Creative Differences; mixing alternative rock with pop, and the closest thing Huntington Beach has ever had to a Twenty One Pilots. The duo of singer Ryan Petersen and drummer Larson McDonald create a twist on modern alternative music and bring a creative writing style never before seen at Huntington Beach. They also host a theme of paper bags and jumpsuits that bring a certain kind of familiarity to the band and the art they produce. The duo has produced and performed a number of great songs and performances since invading HBHS and MMET in 2016. Presenting both in and out of school gigs, and participating in every mainstage show MMET has produced since they arrived. As of this year they performed two of their songs in Playlist 2019; “Smoke Stacks” (hilarious music video) and “Godspeed.” Both of which bear a certain amount of resemblance to very popular songs by very popular alternative bands.
According to Ryan, the paper bags were implemented in order to hide their identity; to make their music more about the message and less about the people that wrote it. However, they later became pretty well known for it. During Ryan’s performance at Playlist 2018, he walked around the stage putting paper bags on the heads of the musicians performing with him. This was done with little to no warning, yet even administrators seemed to laugh at the gimmick. Just as soon as everyone thought they had seen his whole plan put into action, he jumped off the stage. Since then they’ve made the bags into somewhat of an identity. The bags now appear in many, if not all, of their music videos and live performances.
“Figments” was written about the fear of dementia, which is illustrated well in it’s music video. But the meaning from which it was born is found from within an episode of BoJack Horseman, an animated television series about a horse who misses his days as a Hollywood elite. The specific episode is called Time’s Arrow, which massively changed Ryan’s perspective on dementia. The meaning of the song is to communicate to the audience the same message about dementia that the comedy show had done for him.
“Smoke Stacks” was their only song in which the instrumental came before the lyrics. While Ryan was at Denny’s with a friend at midnight, Larson was at home finishing up an instrumental he had been working on. Once finished, he immediately sent it to his bandmate Ryan, who then had his friend listen to it first. Upon hearing this, his friend freaked out insisting that Ryan right lyrics to pair with the instrumental. Ryan knew he had to, without even listening to what had been sent to him. From their he proceeded to write lyrics that were ultimately about not wanting to leave a comfortable place, whether that be a spot in time or a certain age. Though written quickly, both band members felt the song meant what it was written to mean. This proved to be a very fun and vibrant song, as seen in it’s live performance at Playlist 2019 and in its music video, which is absolutely hysterical, courtesy of future award winning filmmaker Max Kozik.
“Godspeed,” possibly the most misleading song name ever. Waking up from a fever dream at 2am, Ryan had the melody playing in his head, which would later give way to one of the most painfully shot music videos ever produced. With a show approaching, Ryan really had hoped to perform this song despite how rough it appeared to be. So he sat down and combined a list of immoral actions he witnessed growing up that he couldn’t believe a fellow human being would commit. The notion of betrayal had plagued over many people such as his neighbors growing up, which he nor anyone in the right mind would have an easy time understanding. From these actions and a truly catchy lyric, “Godspeed” was finished. It later hit the stage at Playlist 2019.
Both Ryan and Larson have come so far as musicians since their beginning. Lyrics have improved across all songs and production value has increased accordingly. They will be performing at Edison High School alongside Lacker, CounterConformity, and Bloosh. For only $2, come down to Edison High School Black Box on May 10th from 6 to 9pm to kickstart the summer. As to when the duo will put out new music, no one is sure, however we do know that Godspeed is coming soon. You can keep track of any new developments or performances on their Instagram: @creativedifferencesofficial.
