It’s not often a band manages to sound like both a gut-check and a group hug, but Cliffdiver, the latest up-and-coming pop-punk outfit from Tulsa, Oklahoma, walk that line with remarkable clarity. Known for their high-energy live shows, big hooks, and bigger feelings, Cliffdiver blend introspection with optimism, not to escape life’s heaviness, but rather to transform it for a new generation.
Formed in the Oklahoma DIY scene, where basements and VFW halls double as safe havens, the band came up in a space where connection mattered more than polish. In a region often overlooked by the national spotlight, often considered a “flyover state,” Cliffdiver are big believers in building and supporting their local music and DIY community, even helping open a new music space for local artists to play at.
Seeing themselves as the “old heads” now, the importance of leading by example isn’t lost on them as they look to support the next generation because they remember what it was like trying to find shows they could attend when they were young, as they attend all-ages shows at their local VFW hall and church spaces since it was an all-ages space their parents were fine with them attending, especially during the era of Christian metalcore and rock music. Even as spaces like Pink Eye or the Yeti played huge roles in their formative years, nothing lasts forever. Recognizing the importance of supporting their scene, Cliffdiver aimed to lead by example as leaders in their local music scene while also taking things a step further by approaching pop punk/emo in a new way.
That same spirit of community-first, heart-on-sleeve songwriting runs through everything they do, from their genre-hopping sound to lyrics that tackle mental health, identity, and healing with radical honesty and just enough humor to keep your head above water. As they celebrate the anniversary of Birdwatching and prepare to record their new EP, Cliffdiver emphasize collaboration as being the cornerstone to their writing process.
“We went from a seven-piece to a five-piece. Our writing style is very collaborative. We like to present something that we can all get behind, and there’s a process to that. And I think that that was the first thing we wanted to do when those changes happened was, OK, so what does our music sound like now? We want to answer that question, what now?”
Cliffdiver aren’t new cats, but through lineup and sound changes, they approached Birdwatching and now their new music with a fresh set of eyes and perspective, especially as their time on the road and experiences in their personal lives continue to make them wiser in ways they never thought possible.
“There’s a confidence that comes with experience. And I think that that definitely sort of informs a lot of what we do as well, you know.” As it’s the first time they’ll be writing and recording as a five-piece, so comes a new writing process of “figuring out how (they) sound, what (it) looks like … recreating a whole new process because it’s a whole new recipe now, you know, and so it’s been and still is very collaborative.” The new and unknown may be intimidating to some, but not to Cliffdiver as they look forward to the new challenges ahead of them.
Cliffdiver stand out not just for their sound but for their ethos, work ethic, and hustle due to their ability to build their own space, speak their truth, and invite everyone in. Their music doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff—anxiety, depression, and loss—rather, it reframes those conversations with warmth, accessibility, and resilience. It’s emo that uplifts, pop-punk that hugs back. Rather than everyone suffering in silence by themselves, Cliffdiver hold the opening of needing “…to talk about it as a society, come together, and say, hey, you’re not alone. Because right now, I think it’s one of the more isolating times in history where everyone feels so alone and hopeless because everything is crushing.”
This newfound approach to music only further nurtures and grows their relationship with their fans, whereas “…being able to experience some things together when it comes to talking about these issues of being open and being able to kind of sit with these emotions and these feelings in a way that a lot of music when we were younger didn’t.”
Rather than continue to treat these topics as taboo or approaching them in an outdated way, Cliffdiver seek to reinvent the wheel when it comes to these difficult conversations and topics.
“A lot of it was like, hey, we should just kill ourselves, right? You know, you and I, we’re going to kill ourselves. Everything’s terrible. And that’s the music that I grew up on and loved and still love. But we wanted to offer a little hope and be able to talk about these things and talk about how things get better and how, you know, we’re all still figuring it out and growing together and that the more that we can talk about these things, the less they become taboo.”
This sense of authenticity is what drives Cliffdiver at their core. Whether it’s they themselves coming to terms with their own struggles and addressing them in a healthy, or, at the very least, discussing them in a healthy way. Rather than resting on how things were done in the past, Cliffdiver want to help reinvent the wheel in a way that is as productive as it is inspiring, all while still being catchy, engaging music. In their own words, “To quote High School Musical ‘now, we’re all in this together,’ and it’s OK.”
Birdwatching is out now on SideOneDummy Records. Follow Cliffdiver on Facebook, Instagram, and X for future updates.
Photos by Kyle Bergfors
Photo courtesy of Cliffdiver
