Review: THE RUNAROUNDS at The Revolution Room in Little Rock

Article written by student guest writer Owen Dodd of Ouachita Baptist University

I’m beginning to learn there’s a sense of momentum in everything, even in my own emotions. Upon receiving the opportunity to review The Runarounds in Little Rock’s Rev Room, my reaction had layers of incremental excitement. The first of these was general apathy; amidst the chaos of my senior year at OBU, I looked at the text from my supervisor and groaned to myself, “Something else to do? Where will I even find the time?”. And it surely felt like that for the first two hours after I had begrudgingly agreed to it—that is, until I learned that this “little band” had stuck together during the most formative and transient periods of their lives, even after being separated for years at a time—they’re going on six years now if you’re curious. And that was only the beginning of my
fascinations. Over the next 24 hours of my life, I would begin to immerse myself in the world of the Runarounds: their enigmatic formation, their Prime Video feature (seriously, who are these kids, and how did I not know about them?), their suspiciously perfect group dynamic (more on that later), and their music itself. I mean, come on, it’s ALT-INDIE ROCK; my love for Tame Impala, The Backseat Lovers, and Snõõper had primed me to be especially tempted for such an chance. What aspiring music critic would ever pass up such an opportunity, especially on such a fun group! And just like that, My interest, like a coal engine, gathered steam — each factoid another shovel of coal. Now, the day before the concert, I’m barreling down the tracks, toting train cars of questions and speculations.
This, my reader, is now your problem; this is my review of The Runarounds at Little Rock, October 24th.

I always used to say to myself, “Why do people feel the need to ‘name-drop?’ Must they
associate with someone of acclaim to instantiate their value?” And, to set the record straight, I still believe that, but I had no idea how difficult it was to refrain from doing so once given the chance. For example, leading to the concert, I was offered a brief interview with Zendé Murdock, the Drummer of the Runarounds. I almost fainted. Even after watching only the first episode of the Prime feature, Zendé’s technical skill as a drummer is undeniable, and could I expect any different with his father being a pro drummer as well? Going into the interview, I was a stew of excitement, curiosity, and tight-rope-dread, but
thankfully Zendé was able to quell my nerves (if not interview himself while I stumbled over my words). In all seriousness, we discussed the band’s formation, his upbringing in Amsterdam, the show, and a little bit of everything else. But logging off from the interview, I had one particularly annoying question that couldn’t seem to stop floating around my head…

What I couldn’t fit into place had nothing to do with Zendé, or even the band itself: it was one tiny, even negligible discrepancy between the band’s older recount of the hiring process (discussed in interviews before the show aired), and the newer—might I say more polished—versions that could only improve an act’s public image. A small bio document for their Tour that the band “grew up” on the road, and that their personality is “now reaching screens worldwide through their Amazon Prime Series,” as if the show was some
spontaneous—coincidentally profitable—afterthought, as if the band and show were not intertwined to begin with. The soundtrack of the show is described as their “latest” album—or should we say only album? Although the band members had recorded together before the show aired, it’s not like they have the most established corpus known to man. Surely I’m not connecting dots that aren’t there.

In all fairness, their team has gone to impressive lengths to support the authenticity of the entire project. By giving the members of the band several years to develop their group dynamic, find their style, and perform with each other, there is reason to believe that the band has established their own personality within the means of producing a profitable act. And I might add that the music has all but suffered from such provisions; their sound is enjoyable and involved. This may have to do with the ingenious hiring process. In the
Zach Sang podcast, the members expressed that they were completely unaware of the true purpose of the audition. They allegedly thought that they were just auditioning for a cameo as a band in the Outer Banks series. I found Jesse Golliher’s (bass/vocals) initial hesitation telling — ‘I can’t be in a TV show… what?’ he recalled. It may seem unclear what the team’s object was but hiring musicians to act rather than actors to play musicians was a choice to prioritize the authenticity of the music over the quality of the acting. Don’t get me
wrong though: it’s not necessarily that the dramatic performance suffers, but that the creative team took the risk to cast musicians who had little to no acting experience; the music was simply more important.

Ultimately, however, I’d sooner let the reader answer the question of authenticity rather than ramble on about the drama all day. The interviews have been released; the band members are all but publicly elusive; I trust my readers to think for themselves. My job is to talk music, and although my own personal take on the authenticity of the music may be affected by the hiring process, it is by no means my main subject.

Still, before diving into the headliner’s set, it’s still worth noting the fantastic opening performance of William Wild and David Silverberg. I particularly appreciated their mellow approach, as well as their candid, pure, even simple vocals. The style seems to take inspiration from creators such as Gregory Alan Isakov, Lord Huron, and The Lumineers, while having an interestingly angelic vocal intention, almost reminiscent of Conan
Gray’s earlier work. Although not my taste as far as introspective music, their execution is concise, and it seems that they are patient enough with themselves to avoid oversaturating their sound with banalities. My personal favorite track from William Wild’s latest E.P. is “Dreamin’”, which truly shows the power of musical simplicity. It seems to me that the small motifs repeated in the chorus are far more impactful than the typically over-accessorized pop chorus.

The Runarounds’ music was exactly what you’d expect, especially if you’ve seen the show before. The whole act is based upon the juvenility of the boys on stage, which led me to believe that I’m not exactly the target audience. In fact, before the concert I tried discussing the group with my college friends, but none of them knew of The Runarounds; this—along with the show’s tone—served to solidify my assumption that this would be the equivalent of Chuck-E-Cheese for high school girls. But I was completely wrong. The crowd was
an absolute horde of adults older than I am, and certainly older than the members of the band. I remember being carted around throughout the venue, fighting the densest crowd of 25-year-old men I’ve ever laid eyes on. I would have expected the audience to be rabid teen girls (the kind that would likely have pulverized the guards at the door all to see their favorite band). I can make nothing of it; your guess is as good as mine.

Nonetheless, the audience ate every crumb of what The Runarounds gave them. They stayed energized for the entire night, leaving satisfied and further infatuated. After the show, I saw Jesse Golliher—after vaping his lungs to dust on stage, mind you—smoking God knows what outside of the Rev Room, and hilariously, droves of girls interrupted his smoke break by requesting (almost demanding) what I can only imagine was hundreds of pictures. I would have gone and talked to him after the show and asked him a few questions, but I had gotten the message that The Runarounds—and especially their production team for that matter—wanted one thing from me, and that was an article.

All in all, I found that The Runarounds didn’t scratch my musical itch. There are other groups that have come long before them that have appreciated this style—and in my opinion have done more with it. And I hate saying that, especially considering that the musicians-turned-actors are so technically skilled (Zendé, for example, is one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen live). I wouldn’t doubt that my opinion of this group was set in stone before I even knew who they were—before they even knew each other for that matter. I can imagine, with staggering detail, that the selections were made based on the musical tastes the band members had in the first place; although their musical style isn’t disingenuous, it certainly seems like no other genre would be given the green light for its own show. The Runarounds, as it would seem, is in a sweet spot: not zany enough to deter potential Prime Video streamers from finding it entertaining, but also not conventional
(aka boring) enough to retain considerable amounts of concertgoers. Furthermore, I find this classification as “Alt-Rock” as misleading. Is this the same alt-rock as Have a Nice Life, Radiohead, and My Bloody Valentine? I hardly think there’s been enough of any endeavor to establish the “alternative” nature of The Runarounds. In many ways, I see the entire act as High School Musical Virtual Reality edition: complete with an updated musical style, audience immersion with the Minivan tour, edgier subject content (i.e. drugs, alcohol), and
rivers of revenue. My prediction would be that the musicians themselves would get exhausted with the incentivized structure of such a scheme. After all, musicians of The Runarounds’ stock develop quickly, especially when they’re actively touring. They may come to find that they have outgrown the britches that Prime has fitted them with. Only time will tell. The Runarounds remain are a testament to how modern pop-rock acts blur the line between art and algorithm: talented, marketable—and tragically voiceless, no matter how loud.

To see them for yourself, visit the Runarounds IG to access their upcoming 2026 tour dates. All photos are accredited to @isaiahpate. Love or hate my takes? Drop me a line at dod78435@obu.edu.

Arkansas Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. THE WIZARD OF OZ (Arts One Presents)

12.6% of votes

2. CINDERELLA: THE BROADWAY VERSION (Arkansas State University Theatre)

12.2% of votes

3. TUCK EVERLASTING (Harding University Theatre)

10.7% of votes

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