Started in 2010, Allen Mendez brought a group of men together as "The Runner Ups" to become a ska punk band. The premise was to play fun, upbeat, loud music that people could get up and dance to. In early 2014, the band added new members and instrumentation to their arsenal. The music of "The Runner Ups" became more technical and began to embrace various influences like Dixieland, Latin merengue, big band swing, and even Arabic. This fusion of genres into the ska punk sound allowed the band to stray away from the standard and embrace something new in every song. Now, the powerhouse 7-piece group—including trumpet, trombone, and tenor/bari sax—have begun playing all over the Midwest.