On the tour starting next week, Runner Runner will open for Amber Pacific and Cartel at medium-sized venues; the first Southern California stop will be June 8 at Chain Reaction in Anaheim.
One hopeful sign, according to Robinson-Fitzgerald, is the more than 8 million plays the band has garnered on its MySpace page.
Bailey, meanwhile, is under no delusion that it won't be hard work.
"People think if you're in a band, you just party and do drugs," he said. "But like any other business, when you're self-employed, you put in a lot more hours than the guy who just clocks in 9 to 5."
3. They're a Surf City band by choice. Unlike Avenged Sevenfold and other bands that grew up in Huntington, Runner Runner hand-picked its base of operations. Berry is the only Southern California native in the bunch, while Ogren hails from New Jersey and the other three started out in Virginia.
They met while touring the country with different bands — Berry with Rufio, Ogren with Don't Look Down and the other three with Over It.
Over the years, they gravitated to each other as their common musical tastes emerged.
When it came to choosing a home, Runner Runner opted for Surf City — in part because of the area's musical history, and in part because it offered connections.
"We loved Orange County," Bailey said. "There's a lot of venues here like the House of Blues and Chain Reaction, and we were still close enough to L.A. that we could network and play the venues there. But O.C. has a little more room to breathe."
