RUN 229 JOHN MARK RAY STEVE NICK
With all the gossip and tosh that has been said about the band over the years, this site aims to put the record straight and invites all you old Mods to say hello on our message page.
Any one who saw RUN229 in the late 70's or early 80's will know what a fine outfit they were and what a great live sound they had. We have lovingly remastered all of the recorded stuff onto one CD which is available here to buy.
The band was formed out of a mismatch of other bands in the post punk 'New Wave' era. Founder member Ray Bibby (drums) wanted to put together a Mod Band like his idols The Who. He started looking in the spring on 1979 and brought in Singer Mark Allen from an old Hippy Rock band called Hybrid. Steve Jones on Lead guitar fresh from playing with himself in front of his bedroom mirror. Nick Carr who had just started playing bass in between rolling spliffs and finally John Tallon Jones Guitarist and songwriter also from Hybrid.
First rumour squashed. Everybody assumes that the band got it's name off the numberplate of their van. The band told it differently. Ray decided on the name after a piss up and made the rest of the band search around for the number Plate.
RUN229 began their career in the beer and spirits deposit of the 'Central' pub in Shotton. Ray negotiated a deal with the landlord for a few months rehearsal in return for a free gig.The pub had a reputation for drug dealing and this eventually led to the suicide of the Landlord. The band practiced using broom handles for mike stands and a AC30 power amp as the PA system. It was in these early days that they developed an individual sound mainly because of the diverse influences at work. Nick was well into dub reggae and his bass playing combined strangely with Ray's rock influenced drumming. Steve Jones with his flying V copy played with heavy fuzz box lead while John Tallon Jones used a more subtle clean reverb sound, and played electric violin.. Add to this Marks Operatic vocals and you have an incredible original sound for the late 70's. To call RUN229 simple a Mod band is to do them an injustice; they were so much more. Perhaps too much for the period. While the rest of the mod bands where singing about 'being in love with there best friend's girl'. RUN229 where exploring the darker side of growing up and their songs were full of irony and dealt with teenage insecurity,sexual inactivity and just generally being pissed off with the world. You will never find a love song in their set; not a straight one anyway because there was nothing obvious about this Band.
Management
GIGS
The Band played their first gig on a Sunday night at the Airport Hotel in Speke. The following weekend they did their payback free gig at the Central Hotel in Shotton. Many more gigs followed during the next 2 years as the Band built up a large scooter club following with many of their fans unable to come into the pubs they played in because they were under age. The band played There first Gigs in London in The Bridge house in Canning Town and the 101 club in Clapham and supported or were supported by just about every Mod band at the time though not Secret Affair. The Theatre Clwyd in North Wales gave a lot of their young teenage fans an opportunity to see them for the first time and other similar type venues followed; most memorable with the Fast Cars from Manchester and Small Hours from London.
RECORDS
The Now legendary 'Soho' was the first release of the band and was recorded in Amazon Studios in Liverpool in 1980. Plans for another single fell through and for many years most of the recorded material has been stored. Now it has been remastered and released as a CD.
