The Runarounds: From Script to Soundcheck

The Runarounds have been strumming their way through U.S. cities this fall on The Minivan Tour. With sold-out shows from South Carolina to Los Angeles, this breakout indie rock band is making the rounds—and is nothing short of electrifying.

While cruising their way across the country, the band made a quick detour in Somerville, Massachusetts, on September 20, 2025, where they were met by lines of fans outside Warehouse XI. Online tickets for all nineteen tour stops had already sold out, but that didn't stop superfans from showing up.

As the doors opened, those lucky enough to score a ticket slipped inside, while a longer line of others waited anxiously for a shot at the door. With a max capacity of just 150, Warehouse XI quickly packed with fans eager to lose themselves in The Runarounds’ sound.

Part of The Runarounds’ appeal comes from their performances in the new Amazon Prime Video series The Runarounds, which premiered on September 1, 2025. With just eight episodes, the season blurs the line between music and television, creating a natural intersection that feels as authentic as it is entertaining. The show’s promotion has taken on a life of its own, fueling excitement for the band’s tour and expanding their audience beyond the stage.

After the success of Outer Banks, creator Jonas Pate set out to fulfill a long-time dream: a series about a high school band. In 2020, he released an open casting call, which drew over five thousand musician applicants. From that pool, five young men stood out—Axel Ellis (guitar), Jesse Golliher (bass), Jeremy Yun (lead guitar), William Lipton (guitar), and Zendé Murdock (drums)—who would later become The Runarounds.

Their first on-screen moment came with a cameo in Outer Banks (2021), and over the next four years, they played Saturday night gigs, built chemistry, and grew into a true band. By the time Pate began shaping The Runarounds series around the group—with co-writer David Wilcox—their real struggles, friendships, and growing pains wrote the script itself, offering the kind of authenticity Pate was longing for. It was their lived experience—their triumphs and hardships—that gave the show its rhythm.

“I came to write the pilot, and then from there, I look at it—wow, it’s eight episodes and 16 songs,” said Wilcox. “These guys are touring, selling out their tour, and so, I think the spirit of creation can be really powerful. But you have to embrace that. You have to believe in it.”

The characters in the show mirror many of the same traits as the musicians in real life: the passion, the fire, the ambition, the drive—it’s all there. By performing live for the series, the band captured the mess-ups, the learning curves, and the growth that reflect their real-life journey.

Whether on screen or on stage, the band maintains that same intensity and authenticity, connecting with audiences just as powerfully in a living room as they do in a packed venue, from the way they strum their guitars, strike the drums, and belt out vocals. The show is fully rooted in the authentic experiences of each band member, making their story as genuine on screen as it is on stage.

"I don't think the show works without the music,” said Golliher. “It's fun because we got the scripts so far ahead of time that we could really write a lot of these songs to plot points in the show. And sometimes there was just a song that we really liked that Jonas and David Wilcox would write to the song."

Today—fueled by their undeniable energy and passion—The Runarounds are just going to run around chasing this dream their whole lives.