Five distinct personalities joining forces to make one mighty sound — that’s Runner Runner. The SoCal band’s self-titled debut album — released through a new partnership with Capitol Records, C.E. Music (a new label formed by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.) and Jack Ponti’s MRV label — combines skillful songwriting and musicianship, punk-infused intensity and humungous pop hooks.


The entrance that Runner Runner – front man Ryan Ogren, guitarists Nick Bailey and Peter Munters, bassist Jon Berry and drummer James Ulrich – is making on an unsuspecting music scene is in keeping with its name that has its origins in Ogren and Berry’s love of poker: “runner runner” is a poker term that, loosely defined, means “coming out of nowhere and pulling off a winning hand at the last possible moment.”

Produced by Dave Darling (Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Soulive), Runner Runner introduces a vital young band blessed with a rarefied collective gift for crafting instantly accessible songs that reveal additional layers of meaning with each listening, as well as the elevated skills to deliver their taut material with slam-dunk forcefulness. This is a band that cuts through the crap and delivers the goods, directly, powerfully and exhilaratingly.