Running for Success

In the early to mid 90’s Character was one of the great unknown left over 80s bands still trying to hold true in a time of Grunge and musical decay. Although they managed to get airplay in 22 states and release an EP (Checkmate) with the help of Lillian Axe guitarist, Stevie Blaze co-producing (and singing back ups), record labels were just not interested in anything remotely 80’s. Prior to that formation of Character, there was an earlier version that guitarist Chris Dunnett originated with drummer Jim Russell. This basically became a recording project as that formation never played live. The songs on “Running For Success” were never really meant to be released commercially as it was meant to be a demo for label shopping. However, in this day of “reality” this, that, and the other, we have decided to let the songs be heard. To make this blast to the past even more intriguing, we have added the 1st demos of a few Character songs that appear on the Checkmate CD as well as the 3 song demo from Chris Dunnett’ 1st band, Salem. The drummer for Salem was Jerry Hartman who now plays with former Metal Blade Records band, Lethal. Notice, 2 of the songs, “Strangers In The Night” and “Backstabber” were recorded by both bands. This is a great opportunity for you, the listener, to hear how a song changes thru different incarnations and evolves over time. The album ends with the Salem of demo of a neo-classical tune, "No Turning Bach". We strongly believe fans of 80’s metal, prog-rock, & melodic hard rock will really dig this collection as well as anyone who is intrigued by song evolution.