Waterparks have returned! Newly signed to Hopeless Records, the boys arrived in a neon green blur the other week with new single ‘Turbulent’, the first teaser from their ‘new era’. With a fresh album on the way too, vocalist and guitarist Awsten Knight, guitarist Geoff Wigington, and drummer Otto Wood filled us in backstage at Slam Dunk South.
How was yesterday for you, with the live debut of ‘Turbulent’ no less?
Awsten: Amazing! Everyone knew the words! It was just like, ‘Oh shit; I can do more of this – I’m sticking my hand out with a ‘mic’ right now’. Today it’ll have been out for a little over three days, and it’s already streaming way better than anything. It’s like our hardest release so far. It’s crazy; we’re also on a legitimate label now. Oops, haha.
How is it being on Hopeless?
Awsten: We feel ‘cared’ for. Nurtured. They let us give away a bunch of shirts that they paid for. That’s awesome. They like everything, and they’re just like, ‘Make it bigger!’ and I was like ‘Okay! Let’s do that!’ and it’s going well.
The last few years have been quite the ride, how’s that?
Awsten: It’s tight as fuck, dude! I love it. Any time a song is made, if I don’t think it’s a fucking 10/10 badass song, amazing, it’s not going to be heard by people. So I’m always hoping that it’s a great song, and I’m always like, I wish more people could hear it when it comes out, but with this, I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go!’
How has life changed for you since the release of ‘Entertainment’ last year?
Awsten: Geoff made babies! He pushed it out of his penis; it walked. In Mexico. That was like a week ago!
Geoff: Yeah, a week ago, she took her first steps.
Awsten: So, Geoff doesn’t sleep anymore.
Geoff: My eyes are closed, and I’m laying down for those who can’t see this.
Awsten: I moved to California. I got my first car, my first new car.
Otto: Yeah, we all got cars!
Are these ‘signed to a new label and flexing’ cars?
Awsten: These are. The tour is going well car!
Otto: Make it known that these are very necessary cars.
Awsten: Fuck it, dude, let’s flex!
Otto: I still live in Texas, and everything is an hour and a half away from anything.
Awsten: Geoff’s old car, the windows wouldn’t roll up. And Otto’s old car.
Otto: I don’t know how, but Geoff’s old car outlasted all of ours.
Awsten: Mine technically still runs, but the power steering has a bad leak. This year my car is twenty years old so I thought it’s time to get a new one – I can afford it now! It was blue, and I’m making sure to only get blue cars now. Dude, I got a fucking blue Lexus. It’s tight! I’m gonna post it. I haven’t posted it yet because I was hiding my hair.
badass song, it’s not going to be heard”
So speaking of the new era, what’s happening?
Awsten: We’ve already got the plan. We know when we’re breaking up. We knew in 2015, late 2015, that green hair was going to be a thing. We’ve got the patterns, we’ve got it all set, everything’s a prophecy. At the end, we sacrifice Geoff. And then I become Geoff.
Geoff: He’s taking my energy, and I just sit here and do nothing.
Awsten: Like, I’ve taken so much of his everything that he can barely speak now.
Otto: I just let this happen.
Awsten, to Otto: I love your beanie. Are you wearing that on stage? I’m serious, look at our colour scheme! It’s like we’ve all got this purplish-pink going on, and the dark blue going on.
Kinda gutted you aren’t just perpetually in neon green now.
Awsten: I mean yesterday we came out of the gate with it, now I came out to flex on ‘em with this.
Very surprised you didn’t just ship the Lexus over and have it behind the stage.
Awsten: It’s true, I’ll be like ‘by the way!’ and it comes up on a riser in front of Otto. THIS IS MY CAR!
Otto: That’s it!
Awsten: This song’s called ‘Turbulent’. Put all our production money into that.
Otto: Like, take it back now!
Awsten: SEND IT BACK! I wanna buy my daddy a car. He has a stupid ass car. It’s horrible. If he put bumper stickers on it, I’d be pissed.
Geoff: He wouldn’t accept it!
Awsten: Yes, he would! Because I’d be like, ‘Well it’s just going to sit out the front of your house until you get in’.
Would you put a bow around it?
Awsten: Yeah, yeah! Here’s yah key, boi.
Geoff: He would want it in that green colour, too.
Awsten: His favourite colour is green. I sent him a picture of my hair when I did it; he was like ‘fuuuck’ – well he didn’t say fuck because he doesn’t cuss much. I get it from my mama. My mom says bad words. Well, she says ‘frick’ a lot. When she gets mad, she’s like ‘DO U KNOW WHAT?!’
So the end of ‘Entertainment’ saw a new level of aggression from Waterparks, and ‘Turbulent’ carries that on. Especially with ‘that’ line.
Awsten: I’m not a bitter boy. It actually started with ‘I don’t love you’, and I was like, that’s corny. Then I was like, ‘I’d un-bang you if I could’. Then I was like, that’s too junior high. Then I was like, ‘I’d un-pork you’.
[Everyone groans]
Awsten: So, un-fuck is tight. One thing I tried to do with lyrics this time is I’ve wanted to try and word whatever it is that I’m feeling in the most creative way possible. It’s like in the most colourful, animated way. In a way that hasn’t been said yet, but at a certain point, it was like, since people weren’t fully grasping all the time what I was saying, in a way I was accidentally hiding behind metaphors. So this time I just wanted to be, ‘I would un-fuck you if could’. I couldn’t do a Genius video on this song! ‘Well, you had a guy who writes songs and lyrics about you, and you fucked it up’. I think there’s a lot of us in there. ’You had your very own Awsten Knight’. You know what I’m saying, hi, that was me acknowledging ya’ll.
How is it presenting that side?
Awsten: I didn’t want to be a whiny bitch boy. I wanted to go at it, it’s still a break-up thing, but I’m confident about it. Like, the not beta side of it. Be like, my dick is like Geoff’s leg. I’m tight. It’s making an ‘L’. I’ve got a couple of croquet balls, do you have croquet balls?
We do. And the name for the album..?
Awsten: I know it.
Are you gonna tell us?
Awsten: No.
Is it a ‘this year’ thing?
Awsten: It is a ‘this year’ thing. I’d shit my pants in the label offices just to upset them if they didn’t want to put it out this year.
So you took control?
Awsten: Using my shits.
Taken from the July issue of Upset – order your copy below.
