With tight musicianship and solid percussion, BandontheRun keeps the hits coming.
The rock ’n’ roll band has a 10-year history, playing in a variety of venues from Brunswick, Ga. to St. Augustine Beach.
Jeff Wade sings and plays bass guitar with Bonn Arenas on electric guitar and vocals. Alternating drummers Vic Marini and David Lanier appear with the cover band depending on the audience.
Each drummer leads with varying styles, according to Wade, saying, “When people ask me, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ I ask them, ‘What kind of music do you want to hear?’ That’s BandontheRun in a nutshell.”
Shawna Rowell often drops in to perform with the band, providing a female perspective with her sets. She is not an official band member, but enjoys singing rock standards that vary from Janis Joplin to Pat Benetar.
“At 90 percent of our gigs, Shawna’s going to be there,” Wade said.
The goal is to perform feel-good tunes to add to celebrations, including weddings, parties and public events such as the Gate River Run or Sounds on Centre.
“It should be something that everyone knows and recognizes and also something that people can sing and dance to – something that evokes positive feelings,” Wade said, adding later, “Our song list covers everything from Johnny Cash to Godsmack,”
BOTR delivers classic rock and popular music that most generations can enjoy from baby boomers to Gen-X.
The three men bring close harmonies to whatever they perform.
“We all three sing together and, to me, that’s the majestic part of it,” Arenas said. “When we harmonize, that’s what separates us from a lot of other bands. We each get a turn to sing the songs we pick personally. Everyone sings a different song. We try to feed off the crowd. If we see the younger kids or the college kids, we try to drive them crazy. They get up and jump around.”
Lanier has played percussion with Wade for more than 20 years.
“I usually do the more classic and oldies and the ’50s and ’60’s genre of music,” he said. “The fact is, I’ve played with Jeff for decades. We were in other groups together. That’s where we get our familiarity of our style. I know exactly the way he’s going.”
Lanier began playing percussion in middle school, serving as the band’s section leader and lead percussionist. He underscored the importance of bass and percussion in a band’s sound quality.
“If the bass player and the drummer aren’t together … the harmony just kind of falls in line with the melody accompanying the beat,” Lanier said. “The rhythm section keeps the heartbeat of the band.”
Marini shares drumming duties. He joined the band in 2011. He opted to cut back as the number of shows began to grow from 150 to 200 per year.
“It was just crazy, crazy, crazy,” Marini said.
His vocal and percussion styles lean toward the 1990s and 2000s, delivering songs from bands like Blink 182, Green Day and Fuel.
“The music appeals to the 20s and 30s age group,” Marini said. “That’s what I do with the band. I bring that edge to it.”
He enjoys playing to a packed house, watching the crowd from the drummer’s seat.
“We’re playing material that people relate to and music that soothes the soul,” Marini said.
He believes that music relieves pressure from the daily grind.
“As stressful as the world is today, you can give them a release,” Marini said. “It takes all that pressure off them.”
BOTR has no plans to stop any time soon, as they collectively cruise into their 40s, 50s and 60s.
“My philosophy is we don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing,” Marini said.
Arenas performs out of his passion for music.
“They say the secret to happiness is doing something that you love to do,” he said. “The secret to success is doing what you love to do and getting paid to do it.”
Wade joked that in the band’s early days, talk revolved around women and good times – not anymore.
“Now we brag about our credit scores and our grandkids,” Wade said. “Right now (Arenas has) got me by about 20 points.”
On that same note, Lanier said, “We’re old guys just having a good time enjoying our craft and the love of music.”