Random Manor is:
- Don Short - lead vocal and guitars
- Mark Mosholder - bass and backing vocals
- Rick Bourgoin - drums
- Ronnie Belaire - guitars, mandolin and backing vocals
- Mark Belaire - keyboards, harmonica and backing vocals
All together performing songs written by Short and arranged by the band.
Short was a founding member and a singer/songwriter for The Heats (previously The Heaters), the groundbreaking Seattle band that released the album "Have An Idea" in 1980 and the live album "Burnin' Live" in 1982. Their song, "In Your Town", written by Short and produced by Ann Wilson of Heart, became an MTV video running through the spring and summer of 1982.
Bourgoin joined Short in The Heats, playing drums in the band from early 1982 until their break up on New Years Eve in 1983. A musical bond, as well as a life-long friendship was formed; when the two added Mark Mosholder on bass, a new band, as well as another lifelong friendship, was formed. That six-piece band, Avalon, performed throughout the Seattle area from 1984-1988. The band drew interest from several major record labels, including Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records, who funded production of an eighteen song demo at Seattle's London Bridge Studios. In '88, Avalon stripped down to four members and became Luna Park. When Rick moved to L.A. in 1990, they continued as Living Out Loud. The band broke up in '91, though Don, Rick and Mark remained close friends.
While Mark and Rick continued to play music in various bands throughout the Northwest, California, Colorado and Texas, Don took a hiatus from writing and performing music. Happily, after twelve years, Don picked up his guitar and began playing and writing songs again with Mark and Rick; forming Random Manor.
Their self-titled EP, recorded at The Tank Studios in Black Diamond, WA was engineered/produced by friend and studio owner Tom Pfaeffle in the Spring and Summer of 2008. A few extra musicians were brought in to fill out the instrumentation, playing keyboards, pedal steel, mandolin and violin. While a few gigs were performed with these players, it wasn’t till the extremely fortuitous addition of the Belaire brothers, Mark and Ronnie, in 2009 that the lineup was solidified. The band went on to play before national acts in the Pacific Northwest at the Ste. Michelle Winery, The Concerts at Marymoor, and the Gorge Amphitheater.
In the summer of 2009, the band headed back to The Tank Studios to record their first full-length disc, once again under the tutelage of Tom Pfaeffle. Drum tracks and a few guitar and bass tracks were recorded there in early July, but the wheels came off the bus when Tom mistakenly put his key in the wrong motel- room door while on vacation. The occupant of the room shot through the door, hitting Tom, and he died two hours later at a nearby hospital.
Knowing that Tom would want them to complete the recordings, they returned to their rehearsal studio a couple of months later to finish tracking on their own. The resulting album, Big Dog Run, is named after the title track; it being the only track that was recorded in its entirety at The Tank, live in the studio, with Tom lending his uber-low voice to the “gangland” backing vocals. |
