BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — There have been several bands put together for television shows that found some success away from the small screen. The Monkees – that was made up of cast members who could sing and play instruments – went on to have several top 10 hits. “The Partridge Family” – that was built around the musical talents of David Cassidy – also found chart success.
The new Prime Video series “The Runarounds” looks to follow in the path of the Monkees as it will feature the story of a tight-knit group of young adults from all walks of life who come together to form a rock band the summer after graduating from high school. William Lipton, Axel Ellis, Jeremy Yun, Zendé Murdock, and Jesse Golliher – who play the band members — spent years performing at several venues before the filming started.
Adding the musical element to the acting part of the job helped the cast members.
Lipton says, “I think they went in tandem. When we are doing a musical performance on stage, it is kind of second nature because of the amount of practice and the amount of time we have spent together.
“We had a wonderful acting coach named Russell Blackwell who really helped us. We are musicians first. I think we were able to go on autopilot sometimes.”
Lipton came to the project with the most acting experience of the group including 328 episodes of “General Hospital” while Murdock appeared on two episodes of “The Voice.” “The Runarounds” is the first professional acting job for Ellis, Golliher and Yun.
Murdock agrees with Lipton that being responsible for both the acting and musical performances made the production easier. He found that the times when he felt the most comfortable on set was when he was sitting behind the drums.
“That’s what I know and love,” Murdock says with a big grin. “If it hadn’t been for that aspect, it would have been a whole lot tougher. We got to keep the characters close to who we are as real people.”
Officials with Prime Video have faith in the music as the official trailer for “The Runarounds” features the original song “Funny How the Universe Works” performed by the band at the center of the story. Arista Records will be releasing the official soundtrack coinciding with the series’ release.
The band’s first two singles — “Funny How the Universe Works” and “Senior Year” — are available now on all platforms. “Senior Year” is the first song written and recorded by the real-life band.
No matter the reason for forming a band, it is important for the members to find a rhythm of working together. That becomes doubly important when the cast must act and perform on stage together.
One thing that proved to be a major help for the cast was that they were cast in 2020. That meant they had close to five years to learn to act and play music together before the first scene was ever filmed.
Ellis says, “That was when they said go and play music. We had years to play shows and hone in what we were going to do a little bit before we had to do it for the show.
“Somehow that worked out and we all are good friends. It was super beneficial.”
The cast agrees that they have felt like a band from the very start, but it was a performance at The Windjammer in Charleston, SC, on Memorial Day in 2022. That show – their first official booking as a band – was the show where they felt they had gelled. Part of feeling that way was that by the time they took the stage, they had written several original songs.
That show was when they felt they had the band element under control. The next step was to deal with trying to handle the acting part especially for those with no previous professional experience. They didn’t have as much time to work on developing their characters but were able to start that process in 2022 when the project got a green light.
Yun says, “We had a number of years to get to know them. We got to know how they would survive various situations they were thrown into. I still think to this day I am getting a better idea of who he is but it has been fun to live with them that long.
“It has been fun to learn the art of acting for most of us who have not done it before.”
The series from the creators of “Outer Banks” also stars Lilah Pate, Maximo Salas, Kelley Pereira, Marley Aliah, Mark Wystrach, Brooklyn Decker, Hayes MacArthur, and Shea Pritchard. All eight episodes in the first season are now available here as well as more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
