Who was Jeffrey Runnings? For Against founder, vocalist, and bassist dies at 61

Jeffrey Runnings, the founding member, bassist, and vocalist of For Against, a Nebraska-based indie band, has died. He succumbed to stage 4 cancer on March 3 at the age of 61, The Hollywood Reporter has published.

Jeffrey Runnings was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in April 1963. He grew up collecting records and learning piano. According to the outlet, he was left-handed, though he learned to play right-handed guitars upside down.

He formed For Against in 1984 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and he initially played the keyboard for them. The band eventually came to settle down on guitarist Harry Dingman III, drummer Gregory Hill, and Runnings after some personnel changes, with the latter shifting to bass and vocals.

Jeffrey Runnings' life and legacy explored:

For Against was known for its albums like its debut album, 1987’s Echelons, as well as 1988’s December, 1993’s Aperture, 1995’s Mason’s California Lunch Room, and 1997’s Shelf Life. In its 15 years together, the band released several albums, with their last one dropping in 2009: Never Been.

According to Pitchfork, in 2014, Captured Tracks dropped a box set of the band's first three albums, and in 2018, Saint Marie Records dropped a limited edition vinyl box set of a few of the band's albums from the 1990s.

By 2024, Jeffrey Runnings had recorded a solo album called Piqued, which is slated to come out later this year. The LP is expected to include a 4-track EP of rare recordings from the 1980s. Runnings also recorded a solo album, Primitives & Smalls, which was released in 2016 by Saint Marie Records.

A statement from Independent Records founder and co-owner Bruce Licher reads as follows, according to Pitchfork:

“Jeffrey Runnings was not only a good friend and an outstanding musician and songwriter, but someone whose life revolved around music. Jeff was always enthusiastically sharing music that he thought his friends would enjoy, and for years he would send me handwritten letters often accompanied by records he thought I should have, or a mixtape he’d made that he thought I should hear. Even now, in the middle of the second decade of the 21st Century, when he sent me his new album to hear for the first time, it was on a cassette tape that he mailed through the post. I couldn’t have asked for anything more special. His unique voice will be missed on so many levels."

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Jeffrey Runnings leaves behind his husband, Sean, his brother, Steve, his nephews, Rudy (Darcy) and Phil, his niece, Christina, and his uncle, Gerald.

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