waterparks // kerrang january 2018 #1705
(full article text under the cut)
LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST
The past couple of years have been such a whirlwind for Waterparks that the trio have barely had time to breathe. Beyond all the bluster and bravado, it's taken a private toll on Awsten Knight. On the eve of new album Entertainment, though, the frontman is ready to go again…
Words: Jennyfer J. Walker // Photos: Andrew Upovsky
A few years ago, Awsten Knight dropped out of college to focus on his band, Waterparks. To gain the funds to do so, he spent his time
teaching guitar and babysitting. Today, the Texas-based trio—completed by guitarist Geoff Wigington and drummer Otto Wood—are one of the most in-demand young bands on the planet.
The name Waterparks first became synonymous with more than just being a fun place to hang out in your swimming trunks in 2016, with the release of their debut album, Double Dare. And the three-piece have only gotten bigger since. After forming in 2011, they picked up Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden as managers (and Benji as a producer), toured the world with All Time Low, sold out Camden's Underworld (4,846 miles from their hometown) in under an hour, and recorded second album Entertainment, which is out next week.
There have been personal moments that made Awsten realise he and his band have 'made it', too, like when he was awarded Tweeter Of The Year in the Kerrang! Readers' Poll ("That's literally just all the dumb shit I said on Twitter," he says, baffled as to why anyone would care about his caps-lock musings). Then there was the time a Japanese fan flew to a U.S. show, and turned up to meet Awsten looking exactly like Awsten…
"He was dressed just like me!" the singer says in more disbelief. "He dyed his hair blue and he had my necklace [the rainbow foot one]. He was straight-up me! And I was like, 'Oh my God, some guy in fucking
Japan, who doesn't even know my language, likes my shit that much that he's dressed up like me… that's fucking awesome.'"
Ask Awsten to reflect on his band's success, to properly look back and take it all in, and he'll get uncomfortable.
"I don't really look back at stuff as much as I should…" he admits. "I feel like if I stop to think about any of that too hard, it would freak me out. So I think the best thing, at least for now, is to keep my head down and keep working as fast as I can and as hard as I can to keep it going."
And how do you feel when you're forced to reflect?
Before replying, he thinks for a second and exhales, making his lips vibrate.
"It kinda doesn't feel like it happened…When we got back from Japan I was just tired and laying there, and a week later I talked about it in an interview, and they were like, 'You just got back from Japan with All Time Low,' and I was like, 'Oh yeah! We did do that, huh?'" It doesn't feel…"—he thumbs through the pages of his brain dictionary, looking for the right words—"…it doesn't feel real."
The only time Awsten really nods to his achievements is within the blue walls of his childhood bedroom, where he's rested his head for the past 20 years, and is currently doing so while the band take their first proper break in two years. In between shelves crammed with DVDs, books ("because reading's tight") and his bed there's a nightstand. On the top sit a pack of Twizzlers and a pot of vitamins, and in the cubby hole below rests a stack of six or seven magazines, all of which have Awsten's face on the cover. He'll only take them out to properly look at when new ones arrive in the mail- there have been two this week - but he likes having them there, when he's in the room. "Being able to see those things is small," he says. "But it's enough to be like, 'Okay, cool.'"
[Image of the band walking around with the caption, "The gangs of New York aren't quite what they used to be."]
Awsten's aware that few bands take off like Waterparks have. It's a fact people remind him about often, including his friends and mentors Benji and Joel.
"They tell us, 'Your band is extremely special,' and I'll be like, 'Thank you so much!' I'm thankful to hear it…'"
The Maddens' elder brother Josh, meanwhile, has taught the frontman that it's important to take time for yourself in order to survive in any successful band. "Josh told me, There's Waterparks Awsten and there's Awsten Awsten. They're both the same guy, but you need to make sure both of them have the same love and care. It's tough to do…"
He lets out a brief laugh at what he's about to say. It's something he often does.
"Girls have accused me of being a workaholic before. It's still hard for me to answer when people ask, 'What do you do when you're not doing music?' I don't have that much to say…Which isn't a good sign of progress on that front, because it's what I'm doing all the time. If it's not for Waterparks, I'm working on music for somebody."
He has, though, taken steps to care for poor neglected Awsten Awsten while he's been off tour. He's learned the importance of getting the recommended eight hours sleep and not staying up all night working on band stuff. He's started going to therapy. And he's training at a small boxing gym in downtown Houston.
"It's definitely a dumb-guy chemical thing, but Otto and I will go through phases where we're like, 'I just wanna fucking fight someone!' Pretty much the entire last tour I was in that mode. I thought, 'I better actually prepare and be good at this shit if it does happen!'" Now, one of the goals on his bucket list for 2018 is to win a boxing match.
Such drive means the frontman's never struggled to keep his eyes on the prize when it comes to Waterparks. As soon as our morning chat ends, Awsten says he'll start working on more music.
His self-assuredness and stronger-than-graphene vision for the band mean he's never had to fight to stay true to himself, either. He's more likely to walk into the record label and tell them what's what.
"Dude, honestly, I'm so fucking good at marketing!" he says, not-at-all modestly. "I've got a vision for us, and I know what we are. I'm aware what works and what doesn't. I'm a control freak, which I guess is a thing I should work on, but it's definitely kept things very true to who we are."
New album Entertainment is saturated with that same confidence, and the frontman says he feels no pressure whatsoever putting it out.
"When it was getting made, nobody knew [since it was done in secret], so they couldn't get hyped or anything. Now, if anybody wants to have expectations, it's already done. There's nothing I can do."
Doesn't a little part of you worry about whether people will like it?
"Not really," he says, shrugging his shoulders, "because I know it's good. Not to be cocky about it…I just think it's a very good album. There were songs I thought would make the record that didn't, which means everything on there is the best of the best."
The most confident man in rock does have one Kryptonite, though: his feelings. That became apparent three weeks before the release of Entertainment, when Awsten tweeted a picture of two pages from a spiral-bound notebook. On those pages was a handwritten letter, in his trademark caps, explaining that he'd gone off Waterparks' second record. The words were fairly cryptic, stating, "the last couple months have [been] weird, difficult, and everything else that sits in the realm of 'bad'. I lost a lot mentally and physically. Certain things happened and to be overly honest with you, Entertainment was ruined for me. I stopped listening to it, and felt weird to hype it in interviews. However, the worst part was the pure dread I felt thinking, 'Fuck. I still have to tour on this and sing these words every night.'"
Yet fans knew the note related to Awsten's break-up with his TV actress girlfriend, Ciara Hanna, the subject of much of the album's lyrics.
"I was glorifying people and things that I really don't fucking like and that really sucked," he says.
How did you feel about the future when those songs were ruined for you?
"Very fucking bleak!" he says. "I was like, 'Fuck, I'm ready to make another album, let's do that instead!'"
Would you have scrapped Entertainment if that was an option?
"There was a time that I would have said yes. But it's a piece of fucking art, and it would be a shame to let certain people or things ruin that."
In order to feel excited about the album again, Awsten had to change the meanings of the songs in his mind.
"My love songs are not about anyone now," he says. "They're just about love. And the dark places I was put in because of certain people or events? Those are stories. Every album is going to be a snapshot of where I was at that time."
Which explains why he thanks Ciara "for filling me with too many feelings" in the CD's thank you notes.
Quiz Awsten about which songs on the album are the most personal to him, and he'll say "the ones that make me go, 'Agh fuck!'" are Lucky People, Rare, TANTRUM, Crybaby and We Need To Talk.
"I try to keep my shit together around other people," he says when asked if there were any breakdowns in the vocal booth, "but the day Crybaby was made, that was one of the worst days of my life…" What was happening that day?
"I don't wanna talk about that, if that's okay," Awsten says meekly. "I feel like I give a lot to people, and some of the stuff that is written about on this album, I haven't told anybody about, 'cause it's just very… low, dark, personal shit. There are certain things that people don't need to know."
One song he is comfortable delving deeper into is diss track TANTRUM. An album highlight, it sees Awsten rant his frustrations away.
"TANTRUM's blunt as fuck!" he offers. "A lot of the stuff's metaphorical, but that one's like, This married guy tried to fuck my girlfriend and I'm gonna kill him when I see him!' I was like, 'I'll put his name in it, fuck it! I don't care."
We point out that when the guy in the song hears it, Awsten might just get that boxing match he's after…
"I just might, but I'm prepared," he says seriously.
As we wrap up our interview, Awsten's pouring his second coffee of the day, ready to resume being a workaholic. We ask how he's feeling after what's been a frankly terrible couple of months, and at the start of what's set to be the year of his career.
"I mean…" he pauses. "If someone has empathy and is able to feel certain things, like a functioning emotional brain- or in my case, maybe it's more emotional than it should be, I don't know yet—everyone is a work in progress."
He lets out a particularly-Texan "GOD DAMN!" and laughs at how corny he sounds.
"But everybody is literally just doing their best. Everyone is working on it. I'm working on it…"
ENTERTAINMENT IS AVAILABLE VIA EASY LIFE RECORDS ON JANUARY 26. WATERPARKS TOUR THE UK IN MARCH — SEE THE GIG GUIDE
IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
THE MADDENS AREN'T JUST MANAGERS FOR WATERPARKS. AS AWSTEN REVEALS, THE TWINS ARE MORE LIKE FAMILY
"The Madden Brothers are the fuckin' best! They've taught me a lot. I knew about the idea of having role models and shit, had them
and I've definitely h before, but actually seeing them at work, and the way they accomplish things and get shit done [is very cool].
"I wouldn't be who I am right now without them. What's cool is, I'd never in a billion years be like, "You guys are like me…'but we often have conversations about what we want to to accomplish. Last night I talked to Benji, and he said, 'Dude, everything that Joel and I did, see in you.' And I was just like, 'Fuuuuuuck!
"They're more like friends than mentors to me now. Half the shit we talk about is not even band related. We talk about life, how to be different and things I want to be involved in…I want to accomplish a lot. Some of it is musical and some isn't, but I want them to be my team for all of it."
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Doris Troy
R&B Singer Doris Troy was born Doris Elaine Higginsen in Bronx, New York, on January 6, 1937. Both a singer and a songwriter, her biggest hit, “Just One Look,” was released in 1963 and peaked at no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Troy’s father was a Barbadian Pentecostal minister, and she began singing in the church choir. Her parents disapproved of R&B and rock ‘n’roll music and forbade their four children to listen to it. Despite their ban on that music, she became an usherette at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where she heard and met many of the performers including James Brown, who was credited with “discovering” her.
In 1957, Troy formed a three-girl group named the Halos and began writing songs. A publisher paid her $100 for her song “How About That,” which became a hit for Dee Clark. To earn a steady income, Troy began singing backup and teamed with Cissy Houston and her cousins Dionne and Dee Dee Warrick for Atlantic Records in 1963. Calling themselves the Sweet Inspirations, they sang backup for The Drifters, Solomon Burke, and other established artists.
After writing “Just One Look” with Gregory Carroll in 1963, the couple took the demo to Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records who immediately signed them. The record was released under the name Doris Troy, as Higginsen changed her name to Troy after the legendary heroine, Helen of Troy. “Just One Look” was a smash success and was later recorded by The Hollies and Linda Ronstadt. Unfortunately, Doris Troy was never able to match her first hit.
In 1964, Troy visited London and became enamored with the British music scene. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1969 and signed with Apple Records, owned by the Beatles. Throughout the 1970s, she collaborated with British artists and developed a loyal following. She once did a live show backed on piano by Elton John, who at the time was not well-known. Troy sang backup on George Harrison’s hit, “My Sweet Lord,” Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” and Billy Preston’s album That’s the Way God Planned It. Returning to the U.S. in 1974, she shared the stage with Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and other noted artists.
Perhaps her most memorable stage performance was in Mama, I Want to Sing, a musical she wrote along with her younger sister, Vy Higginsen, and her husband, Ken Wydro. Based on Troy’s life, the musical featured Troy playing her mother, Geraldine. When it opened at the Heckschers Theatre in Spanish Harlem on March 23, 1983, it ran for 1,500 performances before going on a national and international tour. From 1986 to 1999 the musical toured Germany, Italy and Japan, and was performed at the West End Theatre in the UK. The musical was made into a motion picture titled Mama, I Want to Sing starring Ciara, Patti LaBelle, and Hill Harper and released on DVD in 2012.
Respiratory problems forced Troy to move from New York to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the dry desert climate. She continued to perform in supper clubs and casinos. Doris Troy died of emphysema on February 16, 2004, at the age of 67 in Las Vegas.
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tuesday again 8/8/2023
theoretically seeing two apartments this afternoon so i am taking the date as good luck
listening
the asteroids galaxy tour's the sun ain’t shinin no more. this was apparently a very famous iPod commercial song? wasn't paying attention to general popular culture when the original iPods were coming out. i would attempt to classify this as somewhere between the doors and smash mouth. spotify.
bitches by tove lo (feat charli xcx, icona pop, elliphant, ALMA). is this a good song? eh. is it fun to scream-sing while navigating through packs of lifted pickups whose hoods are higher than the roof of my moderately-sized hatchback? yes. spotify
how'd i find these? really leaning hard on spotify autogenerated dance playlists these days.
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reading
normal pair of books to read at the same time
diana biller's hotel of secrets was an odd one. you CANNOT take away from this section "oh tumblr user girlfriendsofthegalaxy hates consent" okay? i don't piss on the poor either. i had to really think about if i thought the sex scenes were jarringly modern and concluded no, they simply challenged my preconceptions of what a single mid-thirties woman in late 1800s vienna might get up to in a time when the best available methods of birth control were french letters. however, the lengthy discussion around consent and boundaries read as somewhat performative and out of place? or like a slightly different tone? than the rest of the actual sex scenes.
in many ways the romance was the b-plot to the hotel's inner workings and the international intrigue, which was fun. i enjoyed the a-plot enough to put a hold on biller's next romance, about a young american window in gilded age nyc. we'll see how that all shakes out!
i did not enjoy and did not finish chris miller's hefty pop history book on the history of microchip production and manufacture. got about a third of the way through. i think i most disliked his approach-- the technical style is very polished, one sentence flows into the next quite well, although we have very different opinions about the meaning of "intuitive" -- but we sit in very different seats watching the american political thunderdome. the way he presents his ideas is a bit jarring, bc it is an almost full-throated and uncritical endorsement of america's cold war diplomatic policies. i think many people would agree with me when i say those policies were not very good.
both of these have been on my holds list for months and i could not tell you the inciting incidents that made me place a hold.
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watching
in my best friend's endless search for Things to Have on in the Background That Are Semi Child Friendly (or THBTASCF), i have viewed National Treasure (2004, dir. Turteltaub), Rush Hour (1998, dir. Ratner) and Rush Hour 2 (2001, dir. Ratner).
i cannot say i truly enjoyed any of these choices or that they have aged particularly well. national treasure has such an ominous looming of the whedonesque Well That Happened!!! that continues to infect movies.
also rewatched The Mummy (1999, dir. Sommers) bc i wanted a screenshot of the subtitles [YEEHAWING, GUNSHOTS] which is my Texas Adventure(TM) tag, but the subtitles on my pirate movie platform of choice are not that sophisticated. you'll simply have to take my word for it bc my dvd box set is still in storage.
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playing
mainlining g/enshin impact. did not realize a whole nother goddamn country is being released next week. their every-six-weeks major content update schedule is batshit insane and i do not want to really think about the level of crunch happening over there.
the regions we have so far are legally-not-switzerland, not-china, not-japan, not-india, and we are going to not-france next. it has a real jules verne/twenty thousand leagues under the sea/steampunk vibe about it. look at this whimsical little deep-sea diver boy!
i have not enjoyed this past region (sumeru, legally-not-india) as much as the others. this may be due to the hiccup of seasonal depression i am experiencing. it may be bc this is the most Contiguous Landmass segment of the map and it's less segmented into individual regions than the other countries. it may be bc i have not spent quite as much time running around here as i have liyue (legally-not-china) which does feel genuinely comforting to run around. it may be bc the last time i played this game i still worked in the games industry and i still have residual brain weirdness about playing games.
i do appreciate their dedication to Big Fuckoff Trees tho.
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making
fallow weeks. things are simply not percolating in time for yeehawgust, due to the agonies, and that's fine, i'm telling myself through gritted teeth.
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