Three 11-year-olds start a band

Carson Groves and Hyrum Russon formed Riff Wood with drummer Asher Winegar when they were just 11. Five years later, they've toured North America and the UK.

Their debut hit grabbed attention

Their first album Tough Luck featured the anthem Blur, which has been streamed almost four million times. It caught the ear of three-time Grammy winner Rob Cavallo.

TikTok led to a DM from a legend

Cavallo's son Joey found them on TikTok and sent a video to his mom Kim. She showed Rob, who was skeptical at first, then said 'Oh wow!'

“We grew up massive fans of Green Day. We knew all the lore and how Rob worked with them, we were just starstruck.”

Recording was fast and raw

They sent demos with no click track to Cavallo's LA studio. He set tempos in one take, believing the best sound comes from how you feel when writing.

“He's a big believer in raw sound, if you nitpick a track too much, it's not genuine.”

They learned instruments together

The band didn't play for years before forming. Russon didn't even listen to rock as a kid, discovering his influences only after they started the band.

“I didn't grow up listening to rock. I didn't listen to any music as a kid.”

Their gear and signature sounds

Both play through Blackstar HT Stage 60 amps. Groves uses a Yamaha Revstar with Tube Screamer and Big Muff. Russon plays a Reverend Bob Balch and custom green Strat.

New album drops September 18

Butterfly in Black and White packs 12 tracks of punk and stomping licks. The song Run It experiments with clever time signatures and monstrous tone.

They dream of stadium crowds

Their next goal is playing stadiums. Groves says hearing 60,000 people sing back a song that was once personal to you would be the greatest feeling.

“One of the greatest feelings of all time is being on stage and hearing the crowd sing back a song that was once personal to you.”