Interview - Talking Poptimism, Evil Frogs & 'Intellectual Property' WIth Awsten Knight of Waterparks

  • Interview - Talking Poptimism, Evil Frogs & 'Intellectual Property' WIth Awsten Knight of Waterparks
    POSTED
    By Brenton Harris

    Waterparks
    Waterparks

    Next month genre-busting Houston trio Waterparks will hit Australia for the feverishly anticipated Property tour alongside Canadian alt-pop icon Lights. 

    Comprised of friends Awsten Knight (vocals, guitar), Otto Wood (drums) and Geoff Wigington (guitar), Waterparks have a well-earned reputation for constantly flipping the script. 

    On their latest album Intellectual Property the group bring a sense of vibrancy back to rock, capturing the magnetic presence that has seen them achieve streaming numbers and pack venues worldwide with adoring fans. 

    Released on Fueled By Ramen, Intellectual Property offers something for everyone, with high-energy anthems including Real Super Dark, Funeral Grey, Fuck About It (feat. Blackbear) and the Good Charlotte collaboration Self-Sabotage, Intellectual Property distils the free-spirited creative essence of Waterparks into perfectly crafted songs that pulsate with an unashamed guitar-pop heart. 

    A few weeks out from their first trip down under since 2018, we caught up with Awsten Knight for an energetic discussion about Intellectual Property, creative freedom, the gradual death of elitism,  religious guilt, frogs, and what the band learned from working with Good Charlotte.

    Talking Poptimism, Frogs & Intellectual Property WIth Awsten Knight of Waterparks

    Maniacs: Awsten, you’re about to hit Australia for a tour in support of Intellectual Property. How do you feel the record has connected with your fanbase since its release?

     Awsten Knight: “It’s been good. It’s funny my instinct is always that the more personal and specific I get, the less relatable it’ll be, but I've found over the years, that that's never the case. I think the more specific I get somehow the more connective it is.”

    The record was inspired a lot by your relationship with religious guilt. Why do you think you were so focused on that concept at this stage of your life?

    “What I found was that after being by myself for nine months, instead of being on tour, I had way more time to sit with my thoughts. Through therapy, I just realized the root of so many of my issues or downfalls through relationships or my issues, so much of it was rooted in or connected to things that I picked up from religion earlier in my life. That was the catalyst for the concept of the album.”

    One of the ways that you decided to approach this topic was through the imagery of evil frogs. I had no idea that frogs were perceived to be so evil. Why are they thought to be so evil?

    “I didn't make it up. I can't justify it! I think it's because they were linked with plague and their most prominent presence is through plague and disease. They are thought to be bringers of disease. I don't know if it was all fake, or it happened or some guy just fucking hated frogs a long time ago, but if I was one of the co-writers of the bible, I probably would have made it eels, I don’t fucking like eels!”

     

    You are effectively three friends, hanging out, cooking up tunes, do you feel that your comfort with another gives you a sense of additional freedom to explore different genre spaces together?

    “I think we’re all such fans of every kind of music. We like everything, and we can make everything, we’re good enough, so I was like ‘okay let’s just make everything and if they fucking hate this side of us, whatever, don’t listen to that part, or if something fucking tanks, maybe just don’t play that song live, who cares?’ You know what I mean? We have these capabilities and everybody today is so much more open-minded than they used to be.” 

    “You used to get called names if you listened to pop or certain kinds of music. If I was listening to ‘soccer mum’ music in sixth grade, I’d get some shit from my friends I would skate with. If I said ‘I fucking love Cher or Ke$ha, this pop acts. It’s so different, because today, you’re weird if you were like ‘I don’t fucking like Carly Rae Jepsen’, you know what I mean?  Because everybody is so much more open to things. Whereas before, what you would consume, you’re sub-genre, kind of was your identity. It dictated who you were. Everybody’s ethos was so specific back then. And while that snob shit does still exist to an extent, it’s not the same.”.

    “We’re approaching an era now where people are going to be openly into country music. That used to be the thing that people said ‘I listen to everything but country’, that was the quote, but that’s about to change. It’s gonna start ironic and then it’s going to be on for real, just watch! “

    Waterparks got to work with some pretty cool people throughout your career. Notably, on this record, you worked with Blackbear, and you worked with Good Charlotte. Those are two quite different acts. Did you find it a rewarding experience to work with each of those artists?

    “Since 2020, when we were so isolated, I've wanted to make more connections, you know what I mean? And at a certain point, I’d seen what I could do on my own. So I got curious about what so and so could bring to the table, just picking people I was fans of, to write with or collaborate with. It was interesting. I feel like we didn’t do that before because we came up so DIY, we got used to doing everything ourselves, and we’d handle everything. It’s kind of hard to let that go because you feel like you need to micromanage to keep everything on the right track. I think that comes from fear, and I’m not trying to limit myself based on fear.” 

    “So I’ve started saying yes to collaborating, whether it's like writing or doing features, whatever because I don’t have as much pressure to ‘prove myself’, I still have pressure but it’s not in the same way as it used to be, where I would shut other people out and say ‘i’m doing this myself and it’s gonna be awesome, and you’re gonna see it’. I’m more open now.”

     

    You can learn so much from other artists too by collaborating. Did you learn anything from working with Good Charlotte for example?



    “There is no one way to make a song.  Benji and Joel explained to me how they write songs, and so I started doing it on Greatest Hits, and I love it and still do it today.  Sometimes I’ll have a chorus idea, or I’ll have a general idea, like a couple of lines, and an instrumental, kinda the bare bones of it, so I’ll just freestyle over that for twenty minutes and then listen back to what I create. Luckily I’m naturally pretty good at making up melodies on the spot, I can freestyle a lot of them, and I can do almost complete songs. So when you do that over and over, you get better at it. If you do it for twenty minutes, you’re able to get two minutes of incredible parts out of it, then the rest is just refining it and forming it. I picked that up from them for sure.”

    That’s a cool tip. I might have to try and apply that myself if I’m feeling stuck. 

    “Oh, you should! Sometimes you’ll say something fucking crazy, but it just works out well and it becomes a favourite line. The prime example from that cycle, I was in the living room just kinda swaying to the instrumental, and I was like ‘I’ve got some fruit by the foot if you want to come over’, and I was like ‘That’s incredible’. It’s that kind of thing where you just like, take the pressure off, record at home, you're not in a studio wasting anyone's time. That's the best way to write for me.”

    Outside of music what do you consider yourself a maniac for? What can’t you get enough of?

    “Okay, I'm gonna give you a few. I watch a horror movie almost every night. My therapist tells me I shouldn't do it. But I can't stop it! I can't stop designing clothes, I do it almost every day. It's one of my favourite things in the world to do. And Red and Yellow Twizzlers? I don't know if you got them over there, but if you have them, I've recently found a way to upgrade them. Put them in a microwave on a plate with the red and yellow at the same time for like eight seconds. They're like three times better warm. It's crazy.”

    If you could have any song play whenever you enter the room as if you're John fucking Cena, what song would you want that to be?

    "Does it have to be for me? Can I choose one for when Otto our drummer enters the room?"

    Sure, you can choose a song for Otto. 



    “I want to excuse myself from having to hear it, but every time that Otto enters the room I want everybody else to have to hear (starts singing Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through The Tulips). I want everyone else to have to hear Tiny Tim.”

    That’s such a random and creative answer to that question, I love it. Now as I mentioned earlier you’re about to his Australia with Lights, have you ever played shows with Lights before? Are you looking forward to that experience?

    “I'm looking forward to it. We've never played a show with her. But back when we were local, we put years of work in, flyering and passing demos out the front of shows, and I remember we passed out flyers outside of a Lights show one time.”

    Well, that hard work paid off, now you’re touring Australia and Lights is supporting you, that’s pretty cool. 

    “Yes! You all need to make sure you take the flyers from the people giving them to you out the front of shows because this is what can happen.”

    undefined

    Intellectual Property is out now on Fueled By Ramen

     

    Waterparks Property Australia Tour

    with special guest

    Lights



    Tuesday 3 October: Magnet House, Perth 18+

    Thursday 5 October: The Gov, Adelaide Lic AA

    Friday 6 October: Metro Theatre, Sydney Lic AA

    Saturday 7 October: Princess Theatre, Brisbane Lic AA

    Sunday 8 October: The Forum, Melbourne 18+

    For tickets and more information visit www.destroyalllines.com

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Waterparks
Waterparks

Next month genre-busting Houston trio Waterparks will hit Australia for the feverishly anticipated Property tour alongside Canadian alt-pop icon Lights. 

Comprised of friends Awsten Knight (vocals, guitar), Otto Wood (drums) and Geoff Wigington (guitar), Waterparks have a well-earned reputation for constantly flipping the script. 

On their latest album Intellectual Property the group bring a sense of vibrancy back to rock, capturing the magnetic presence that has seen them achieve streaming numbers and pack venues worldwide with adoring fans. 

Released on Fueled By Ramen, Intellectual Property offers something for everyone, with high-energy anthems including Real Super Dark, Funeral Grey, Fuck About It (feat. Blackbear) and the Good Charlotte collaboration Self-Sabotage, Intellectual Property distils the free-spirited creative essence of Waterparks into perfectly crafted songs that pulsate with an unashamed guitar-pop heart. 

A few weeks out from their first trip down under since 2018, we caught up with Awsten Knight for an energetic discussion about Intellectual Property, creative freedom, the gradual death of elitism,  religious guilt, frogs, and what the band learned from working with Good Charlotte.

Talking Poptimism, Frogs & Intellectual Property WIth Awsten Knight of Waterparks

Maniacs: Awsten, you’re about to hit Australia for a tour in support of Intellectual Property. How do you feel the record has connected with your fanbase since its release?

 Awsten Knight: “It’s been good. It’s funny my instinct is always that the more personal and specific I get, the less relatable it’ll be, but I've found over the years, that that's never the case. I think the more specific I get somehow the more connective it is.”

The record was inspired a lot by your relationship with religious guilt. Why do you think you were so focused on that concept at this stage of your life?

“What I found was that after being by myself for nine months, instead of being on tour, I had way more time to sit with my thoughts. Through therapy, I just realized the root of so many of my issues or downfalls through relationships or my issues, so much of it was rooted in or connected to things that I picked up from religion earlier in my life. That was the catalyst for the concept of the album.”

One of the ways that you decided to approach this topic was through the imagery of evil frogs. I had no idea that frogs were perceived to be so evil. Why are they thought to be so evil?

“I didn't make it up. I can't justify it! I think it's because they were linked with plague and their most prominent presence is through plague and disease. They are thought to be bringers of disease. I don't know if it was all fake, or it happened or some guy just fucking hated frogs a long time ago, but if I was one of the co-writers of the bible, I probably would have made it eels, I don’t fucking like eels!”

 

You are effectively three friends, hanging out, cooking up tunes, do you feel that your comfort with another gives you a sense of additional freedom to explore different genre spaces together?

“I think we’re all such fans of every kind of music. We like everything, and we can make everything, we’re good enough, so I was like ‘okay let’s just make everything and if they fucking hate this side of us, whatever, don’t listen to that part, or if something fucking tanks, maybe just don’t play that song live, who cares?’ You know what I mean? We have these capabilities and everybody today is so much more open-minded than they used to be.” 

“You used to get called names if you listened to pop or certain kinds of music. If I was listening to ‘soccer mum’ music in sixth grade, I’d get some shit from my friends I would skate with. If I said ‘I fucking love Cher or Ke$ha, this pop acts. It’s so different, because today, you’re weird if you were like ‘I don’t fucking like Carly Rae Jepsen’, you know what I mean?  Because everybody is so much more open to things. Whereas before, what you would consume, you’re sub-genre, kind of was your identity. It dictated who you were. Everybody’s ethos was so specific back then. And while that snob shit does still exist to an extent, it’s not the same.”.

“We’re approaching an era now where people are going to be openly into country music. That used to be the thing that people said ‘I listen to everything but country’, that was the quote, but that’s about to change. It’s gonna start ironic and then it’s going to be on for real, just watch! “

Waterparks got to work with some pretty cool people throughout your career. Notably, on this record, you worked with Blackbear, and you worked with Good Charlotte. Those are two quite different acts. Did you find it a rewarding experience to work with each of those artists?

“Since 2020, when we were so isolated, I've wanted to make more connections, you know what I mean? And at a certain point, I’d seen what I could do on my own. So I got curious about what so and so could bring to the table, just picking people I was fans of, to write with or collaborate with. It was interesting. I feel like we didn’t do that before because we came up so DIY, we got used to doing everything ourselves, and we’d handle everything. It’s kind of hard to let that go because you feel like you need to micromanage to keep everything on the right track. I think that comes from fear, and I’m not trying to limit myself based on fear.” 

“So I’ve started saying yes to collaborating, whether it's like writing or doing features, whatever because I don’t have as much pressure to ‘prove myself’, I still have pressure but it’s not in the same way as it used to be, where I would shut other people out and say ‘i’m doing this myself and it’s gonna be awesome, and you’re gonna see it’. I’m more open now.”

 

You can learn so much from other artists too by collaborating. Did you learn anything from working with Good Charlotte for example?



“There is no one way to make a song.  Benji and Joel explained to me how they write songs, and so I started doing it on Greatest Hits, and I love it and still do it today.  Sometimes I’ll have a chorus idea, or I’ll have a general idea, like a couple of lines, and an instrumental, kinda the bare bones of it, so I’ll just freestyle over that for twenty minutes and then listen back to what I create. Luckily I’m naturally pretty good at making up melodies on the spot, I can freestyle a lot of them, and I can do almost complete songs. So when you do that over and over, you get better at it. If you do it for twenty minutes, you’re able to get two minutes of incredible parts out of it, then the rest is just refining it and forming it. I picked that up from them for sure.”

That’s a cool tip. I might have to try and apply that myself if I’m feeling stuck. 

“Oh, you should! Sometimes you’ll say something fucking crazy, but it just works out well and it becomes a favourite line. The prime example from that cycle, I was in the living room just kinda swaying to the instrumental, and I was like ‘I’ve got some fruit by the foot if you want to come over’, and I was like ‘That’s incredible’. It’s that kind of thing where you just like, take the pressure off, record at home, you're not in a studio wasting anyone's time. That's the best way to write for me.”

Outside of music what do you consider yourself a maniac for? What can’t you get enough of?

“Okay, I'm gonna give you a few. I watch a horror movie almost every night. My therapist tells me I shouldn't do it. But I can't stop it! I can't stop designing clothes, I do it almost every day. It's one of my favourite things in the world to do. And Red and Yellow Twizzlers? I don't know if you got them over there, but if you have them, I've recently found a way to upgrade them. Put them in a microwave on a plate with the red and yellow at the same time for like eight seconds. They're like three times better warm. It's crazy.”

If you could have any song play whenever you enter the room as if you're John fucking Cena, what song would you want that to be?

"Does it have to be for me? Can I choose one for when Otto our drummer enters the room?"

Sure, you can choose a song for Otto. 



“I want to excuse myself from having to hear it, but every time that Otto enters the room I want everybody else to have to hear (starts singing Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through The Tulips). I want everyone else to have to hear Tiny Tim.”

That’s such a random and creative answer to that question, I love it. Now as I mentioned earlier you’re about to his Australia with Lights, have you ever played shows with Lights before? Are you looking forward to that experience?

“I'm looking forward to it. We've never played a show with her. But back when we were local, we put years of work in, flyering and passing demos out the front of shows, and I remember we passed out flyers outside of a Lights show one time.”

Well, that hard work paid off, now you’re touring Australia and Lights is supporting you, that’s pretty cool. 

“Yes! You all need to make sure you take the flyers from the people giving them to you out the front of shows because this is what can happen.”

undefined

Intellectual Property is out now on Fueled By Ramen

 

Waterparks Property Australia Tour

with special guest

Lights



Tuesday 3 October: Magnet House, Perth 18+

Thursday 5 October: The Gov, Adelaide Lic AA

Friday 6 October: Metro Theatre, Sydney Lic AA

Saturday 7 October: Princess Theatre, Brisbane Lic AA

Sunday 8 October: The Forum, Melbourne 18+

For tickets and more information visit www.destroyalllines.com

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