The Runarounds Refuse to Slow Down in “Chasing The Good Times”
Cover art for “Chasing The Good Times.”
After five years in the making, The Runarounds have hit their stride and are ready to sprint toward stardom. Not only has the five-piece — comprised of Axel Ellis (guitar/vocals), William Lipton (guitar/vocals), Jeremy Yun (guitar), Jesse Golliher (bass/vocals) and Zendé Murdock (drums) — hit sold-out stage after sold-out stage on their Minivan Tour this fall, they’ve also hit screens in their eponymous Amazon Prime series, their debut album acting as the show’s soundtrack. Keeping up the momentum and living up to their name, The Runarounds are adding to their spirited, quintessentially indie rock discography with “Chasing The Good Times.”
While the television characters may be fake, The Runarounds’s music is anything but, and their new single only adds fuel to their songwriting fire. The band wrote all of the original music heard in the show, their lyrics teeming with youthful truths to go with their raucous drum fills and stellar guitar riffs. On “Chasing The Good Times,” the group teamed up with Cage The Elephant’s Brad Shultz to put into words what every person in their 20s feels and deliver an anthemic head-banger.
The just-under-four-minute single opens with a classic feel-good rock sound. Layered “oohs” and bright guitar melodies work in tandem with a heavier power chord line to create a sound reminiscent of classic tracks like The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” and The Killers’s “When We Were Young.” As with most other Runarounds songs, the dense instrumentation at the foundation of “Chasing The Good Times” gives it a palpable energy that serves as a testament to each member’s musicianship. On top of it all lies a subtle grit that comes to the surface in grungier post-chorus refrains and slight rasps, culminating in a rocking guitar solo chock-full of bends and stank-face-inducing licks.
Ellis and Lipton’s verse trading and vocal harmonies add to the track’s fervor as they sing of fleeting youth and the fear of missing out on, well, “the good times.”
“It’s about the never-ending pursuit of happiness and how it could pass you by if you’re looking too hard for it,” Ellis said.
Watch the music video for “Chasing The Good Times” on YouTube.
The way this theme presents itself throughout the song is clever, with seemingly solid assertions about living in the moment taking on a double meaning: “So don’t think of tomorrow / We can stay here today / Every moment we count on / Can be sure is bound to change / So we keep chasing the good life away.” Ellis and Lipton pause before singing “away,” as if coming to the real-time realization that this constant search for exhilaration can only lead to disappointment in the end.
The release of “Chasing The Good Times” is coupled with a music video that looks like it could have been filmed by Bender (Marley Aliah), the camera-wielding character on the show who compiled candid footage of the band and presented it through a grainy, nostalgic lens. Filmed at one of The Runarounds’s sold-out shows this fall, the “Chasing The Good Times” music video sees the band interspersed throughout the audience, performing amongst a crowd of hands-in-the-air, dancing fans. Throw in some high-contrast, over-exposed behind-the-scenes clips and the music video captures that timeless energy the song conveys.
As The Runarounds prepare for a second leg of their Minivan Tour next year, “Chasing The Good Times” acts as an electric ode to the wild ride the five-piece has been on the past few months and the invaluable moments bound to come for a band that’s just getting started.