Waterparks Are Breaking Free of Genre

But in the time since, and across the three LPs the band has released post-Double Dare, genre lines have started to blur. On 2023’s INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, the group traded in their OG soundscape completely to dabble in scenes from hyperpop to trap to synth pop. “BRAINWASHED” goes so far left as to lead with acoustic guitars and soft vocal deliveries by Knight, a complete 180 from his bold brashness on earlier projects.

The group doesn’t feel constrained by genres, nor by barriers of music as a medium. Knight runs the streetwear brand, hii def, which fans flock to for graphic tees, beanies and zip-up hoodies. The trio loves making the occasional podcast appearance as well, recently speaking with Scott Lipps on his show Lipps Service.

This year, Waterparks have released a slew of new singles. Things kicked off in July with “RED GUITAR,” a bouncy track with layers of distorted vocals that cover the band’s stardom. In November, they put out “ANY MINUTE NOW,” which includes twinkling melodies and confrontational, existential lyrics.

These tracks, and their entire back catalogue, serve as the setlist for the Prowler tour. The band is taking every sound under the sun across North America through December. They’re joined by a slew of openers from various musical niches: Chloe Moriondo, Plain White T’s and Landon Barker to name a few, who match the chameleon sound their discography has developed in the 15 years since their start.

Waterparks sat down with PAPER to discuss tour essentials, creative sidequests and the future of the band’s sound.

You’ve developed a reputation for genre‑hopping.

I know I sound like a contrarian and I don’t mean to give a non-answer but genres to me are so pointless beyond low-hanging marketing fruit, especially in 2025. I wake up and make whatever style I feel like doing that day; some days that’s a sleek pop song and other times it’s an industrial, gothic, synth-heavy track. If I had to pick one sound to represent me I’d choose a stack of Beach Boys harmonies.

What’s the most ridiculously minor studio moment, a weird sound effect, an overheard joke, an impromptu snack break, that ended up shaping a track in a big way?

When I’m working on demos I only trust a few friends to hear them in such deconstructed shape and I was sending a video of one to my friend Joe- now when I’m showing someone a demo, I always have a ton of disclaimers and so I was sending him a video explaining what the song needed and what I was working on, but I wound up putting that audio from that video at the beginning of SNEAKING OUT OF HEAVEN. Same with ST*RFUCKER, actually.

Touring often becomes “routine” in its own way — is there a ritual you absolutely refuse to skip on the road?

I definitely make it a point to sit down on an off day and read a ton of the letters people write and give us at m&g. Everything we do is so fast-paced, something is always due, but it’s important to hear about how the music affects people and their day-to-day lives. Some of the notes are really heavy stuff, but some of it is really sweet and it’s really inspiring to see that Waterparks is alive outside of all our phones; it’s a real thing with real power.

What’s one memory from your early career, before you hit main‑stages, that still makes you laugh?

I mean, I used to be so shy I could barely look at a crowd. Early on we were playing at a bar and we were shocked all these dads seemed so into us and I realized during the last song it’s because a basketball game was being projected onto the wall behind us. That made things make a lot more sense because we were all confused why they kept cheering mid-song.

If you could re‑design one piece of your past imagery to reflect where you are now, what would you change?

I wish I trusted myself with more iconic, simplistic album art from the jump. Sometimes when ideas came to me too easily, I’d dismiss them because I didn’t have to work hard for them. I wouldn’t do too much to any cover but there are definitely some lines I’d re-word because I just thought of better ways to say things years after, my bad!

What band, artist or creator are you not working with yet but lowkey wish you were?

One of my favorite people of all time is Donald Glover, I’m such a fan. I’d work on anything with him. Kesha, Jack Antonoff, Danny Elfman, Halsey, Gerard Way, Brett Westfall, Daft Punk, JID, Bad Suns, Osgood Perkins, Ari Aster, Adela, Vince Staples. I like making stuff with my sweet angel Dillon Francis, we need a collab album.

If the band were a theme park ride, what kind of ride would it be?

I like haunted house. I used to work at one when I was in high school!I’ve always wanted to make either a waterparks themed haunted house OR a waterparks escape room with a bunch of different music video settings and all that. If someone from the label reads this, let’s make one or both for the album roll-out, god bless!

You’ve signed with multiple labels and shifted your sound, when you look back, what was the hardest “pivot” moment where you thought “we’re doing this differently now” — and how did it feel to experience?

Luckily, labels have never had input on sound or artistic direction- that’s always been a deal breaker, even before we’d ever signed our first deal. Spiritually it felt really good going from our first label to having budgets for the first time at Hopeless Records. Every time there’s a “first” it feels amazing; first bus, first billboard, first album in Target, first time on TRL, first time on the radio, those are the things that make us feel the best. I’ve got a long bucket list though, plenty for ‘firsts’ to go.

What hobby or obsession do you have that nobody would guess?

Let’s seeeee, I have a big rock collection! I have all the original holographic Pokemon, please don’t rob me. I collect all my hotel keys from everywhere we’ve stayed, I have stacks. I go down conspiracy rabbit holes all the time even thought Republicans have lowkey ruined that shit. I love glass stuff, I have a bunch of glass fruit I pick up at antique stores. I’m a sentimental hoarder though, for sure, I have the hardest time throwing things out.

If you could erase one misconception people have about the band what would it be?

I’ve stopped fighting genre labels as much when I saw The Killers and Panic At The Disco both get referred to as “pop-punk” by publications. It’s a lazy term people smack on musical acts with guitars and bleached hair. We’ve always been extremely genre-conscious and have gone out of our way to avoid the ‘pop-punk’ label because we truly do so much more than that and I feel like it’s such a limiting term, I knew that before we ever even had an album. There were always be bands we grew up with and actively love like blink-182, and our band has guitars and drums, so there will always be a piece of that somewhere in the bones of what we are, but I feel like it’s such a tiny piece of what we accomplish on every single album.

What’s the weirdest lyric or musical idea that started as a joke between you guys, but ended up making it onto an album?

There are a lot of lyrics where we’d be laughing as they’re pitched like, “she said, ‘I know your dying wish is to be baptized in my spit’” where I’m like “Man, we cannot say that hahahaha ..unless…. And they wind up being the standout lines. My earliest memory of something starting as a joke is back in the day I was trying to figure out how to get us sponsored by Chipotle and we had this very dance-inspired instrumental loop that we wanted to write a commercial over and pitch to the company, but that wound up being the chorus of a song called “I’m A Natural Blue” that caught us early label attention so.

Looking ahead, what’s the “wildest” non‑music project you’d secretly love to do — no limits.

I do have a fashion line! Season 4 drops are picking back up next month which I’ve been developing for the last 18 months and it’s almost all perfect. I used to want to have a show where I’d go to places with high levels of paranormal activity but after getting followed by negative energies for too long, I don’t think I wanna do that anymore. I’d love to produce and direct a short film, maybe even a full length too! I’ve gotten into writing screenplays over the last few years and it’s a really satisfying escape when I need a break from real life. Danny McBride hit me up, I love you so much.

When finishing one era and starting the next, what’s the internal mood like — relief, excitement, dread?

I don’t really “reset” because my brain doesn’t stop- I was up until 4AM last night because I kept thinking of better ways to word one of the new demo ideas. Like I’ve said before, I’m so competitive against myself and every time we make an album, I’m like, “holy shit, this is the best.” I know when we do an album cycle I put everything I have into it and so, while I wouldn’t call it dread, I know the mountain I’m going to be climbing- it’s more so “daunting” than anything else. No album will be released unless I think it’s better than the one that came before it, and this next one is close.

Photos by Nikki Cardiello
Produced by Cancel Creative