Sound Check! ‘The Runarounds’ Cast Breaks Down the Show’s Biggest Songs (VIDEO)

The Runarounds knows when to let the music do the talking, but we had to ask the band for the backstories behind their songs.

Prime Video’s latest teen drama, which comes from Outer Banks boss Jonas Pate, tells the story of a fictional band trying to make it big after high school graduation. Pate consulted the stars themselves when writing it because get this — they’ve been in a real-life band together for years. (In fact, they’re about to embark on a U.S. tour.)

As a result, William Lipton (who plays lead singer Charlie), Jeremy Yun (guitarist Topher), Jesse Golliher (bassist Wyatt), Zendé Murdock (drummer Bez), and Axel Ellis (vocalist and guitarist Neil) wrote every song that’s featured in the series. From poppy love song “Sophia” to the foot-tapping “Funny How the Universe Works,” Lipton says the songs came about one of two ways.

In some cases, the group would read the script and craft a song that fit the story, with some loose guidance from the writers. In one case, they were instructed to simply write a “dance-y pop song.”

Some tracks came about before they knew exactly what their characters were going through. “Before we got scripts, we would just try to write something and maybe see if it lands because we didn’t have a whole lot of ideas from the actual story that was going on,” Lipton told TV Insider.

We sat down with the cast to get the full rundown on what went into creating fan-favorite tunes like “Downtown,” “Shoelaces,” and more. The Runarounds girls Lilah Pate, Marley Aliah, and Kelley Pereiragave their input, too.

Which song does the Golliher think is the band’s “magnum opus?” Which one started as a joke? Which one has been dubbed a “‘Mr. Brightside’-adjacent banger” by Lipton? Scroll to the top of the page and watch the video to find out.

The Runarounds, Season 1, Now Streaming, Prime Video