The Runarounds, clockwise from top left: Will Lipton, Zendé Murdock, Jeremy Yun, Jesse Golliher and Axel Ellis
Those who yearn for carefree ’90s and early-Aughts halcyon days — and lately, how could one not — would do well to check out The Runarounds. The show, released to Amazon Prime Video in the fall, follows up director Jonas Pate’s Y.A. hit Outer Banks and chronicles its namesake pop-rocking protagonists over the course of a madcap post-senior-year summer in their pleasant but isolated coastal hometown of Wilmington, N.C.
During The Runarounds’ inaugural eight episodes, things begin inauspiciously. But before long it’s clear that guitarists and co-frontmen Charlie Cooper and Neil Crosby (Will Lipton and Axel Ellis, respectively), lead guitarist Topher Park (Jeremy Yun), bass player Wyatt Wysong (Jesse Golliher) and drummer Bez Willis (Zendé Murdock) are onto something. The group’s repertoire of punkish, heartfelt originals — plus covers of tunes by 2000s titans Franz Ferdinand and Cage the Elephant and newer cult faves like “Kilby Girl,” an indie-soul scorcher from Utah combo Backseat Lovers — becomes bigger, tighter and more compelling with each house party, roadhouse and generator show. The quintet begins to transcend townie-band status and starts looking like a real contender.
The on-screen Runarounds’ unforced chemistry testifies to Pate, a native Tarheel, casting relative rookies — Lipton, who at 23 already has a staggering 329 General Hospital episodes under his belt, is the only exception — with existing musical histories. Bay Area natives and School of Rock alums both, Lipton and Yun have been friends and collaborators for nearly as long as they’ve been alive.
“Jeremy and I grew up watching Spinal Tap at sleepovers since we were 6 or 7, [and] our KISS cover band played my 8th birthday party in my garage,” Lipton remembers with a smile, speaking to the Scene on a video call from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. “The whole neighborhood came out before the cops shut it down.”
Once Ellis, Golliher and Murdock signed on, the nascent quintet learned how to thread the needle between being both up-and-coming actors and legit working musicians. There was never much downtime during The Runarounds’ six-month mid-2024 shoot, between writing, rehearsing and honing their stage show in and around Wilmington — “just trying new things, grinding it out, trying to emulate Hamburg-era Beatles,” says Lipton. As the scripts took shape, Pate kept his young charges on their toes with daily songwriting assignments.
“Jonas isn’t a musician, but his taste goes every which way,” Lipton says. “He’s been an amazing guide for helping sort out our sonic palette. In Episode 4, we’re playing this Fourth of July party, and the character George [the rich, preppy boyfriend of Lipton’s character’s love interest] punches me in the face. So what is a song that would piss the boyfriend off to warrant a punch? ‘Shoelaces’ was that. All flirty and stuff, effortlessly happy, a little bit of swag, cheekiness. ‘It’s just a song, dude — chill out!’”
The year in which The Runarounds takes place is never specified. But the show’s worn-in look and feel throws it back to when bands on the come-up prioritized practicing over posting, the music industry was still something of a meritocracy, and local kids with good songs and a can-do attitude could chase record deals — and often make them happen.
Like 1996’s similarly optimistic Tom Hanks-helmed That Thing You Do!, The Runarounds succeeds thanks to its strong sense of place, relatable characters and more-accurate-than-average portrayals of the biz’s ins and outs. (Gen-X Southerners in particular will get a kick out of Midland tunesmith Mark Wystrach playing Wilmington’s resident guitar-store-managing curmudgeon with a heart of gold, as well as Episode 5, which immortalizes the late, troubled but brilliant Dex Romweber of proto-White Stripes rippers Flat Duo Jets as a Yoda-like figure.) The earnestness and humor with which the guys and their friends navigate universal teenage predicaments — girl trouble, temperamental transport and equipment, parents who just don’t understand — also helps.
What may be most important in making the show connect: The songs are good. Close to a half-million monthly Spotify listeners concur. But with Amazon yet to order a second season, the five-piece is taking its act on the road to prove they’re not mere minor TV celebs but a dynamo live act with lots more to offer than the show’s runtimes allow. They’ll make their Nashville debut Saturday and Sunday at Brooklyn Bowl. As of this writing, tickets were still available to Sunday’s show, as it’s one of a few dates added when the entire nationwide tour sold out months ago. (For those who don’t manage to score tickets, The Runarounds will be back in our area in June for Bonnaroo.)
Asked about where their on-screen counterparts end and the real dudes begin, Lipton’s perspective is insightful.
“We’re portraying a fictional band, but we think of our music through the lenses of our characters, [and] they’re enough like how we actually are that it’s pretty realistic and grounded. The Runarounds ain’t rocket science, that’s for sure — it’s a feel-good movie — but we care how music is represented. We took time creating the songs and capturing them on camera. I feel like the show is quite an ode to music and adventure. I’m proud of it.”
