Young musicians of Great Falls

Most people jump at the thought of a garage band made up of teenage boys; loud, obnoxious, angsty.

But for a group of Great Falls teenagers, playing their music is about more than just yelling angrily.

“Ever since I was little, I thought it was like, one of the coolest things ever,” rhythmist Kameron Grooms said.

“The Difference” is a Christian pop/rock group named after the ministry at their church, and it is made up of four boys: Randy Estes; Grooms, a freshman at C.M. Russell High School; Chris Russell; and Gabe Hamilton, also a freshman at CMR.

Grooms is the backbone rhythm of the group. He said that he had always wanted to learn to play, so taking a guitar class at school has helped him, along with his worship team friends at The Central Assembly of God. Grooms said he remembers what he thought when he first heard about the guitar class.

“Dude, I’m gonna learn how to play guitar,” he said.

Estes was the one who originally started the band, gaining inspiration from a video game to do so. He said that he has been playing the drums for four years, and also plays the piano and performs vocals for the group.

Estes said he performed a show at his church only one month after learning the drums and that it influenced him greatly.

Just a year before Estes started on the drums, Hamilton picked up a guitar. He said his own inspiration came from two bands known as “Boyce Avenue” and “Reliant K”, and that he was actually in another band before “The Difference”.

Hamilton said what also helped him was performing in a talent show in the fifth grade.

“I want to go far; wherever God takes us,” he said. “I heard that on a movie once.”

Like Hamilton, Russell, also performed in a talent show in the fifth grade, just on another instrument. Russell plays the bass in the group, recently hitting three years of playing.

He said the bass and rhythm are what set the mood in music. Russell also said that he hopes the group stays together and goes on.

“Sky’s the limit really,” Russell said. “We want to go far and then farther than that.”