnt worth the hassle for them...and i agree. I was not a part of the revisions and endless demands and it resulted in the SECOND record company pulling out...

Was I a little annoyed? Angry? Fuming and ready to start punching walls?

A little......

DONT MISS THE NEXT EPISODE ON LONG ROAD BACK......"FEAR AND LOATHING IN PENNSYLVANIA"