THE RUNAROUNDS ARE ABOUT TO ROCK YOUR WORLD! THE GROUP, MADE UP OF REAL-LIFE MUSICIANS WILLIAM LIPTON (YES, HE OF GENERAL HOSPITAL FAME), AXEL ELLIS, JEREMY YUN, ZENDÉ MURDOCK AND JESSE GOLLIHER, CAME TOGETHER AFTER AN OPEN CASTING CALL FROM JONAS AND JOSH PATE, THE CREATORS OF OUTER BANKS, TO FORM A TEENAGE ROCK BAND TO APPEAR IN A SEASON THREE EPISODE OF THE HUGELY POPULAR NETFLIX SHOW.
THOUGH THE SERIES IS FICTIONAL, THE BAND IS VERY REAL, GOING ON TO PERFORM LIVE SHOWS IN THE US AND RELEASING SINGLES INCLUDING FUNNY HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS AND SENIOR YEAR.
NOW IN A HUGE LEAP FORWARD, THE BOYS ARE STARRING (AND ACTING) IN A NEW AMAZON PRIME OFFERING, SUITABLY CALLED, THE RUNAROUNDS! THINK ONE OF THOSE COMING-OF-AGE DRAMAS THAT FOLLOWS A POST-HIGH SCHOOL BAND OF CUTE LOOKING GUYS AS THEY TRY TO MAKE IT BIG. IF YOU LOVE SONGS AND TV SHOWS THAT TRACE THE ROCKY EVOLUTION INTO ADULTHOOD, CAPTURING THE RUSH OF RISKING EVERYTHING TO CHASE YOUR DREAMS, THEN YOU’LL BE GRIPPED TO YOUR SCREENS. HERE, WE LET THE BAND, BURSTING WITH YOUTHFUL DYNAMISM, FLEX THEIR INDIVIDUAL QUIRKS AND TALENTS IN A GROUP INTERVIEW ABOUT THEIR ASCENT INTO POPULARITY, INCLUDING SOME QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS WHERE WE FIND OUT JESSE DOESN’T OWN A PASSPORT, AND ZENDE DRINKS A TRIPLE ESPRESSO BEFORE EVERY GIG!
From left to right:
Axel: Jacket and pants Isabel Marant, shoes talent’s own
Jeremy: Jacket Levi’s, shirt PS by Paul Smith, pants Tommy Hilfiger, shoes Dior Men
William: Jackets Calvin Klein, shoes Dior Men
Zende: Jacket Levi’s, pants and shoes talent’s own
Jesse: Shirt PS by Paul Smith, denim Zadig&Voltaire, shoes Dr. Martens
Let’s rewind to when you all first met; you all had musical side projects going on right, so how was it fusing those different interests and influences, into one band?
Jesse: I had never acted before and I had known Axel through his band on social media, and we vaguely knew each other before this whole thing started. It’s strange coming from a mediocre indie rock band to playing with four musicians who are incredibly more skilled than I am.
William: You’re underselling it my friend, you’re an incredible musician! Same with Axel’s other group, they’re phenomenal, I’ve seen them live and they still play and tour around.
Axel: I don’t think we were too far off one another in terms of our outside influences. I had an indie and jazz rock background, Zende (who’s late to this zoom call!), was into pop punk at the time which reflects some of the drumming styles he uses on our music; Jesse was super indie underground, he’s the Kurt Cobain fan! Then Jeremy and Will are into Kiss and 80s rock, but we all sent each other songs for when we got together the first time, to try and play, and we found a happy middle.
Jacket, turtle neck and pants Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, shoes Dr. Martens
Then you all appeared as the band in S3 of Outer Banks, and now fast forward, here you are as the stars of your own show, as the band! So, give me all the spoilers.
William: Ok, spoiler alert, all the people on this zoom call right now play music in the show, haha! As for my character, Charlie, he’s been infatuated with a girl called Sophia (played by Lilah Pate) since early high school days, and she ends up helping the band on their journey, but I won’t say how. Charlie’s his own worst enemy when it comes to that kind of romantic stuff, but Axel has something like that going on too with his character!
Axel: Yes, my character Neil is a hopeless romantic, pretty much how I was and am! There’s a rocker girl in a band and he’s infatuated with her, so much so, that he loses sight of a connection that might be better for him, which is right in front of him. He’s figuring out his path and what might be good and not so good influences for him.
Jeremy: Back in 2021 when we met with a lot of scriptwriters including Jonas (the creator), before the days of this show, we just got to know each other in a deeper way, and we could tell Jonas was trying to get to know us too; discovering little nuggets about us to potentially sprout characters from. I would say for each of our characters, there are certain elements of us that they did take, and I think a decent chunk of that came from those early conversations.
Axel: Yeah, it helped that Jonas really wrote our personalities into the script, and I would say it’s about 80% me and 20% fiction. Will, being an actor, also helped us out with tips and tricks we needed to tap into, and my hardest thing was buying into a scene or believing it, as with music it comes more naturally, maybe because I’ve been doing it longer, but Will’s sincerity was great at getting us into a grounded zone when you could be authentic in a performative way. We also had an acting coach, Rus Blackwell, and all props to him as well, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. I guess it was more fun stepping into it all, and easier, as it was all built around us.
Jesse: I would say that my character is a very dramatised version of myself though. Like, take a pillar of me and put it in a TV show… all that anxiety, I mean, I don’t know if I’m that anxious in real life!
Left Polo Shirt Fendi, denim Zadig&Voltaire, jacket Levi’s
Right Full look Dior Men
This show will undoubtedly boost your trajectory as musicians and actors, so what are you most excited about?
William: I don’t want to speak for all the boys, but the big thing about this show is that all the music in it is us playing live, and we had an incredible music team who helped us capture all the stuff we had written for the show in a cool way. Typically, in film and TV, what you hear is pre-made tracks, or air playing, but for our show we would set up for 6-8 hours on a shooting day and just play the song over again to make sure we got all the angles. Jonas is a genius having this idea to show the authenticity of music in a music show, so we’re very grateful that we were trusted to do that.
Ok, now Zende’s joined us, it’s quick-fire question time! When you were young, who did you have a poster of up on your wall?
Everyone: The Beatles!
Jacket Zadig&Voltaire, shirt Dior Men
What’s your favourite song to sing in the shower?
William: Anama by Van Halen!
Jesse: Any Britney Spears song!
Which member of the group takes the longest to get ready?
Everyone: Axel!
Full look Tod’s
Who’s the slowest to reply in the Runarounds group chat?
Jeremy: Me!
Funniest member of the group?
Everyone: Jesse!
Jesse: I’ll take that.
Full look Dior Men
Who is the most stylish member of the group?
Everyone: Ooooh!
Jesse: I would say Axel or Will.
Axel: Aww, thank you, guys!
Who’s the most famous person you’ve met so far?
Everyone: The KB! (Kevin Bacon)
Leather jacket and denim Levi’s, shirt Rag&Bone, shoes Dr. Martens
If you could invite any other artist in the world to join The Runarounds, who would it be?
William: Weird Al!!
Jesse: Let’s get Bob Dylan in here!
Being in the band must feel like family. So, what role does everyone play?
Jesse: Zende, if you’re Mom, I want to be Dad.
Zende: Ok, let’s do it!
Jeremy: Yeah, Zende’s probably Mom, he’s very organised!
Left Jacket and denim Isabel Marant, shirt Levi’s, shoes talent’s Own
Right Jacket and pants Prada, shirt Zadig&Voltaire
Which member is the best at giving advice?
Everyone: Will
Jeremy: I would say Zende too.
Jesse: I think we’re all each other’s rocks, which is cool.
Do any of you have any interesting pre-show rituals before performing live?
Jesse: This is a great question for Zende!!
Zende: [laughs] Ok, so I just want to preference here that I’m not a diva! But here’s the thing, I hit really hard, so if I don’t do things to prepare for that I cramp hard, and the boys can attest to me cramping on stage on multiple occasions. So, I have this pre-show routine which has two sections; one is vitamins and energy, so a triple expresso and then four grams of a superfood supplement called spirulina; and then there’s body work, where I stretch and warm up for approximately 30 minutes. It works for the hour you need it!
Right Jacket and pants Prada, shirt Zadig&Voltaire
What’s your favourite song to perform, or the one that gets the most reaction from the crowd?
Jeremy: Senior Year is our oldest song, so people really love it when that comes on in our set.
William: I would also like to plug here that we’re going on tour in the fall in the US!
And Europe….?
William: Oh man that would be a dream!
Jesse: I don’t have a passport!
When Jesse gets a passport, and you’re gearing up for your world tour, who would you choose to support you?
Jesse: Wunderhorse, I love them.
Axel: Hippo Campus
William: Artic Monkeys
Zende: Cage the Elephant, that would be a dream.
Shirt Zadig&Voltaire, jacket Tommy Hilfiger, pants talent’s Own
If you could give your fans a message right now, what would it be?
William: Come to our tour!
Axel: I hope you can listen to our music, and it takes you back to that feeling when you were about to graduate high school; that pivotal coming-of-age moment, and I hope you remember the romance you had and all those intense, powerful feelings. Hopefully it also makes you want to pick up a guitar and call your friend who used to play bass or something, to come over and play music.
Jesse: Start a band!!
Zende: Yes, start ‘em up!
Jeremy: Yes, start a band with your friends, it’s the best thing ever.
Interview by Kate Lawson
Photography by Gabe Araujo
Fashion by Jungle Lin
EIC Michael Marson
Casting Imagemachine cs
Featuring The Runarounds, with William, Axel, Jesse, Jeremy and Zende
Grooming by Kindra Mann and Mark Alan
