About the Members

John McDonnell
John was born in 1979 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and raised in the neighboring Town of Wappinger. He is the only child of Tom and Judi McDonnell, both computer programmers employed by IBM at the time. With a father who loved country music and a mother who listened primarily to Top 40, John's musical tastes were naturally slow in developing in such an infertile musical environment. He stuck with Top 40 for most of his youth, without ever really finding a true passion for the genre. At age 13, he discovered the 10,000 Maniacs -- his first rock concert at age 14 -- later developed a taste for more general "Alternative Rock," and then finally moved onto the harder rock workings of The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails while still holding a taste for more varied fare such as Weezer, The Afghan Whigs, Radiohead, and Tori Amos. As much as it pained him at the time, he credits his Top 40 upbringing for his ear for a good hook and melody.

Life was pretty uneventful until John's freshman year of high school, when he decided to start a band with classmate Phil Ko. John didn't play an instrument yet -- aside from the trombone -- but was fascinated with the bass at the time and so decided to become the new band's bassist. They recruited John's friend Chris Mudge for the second guitarist spot and the band that went on to be known as "Chlorine" and "Lee Ranaldo's Symphonic Orchestra" was born in late January of 1994. Unfortunately, the life of the band was short and John found himself bandless in August of that same year.

The next few months consisted of a few random jam sessions with various musicians, until John and Chris decided to start a new band with guitarist Nathaniel Hill on February 1, 1995. Ryan Relyea -- an acquaintance of Nathaniel's -- was brought on board to play drums, and shortly afterwards Nate left and John switched to guitar to fill the void. John played with this band, The Ashheap, throughout high school until graduation, when he moved to the Chicago area to attend Northwestern University in nearby Evanston, IL. This departure naturally put the band on hiatus.

It was during a party at the home of Andrew Jennings' -- a good friend and loyal band supporter -- the summer after their freshman year of college that John and Chris decided to try music as a career, and a master plan was launched for total world domination. Some music was made during the five year hiatus while all members were still apart, as John lived in a dorm with a crude recording studio. The band also jammed during breaks and vacations.

After graduating from college in the spring of 2001, John and Chris moved in together in Chicago and waited for Ryan to follow. In August of 2002, Ryan joined them and they started playing music together once again until Chris left the band in August of 2004. Today, John lives with his girlfriend Rachel in Chicago, works for General Investment Group, Ltd., runs Run Logan, Ltd., and plays music with Run Logan whenever possible.

Ryan Relyea
Ryan was born in Santa Cruz, California, and although he would like to think he's a west coast guy at heart, he was raised in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Raised by an ex-hippie father who drove out to California to join a band after finishing college, and a mother who was spontaneous enough to marry a guy like that, Ryan grew up surrounded by the great musical and mental influences of his parents.

When he got sick of the piano lessons that started at age 6, his parents let him pick the next instrument he wanted to play. Looking to exact as much revenge as possible, Ryan picked the drums. Taking private lessons for the next few years from Lou Varruzzo and staying active in his junior high and high school music programs, he slowly (but surely) honed his drumming abilities. It was during Freshman year Biology that greater forces came into play, Ryan met John and Chris, and The Ashheap was born (see band bio for more info).

After high school ended, Ryan attempted college at Villanova University for 2 1/2 years. Although the academics didn't pan out, he made some great friends, and learned a lot about drumming and music in general from Tom Becker and John "Aldo" Dunphy. Two years after leaving 'Nova, Ryan picked up and moved to Chicago to reunite with the artists formerly known as The Ashheap. They re-named to Run Logan, and the rest is history...Come check out their awesome live performances and visit the website often to be a part of history in the making.

Rich Grotemeyer
A Chicagoan all his life, Rich Grotemeyer was born and raised in the south side suburbs. Growing up, he spent hours listening to his parents LP collection, with classic greats such as Led Zeppelin and Simon & Garfunkel schooling him in the ways of rock.

Rich began playing music himself in grade school. Picking up the saxophone, he took lessons and played from grade school through high school, nurturing his love for music. Armed with the strong musical foundation he picked up in school, Rich knew he was ready for something different. It was after listening to Nirvana's Nevermind and Metallica's Black album that Rich knew he needed to play guitar. While finishing up his high school years, Rich continued to play guitar, jamming with friends and playing in a handful of small garage bands. At the age of 19, feeling his old soul yearning for something more intimate and bluesy, he began teaching himself how to play bass. Sensing that he was competent enough on bass, Rich answered an ad in the Chicago Reader for a band looking for a bassist. He came to the audition confident and with strong chops, and joined Run Logan in October of 2004.

Continuing to hone his 4 string skills, he brings a solid foundation to the band, as well as a youthful sense of enthusiasm. Rich looks forward to rocking the masses well into his geriatric years.