专辑简介

Rogues on the Run was formed in 1992. We are a Jersey Shore based band specializing in traditional blues and original contemporary blues/jazz music. We play at numerous clubs on the Jersey shore including Jason's Jazz & Blues Club, Bar Anticipation, Meritage, The Ragin' Cajun, Six Flags Great Adventure, Harry's Roadhouse in Asbury Park, the Downtown Cafe and Ashes in Red Bank, Tortugas, as well as, many outdoor music festivals and concerts. We have also opened for B.B. King. The Rogues have two CDs of original music: "Somethin's Cookin'" that features a guest appearance by legendary drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, and "Salmon." We have built our reputation as a "live band" and invite you to come see us play. Be sure to come up and say "hi!" Review - Kevin Phelan Rogues on the Run are a six man band out of Spring Lake, on the Atlantic shore of New Jersey. They have a mature sound that blends elements of the blues, hip-hop, and funk both musically and lyrically. The Neville Brothers, Albert King, Marvin Gaye have all left their mark in the original songs of the Rogues. Musically diverse in their lineup with vocals, guitar, organ, piano, sax, bass, percussion, and drums, the Rogues deliver an equally varied repertoire of self-penned tunes. The grooves are very well defined with the rhythm section providing a solid foundation for the singer and soloists. The lyrics are rich with social commentary and a catharsis of coming to terms with growing older. In Night Shift, the plaintive cry of the blue collar worker comes through in the lines "Work so hard to make my pay - Giving all of my soul away" while a streetwise activist speaks out "Cause people are varieties - 5 billion separate minorities". The recording production on these songs from the CD Somethin's Cookin' is very good. Urban grooves abound with Greg O'Keeffe on drums, Robert Sozanski on percussion and Wayne Gronberg on tasty bass guitar. Flavorful texture comes from Mario Cicerello on piano, organ, and keyboards and Jack Hoban on electric, acoustic, and slide guitar. Hoban is the lead singer and songwriter. His singing on I Got the Blues is husky and bluesy with a tendency to drift toward the bluer notes lending an earthy quality to the urban setting of the ensemble. Vel Johnson on saxophones solos like a Motown hit man comps like a horn section on Bogey Man. Review - Global Muse. Every once in a while, I get an opportunity to review an outstanding band. This is one of those times. Rogues on the Run's CD "Somethin's Cookin' was unanimously chosen by our whole staff to be the best CD on The Global Muse to date. The Bluesy/Jazz groove was a welcome vibe by all who work here. I was totally impressed by the musicianship of the band. This is a truly professional quality band. The soulful vocals of singer Jack Hoban was a great sound for some very sore ears. I have yet to hear any music that can compare to the talent that this band offers. I can proudly say that everyone at this web site is honored to have such great talent on our pages. My personal favorite cut on this album is definitely "Sleepin' With Strangers." Great lyrical content with a soulful groove. If you haven't checked this remarkable band out yet, you better get movin'. Review - Tri-State Blues: News About The Blues by Ken Byrne While at a benefit for WBGO at Jason's Blues and Jazz Club this past summer, I and two colleagues from Tri-State Blues were pleasantly surprised. Among the local talent from central New Jersey was a terrific band that managed to blend a wide variety of influences into a serious groove thang. Remember the old advertising slogan, "When it feels right, you know it! When it's good, you feel it!"? Well, when you hear Rogues On The Run, you know its right 'cause you feel sooo good. In the short set I witnessed that afternoon, these guys were approaching P-Funk. And most of their material was original. Now remember the last time you heard an unknown band do songs you were singing to yourself the next day. Been a while hasn't it? Jack Hoban is the singer/guitarist who started the Rogues and writes the songs. He's always had a day job, but has been in professional bands, the most recent being Jersey Blue, which featured Bernard Purdie on drums. After one CD that went nowhere, the band broke up and Jack got an idea. "I wanted to start a band with good amateur musicians who all had decent day jobs, no 7-11 guys, waiting for their big break. That way, no one had to rely on gigs for a living. I could work with the band until they were ready to play out, along with blues jams at Jason's" Hoban wanted to reach an audience that feels by-passed by contemporary pop music. "Look, I didn't stop listening to new stuff and I like a lot of it. But even the stuff I like is pitched to teenagers. Baby boomers like us, we have families, mortgages, car payments. I have two kids to think about. Very few artists address those concerns. I confide in him that I find it tedious listening to middle aged white guys pissing and moaning in song about how hard it is to have to stay up late and play the blues. If its such a drag, sop doing it and let me have the gig, chump! We talked about the odd guys that do sing the mid-life crises blues. Jack mentions John Hiatt. I come up with Loudon Wainwright. Bonnie Raitt's song about having a baby in the "Nick Of Time." Not too many beyond that. Its all up to Jack. Two of my favorite songs are "The BogeyMan" and "Night Shift." "BogeyMan" is about how you shake your childhood fears only to acquire adult terrors. Hoban has the bogeyman returning upon the birth of his child. The image is chilling. He's looking into the cradle, filled with love and wonder when a voice from a dark closet asks: "Remember me?" All too well. Now you really have something to worry about. "Night Shift" sound like the Rogues' version of an imaginary out take from Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?" album. Corporate down-sizing and the emptiness of contemporary political language have left the singer exhausted, facing another day on the "night shift." Hoban adds a rap to the end in which he longs for what we used to call "life-affirming" politics back in the sixties and early seventies. Before disco, fusion, "sensitive" singer/songwriters, and Watergate. Like when the Jets won the Super Bowl and good jobs were easy to find. "I Got The Blues" should be required listening for anyone who takes on the theme of a good love gone wrong. Its got a Doc Pomus/Bobby Bland feel to it, and never veers off to clichés. As strong as a writer as Hoban is, the medium is the message. The Rogues provide the perfect vehicle for his songs, adding color and nuance to flesh out his ideas. The rhythm section consists of Wayne Gronberg on bass, Greg O'Keeffe on drums, Rob Sozanski on congas and other percussion, and Mario Cicerello on keyboards. They create a smooth, sinuous platform for Jack's guitar playing and the alto saxophone work of Vel Johnson. (Johnson played a solo at a recent gig that quieted all the folks at the bar; it left me with my mouth hanging open.) But the emphasis is not on long, indulgent solos. This band is really a tight, cohesive unit. All their best stuff is of a piece. You've got to see them to believe it. Wayne Gronberg talked to me about how it was to work in such a collective. He is the manager pro tem, the guy who handles guys like me who ask questions. His tale is one I've heard before. You love to play, you work at it, you get nowhere, become demoralized and quit. If you're lucky, you're drawn back into it. But you've really got to be lucky to find a band like this. Or a someone like Hoban. "He's incredible. He just keeps writing songs that are really good. And we've got such a wealth of material already, we could play a dozen sets and not repeat ourselves. Hoban sums it up, "I'm very much like my father was. I have a family, a job, a house. I'm a responsible adult like he was when I was a kid. But I have something he never had. Call it rock 'n' roll, blues, R&B, whatever. It makes all the difference in the world." The difference is JOY. Want some? Come git some! Go hear Rogues On The Run. You'll be glad you did.