Beating Heart of Inspirations

Photographs By Raea Palmieri

Southern California band Creative Differences open up about their 15 show tour, fighting to be heard, and their EP, “WAVESHOES”.

How did you start your journey as a band?

Larson and I met at a bowling alley our freshman year of High School. We were using the lane chat feature and talking shit on each other, and when we went to go fight we both had matching twenty one pilots merch on and instantly became best friends. Turns out we were both in the same arts program in our High School and we instantly started making music together.

What have you been learning since then?

How to temper our emotions in bowling alleys.

What makes Creative Differences stand out from other bands in Southern California?

I think the biggest thing that sets us apart is that we don’t just want to make music. Our visual brand is just as important to us as our sound. And we try to make our live performances that place where all the elements come together. We play with backing tracks, autotune, and a TV displaying music videos and visual art.

You recently released your EP, "Waveshoes". What is this EP about?

Waveshoes is kind of our 808’s and Heartbreaks. We wanted to make a sister release to our previous KIDBOY EP that kind of had the emotional release that comes after the paranoia of my experiences. So the best way we felt like doing that is by drowning everything in autotune and synths. It kind of makes my emotional performances and lyrics feel like they're fighting to be heard through all the intensely artificial processing.

What are some highs and lows while making the EP?

Honestly this project took us way too long to finish. The core of the song ideas were finished before KIDBOY was rolled out, but between crafting the songs for our live shows and making new music videos, inspiration just took the songs to different places. We were tweaking the drops of the closing/opening tracks right up until we left for the Waveshoes Tour. I will say that its frustrating to be sitting on ideas for so long, but it did really help to keep the songs -and our performances of them- really fresh to us.

How does "Waveshoes" show your growth as a band?

We like to change pretty dramatically with each release. Waveshoes is kind of the first time we’ve dove into real “emo” songwriting. Even though the aesthetics aren’t what people expect when they hear “emo”, it’s got the beating heart of our inspirations in a different body.

Which song is each member's favorite song to play live and why?

Personally, I (Ryan) can’t get over how good BLINK is when we play it live. Something about opening the set with one isolated part feels so right. Especially when the outro comes in full, it always hits. Larson would probably say Get High, not just because of the sampling, but that drum part is just insane live. I just get to scream the last line of the chorus and Larson comes in and puts that into his kit. Just has some really clean synergy. Aiden’s favorite is 20!, but that’s mostly because he’s constantly switching from the synth to his bass and back.

Last year you went on the "Waveshoes Tour" to promote the EP before it came out. Why did you decide to tour pre-release?

Well um. Sadly this wasn’t a very “intentional” decision. We wanted to have at least one of the singles prepped to come out before the tour but our schedules were just impossible. On top of work and school, our production timeline was breakneck. I (Ryan) was visiting my relatives abroad right before our “6 SHOWS” tour, then we started that tour the day I got back. We had 3 weeks packed with music video production, recording, rehearsals, backing visuals, and live sessions- and then we left for the Waveshoes Tour immediately after. The goal was to continue our mixing on the road, but the first week of tour, our guitarists headphones broke, so our output was cut in half. We ended up delaying and delaying, but managed to get a couple singles out at least just so our fans wouldn’t rip our heads off. It actually ended up dropping on the one year anniversary of KIDBOY which worked out kind of perfectly all things considered.

Which cities did you go to while on tour? Which cities were your favorites?

Our last tour was pretty ambitious. Especially considering we were still traveling with 5 people and all our gear stuffed in my 2005 minivan. The Waveshoes tour was 15 shows, and easily the farthest we’ve been from home as a band. Probably the biggest “this is unreal” moment was crossing the border and playing our first out of the country show in Vancouver, B.C. I mean we had fans who took ferries to make it to that show. That step felt like a big one for us. Favorite new city we played was easily Logan, Utah. They just have such a special little live music scene up there and we shared the bill with some freakishly talented musicians. But we can’t talk about tour highlights without mentioning Davis, California. I’m not sure what it is about that place but all three times we’ve played there we’ve been received by such a passionate audience. They always show up and bring so much energy. That small town has a special place in all of our hearts because of the people. We’ve always been playing in houses or open fields with little power or no access to bathrooms, but the people in Davis make it worth it.

What's next for Creative Differences?

We’re heading into a bit of a commercial break. There’s a different attitude for us when we’re making a “project” vs just making one off songs and playing them. I find myself getting a little bit too absorbed in the concepts and context of each song, and it becomes challenging to finish what I start once I’m committed to it. We have so many beautiful and traumatic experiences we have yet to share just because they didn't “fit into the concept” of our past few projects. I think it's time we catch up to where we are right now as people and let the story figure itself out afterwards.