Things I Miss: Destroy The Runner

Only a blip on the radar screen in the grand scheme of the ongoing history of music, but a band that influenced me during my sponge saturating time as a post-teen.  San Diego's Destroy The Runner was a band that never really got their feet off the ground before everything was called to an end.  Two great albums, some great touring mates and a couple lineup changes is all that would be for the 5 piece metalcore group and their stint with Solid State Records.

The first and only time I managed to see these guys live (and ultimately captured my attention) was April 29th, 2007 in London, ON.  DTR was the first opening act in a 4 band tour that included August Burns Red (still new to the scene), Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and headliners Haste The Day.  A small venue that could maybe fit 350+ people but the bands and crowd both acted like it was bigger than it was.  Pits going off, people headbanging, metal horns in the air but hat caught my attention the most was the folks like myself who were simply standing, trying to figure out who these guys were.

I've seen a see of change.

This fleeting love that leaves me alone.

This last time.

Lift me now from this pain.

You know the way to bring me home.

DTR's debut album "Saints" was released on September 12th, 2006 via Solid State Records.  This also marked the first and only time you would see vocalist Kyle Setter and bassist Jeremiah Crespo as they left the band shortly after the release.

1. Dialogue
2. My Darkness
3. Columbia
4. Saints
5. Thoughts In Reverse
6. The Aleph
7. From The Red
8. Without Sight
9. Separate
10. Sound Of Reason
11. There Can Be No Hesitation
12. Pallbearer
13. Resolution

The band walkd away with some decent reviews from music magazine and websites.  Notable music guru site All Music conducted one of the best reviews for them, resulting in some major tours with bands such as Haste The Days, August Burns Red, Blind Witness, Oh Sleeper, The Chariot, and I Am Abomination.

The band doesn't completely pummel listeners into the ground with vicious intensity and bone-rattling growls, since whenever the music is threatening to slip entirely into murderous terrain, heartwarming melody and bright singing emerge from behind the storm of thunderous guitars and pummeling drums. Their sonic attack is akin to bands like From Autumn to Ashes and Norma Jean, the quintet understanding the loud-soft dynamic to a "T" on their Solid State debut Saints, and they're unafraid to switch directions multiple times within a song. -All Music

Then we have the lineup changes.  Both vocals and bass positions were replaced by Chad Ackerman (vocals) and Tanner Sparks (bass).  A little bit of a hiccup for the band but they still continued to tour large amounts and even made a sophomore release.

"I, Lucifer" was released on April 15th, 2008 via Solid State Records.  This also marked a change in the band's style and writing structure as we see/hear DTR adding more progression into their sound rather than  a straight 'in your face' metalcore act.  The singing aspect changed as well from screaming vocals to more singing and melody.

1. Crumbs For The Murder
2. Isabella's
3. Mr. And Mrs. Cuckoldom
4. Bag Of Marbles
5. I, Lucifer
6. It's Always Cold In Paris
7. A Pathetic Psalm
8. Luxuria
9. On Falling Leaf
10. A Novel Of War
11. A Mountain So Big, A Question So Small

The album was recorded with long time producer Brian McTernan (Circa Survive, Strike Anywhere, Darkest Hour, In Fear and Faith, etc.) at Salad Days Studios, Baltimore, MD.



On 16 May 2010, DTR announced that they would taking an "indefinite hiatus" from each other.  You can read the full interview from Metal Underground here, but here is a small snippet of the looming breakup of the band.

xFiruath: Tell me a bit about Destroy the Runner breaking up. How did the breakup occur?

Chad: We had been recording the third album and I was really excited about it. It was sounding great and we had a lot of guests coming in on it, vocalists and musicians that we have been friends with throughout the years. About a month ago the recording process started slowing down. I would call the guys and try to get some input and things were really slowing down but I didn’t know why. The show before our last show, Duane’s (guitar player) girlfriend mentioned to my wife that she was sad that she wouldn’t be able to see Duane’s last show. My wife told me that and the warning signs started going up and I was wondering about what was happening. I talked to our bassist Tanner and he didn’t know anything about it. Duane asked me and Tanner to have a band meeting. We were both kind of scared of what was going on and we agreed to meet, but we didn’t really know what was going to happen.

Kind of a bummer to stop short of a third album near in completion.  I don't think there was any pressure into touring once the album was complete so why stop it dead in it's tracks?  Seems like there was some outside factors here calling the shots.

Anyways, what's done is done and the band members have moved on.  The members continue to create and write music to this day in various projects such as Austrian Death Machine, Count Your Curses, Chapter 14, etc.  Maybe an article such as this would rejuvenate the group the getting back together and finishing off the third album.  Maybe...