Runner Runner, a dynamic young band hailing from punk mecca Huntington Beach, Calif., will see its debut album released through a new partnership with EMI Music's Capitol Records, Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music (a new label formed by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.), and Jack Ponti's MRV label. The album, now being recorded in Los Angeles with producer Dave Darling (Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Soulive), will be the flagship release for C.E. Music in its partnership with Capitol Records and MRV. The self-titled debut will be released in late summer, while the first single, “So Obvious,” will go to radio on June 15. (Check out "So Obvious" here ) Runner Runner kicks off the first leg of an extensive tour beginning in mid-May, with initial dates below.
With more than eight-million total plays on its MySpace page - not bad for a new band - and named a 2009 Band to Watch by Alternative Press, Runner Runner has been described by one impressed industry veteran as a poppier Green Day. They've also drawn comparisons to Boys Like Girls, The Maine, Forever the Sickest Kids and We the Kings. The immensely appealing Runner Runner—frontman Ryan Ogren, guitarist Nick Bailey, guitarist Peter Munters, bassist Jon Berry and drummer James Ulrich—combine skillful songwriting and musicianship, punk-infused intensity and humungous hooks with tremendous potential.
Prior to forming in 2008, the members of Runner Runner had been in a variety of other bands - bassist Berry was a founding member of the SoCal pop-punk band Rufio, and Ogren had been the vocalist/guitarist for the New Jersey-based Don't Look Down. Munters, Bailey, and Ulrich were all members of the Orange County, CA-based by way of northern Virginia skate-punk band Over It. After numerous tours together as three separate entities, the five musicians gravitated towards each other and formed Runner Runner.
Runner Runner has performed more than 175 shows on bills with such prominent left-ofcenter acts as Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Gym Class Heroes, Angels & Airwaves, The Higher, The Audition and The White Tie Affair. They’re also veterans of the festival circuit, appearing in 2009 on the Vans Warped Tour, Bamboozle and Tokyo’s Punkspring Festival, as well as the Night of Lights Festival and the L.A. Ink Fest during the previous year.