Waterparks is an American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band formed in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in 2011. The group currently consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Awsten Knight, backing vocalist and lead guitarist Geoff Wigington, and backing vocalist and drummer Otto Wood. The band has released three EPs, two of which were released independently while the third was released via

Equal Vision Equal Vision Records is an independent record label based in Albany, New York. It was founded in the early 1990s by Ray Cappo, the singer for the punk bands Youth of Today, Shelter, and Better Than a Thousand. Initially, the label existed so ...

. The band released their debut studio album, '' Double Dare'', on November 4, 2016, via Equal Vision, then later their second studio album ''

Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

'' under the same label on January 26, 2018. On May 23, 2019, the band announced that they had left Equal Vision and signed on with Hopeless. Their third studio album, entitled ''

Fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...

'', was released on October 11, 2019. The band then signed with

300 Entertainment Theory Entertainment LLC, doing business as 300 Entertainment, is an American record label founded by Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles, Todd Moscowitz, and Roger Gold. The label's roster includes acts across multiple genres such as hip hop, rock, pop, ele ...

and their fourth studio album, ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'', was released on May 21, 2021. The band signed with Fueled by Ramen in 2022, and their fifth studio album, ''

Intellectual Property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

'', was released in April 2023. The band's music has mostly been described as

pop-punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

, and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

. Their newer releases have been described as

hyperpop Hyperpop (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on p ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

History

2011–2015: Formation and EPs

The band was formed in 2011 by Awsten Knight and Gage Matthieu, who met while playing in different bands including The Blue Poptarts. The band was later joined by drummer Owen Marvin, guitarist Tommy Denley, and briefly, keyboardist Tyler Comer. This lineup soon dissipated before the band's first release. Their first EP, ''Airplane Conversations'', was released independently on April 3, 2012, and was the only release with Matthieu and Marvin before they both left the band in 2012. Guitarist Geoff Wigington and drummer Otto Wood joined the band that same year following the prior departures. The band's first show was on August 17, 2012 at

Warehouse Live The Warehouse Live is a large club/small theater-sized live entertainment venue located in East Downtown (EADO), Houston, Texas. alongside Invent, Animate, DWHB, and Life as Lions. The band continued performing at local venues throughout Texas over the following years. The band performed as a supporting act for pop musician

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

, opening his Houston After Party Tour, tour date on May 11, 2013. Their second EP, ''Black Light'', was released on June 5, 2014. The band also performed on the Houston dates of the Warped Tour in 2013 and 2015. On November 6, 2015, the band signed with label Equal Vision Records. After searching for producers, the band chose twins Benji Madden and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte as their managers. On January 15, 2016, the group released an EP titled ''Cluster'', co-produced by Benji Madden. Mikey Way, known as the bassist of My Chemical Romance, played bass for the EP. On November 19, 2015, the band performed with Good Charlotte during the group's comeback performance at Troubadour (West Hollywood, California), The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.

2016–2018: ''Double Dare'' and ''Entertainment''

The group performed on the Black Cat Tour supporting Never Shout Never in 2016, and on every date of the 2016 Warped Tour. The band then embarked on the End The Madness Tour supporting Sleeping with Sirens in late 2016. The group released a single titled "Stupid For You" on August 31, 2016 in promotion of its debut album, '' Double Dare.'' They later released two additional singles, "Hawaii (Stay Awake)", and "Royal", before the album's release on November 4, 2016. In 2016, the band performed a cover of Hitchin' a Ride (Green Day song), Hitchin' a Ride by Green Day and was featured on a 30th anniversary covers album for Green Day titled, ''Green Day: American Superhits!.'' "Gloom Boys" was made into the album's fourth and final single in 2017. In March 2017, the group joined fellow bands SWMRS and The Wrecks as supporting acts on All Time Low's tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Later, during the Summer of 2017, the groups reunited for All Time Low's Young Renegades Tour, this time touring the United States. Night Riots performed in place of SWMRS on the tour's Dallas and Houston dates. On October 20, 2017, the band announced their second studio album, ''

'', with a release date of January 26, 2018. Alongside ''Entertainment'''s announcement, the band released the album's first single, "Blonde". On December 13, 2017, the band released the second single from the album, titled "Lucky People". On January 17, 2018, Waterparks released the third and final single from ''Entertainment'', titled "Not Warriors". The album was released on January 26, 2018 via Equal Vision. ''Entertainment'' peaked at No. 98 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart on February 10, 2018.

2019–2021: ''Fandom'' and ''Greatest Hits''

In 2019, the band performed a cover of "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica and was featured on Rock Sound's covers album ''Worship And Tributes: Volume II''. On May 23, 2019, the band released "Turbulent", their first single off of their at the time, third album. Along with the album's title it was also announced that the band had signed to Hopeless Records. On August 12, 2019, the band released the second single, "Watch What Happens Next", along with a music video and the announcement of the album to be released on October 11, 2019. On August 16, 2019, the band released their third single, "Dream Boy", along with a music video. On September 12, 2019, the fourth single, "[Reboot]" was released. On September 25, 2019, they released their fifth single for the album, "High Definition", along with a music video. The band's third studio album ''

'' was released on October 11, 2019. On October 17, 2019, "Easy to Hate" was released as the sixth single, along with a music video. On January 22, 2020, frontman Awsten Knight posted on Twitter that if a certain tweet was retweeted 20,000 times, that he would release a new Waterparks album that day. This goal was achieved within hours, subsequently forcing Knight to release a SoundCloud collection titled ''1 (A Collection of Unreleased Home Demos, This is Not G, or Even an Album, Shut Up Enjoy)'', a demo album that consists of unreleased Waterparks demos, including songs Knight has teased on his Instagram some of which were "Lemonade", "Noise", and "Glitter Times". He states in the song "Life Is Puke (20,000)" that he never thought the tweet would actually make it to that many retweets and that "everyone is so mad at me." When the band performed at the O2 Academy Birmingham, O2 Academy in Birmingham, England during the ''Fandom'' tour on January 27, 2020, they announced that the performance would be taped and released as a live album, with a companion concert film, that summer. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release until the fall, and ''Fandom: Live in the UK'' was officially released on November 27, 2020, formally marking the end of the ''Fandom'' era. On September 24, 2020, the band officially released a song entitled "Lowkey As Hell". This comes after Knight leaked the song the previous week on a live stream whilst cutting off his ''Fandom''-era green hair himself. Following the song's official release, record label

announced that they had signed the band. On February 25, 2021, the band announced their fourth studio album ''

'', along with the release of a new single titled "Snow Globe". The album was released on May 21, 2021. The next single, titled "Numb" was released on March 29, 2021, but was debuted on March 27 during the Anti Tour Performance. The fourth single, "You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You)", was released on April 28, 2021, sharing its title with an autobiography written by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Awsten Knight. The fifth single, "Just Kidding", was released on May 12, 2021. The sixth single, "Violet!", was released on May 19, 2021. A music video was released for the song on May 26, 2021.

2022–present: ''Intellectual Property'' and standalone singles

On January 27, 2022, the band posted teasers for their upcoming fifth studio album. On April 7, 2022, the first single, "Funeral Grey" was announced, and was then subsequently released on May 13 as their first release under Fueled by Ramen. In 2022, the band's song "Telephone," from their 2019 album ''

'', was featured in episode three of the British TV series ''Heartstopper (TV series), Heartstopper.'' On July 5, 2022, the band announced the second single, "Self-Sabotage" to be released on July 7. The band also released a teaser of a new song titled "Brainwashed" that the band had been performing on tour. On August 8, 2022, the band released a music video for "Self-Sabotage". On August 30, 2022, the band debuted a new song live titled "Real Super Dark" from the upcoming album. On October 14, 2022, the band released the single "Fuck About It", featuring Blackbear (musician), Blackbear. On November 23, 2022, the band announced the title of their fifth studio album, ''Intellectual Property''. On December 1, 2022, the band released a music video for "Fuck About It". On January 26, 2023, the band released the album's fourth single, "Real Super Dark". The band also confirmed the release date for the album to be April 14, 2023. On March 10, 2023, the band released the album's fifth single, "Brainwashed". On October 11, 2023, the band released the single "Sneaking Out of Heaven", treated as part of ''Intellectual Property'' on streaming services. An accompanying music video was released on October 12, 2023. On May 26, 2024, the band released the single, "Soulsucker", from their upcoming sixth studio album, ''Intellectual Property 2: Lost in the Property'' which will be released independently. A music video for the song was released two days later. On June 28, 2024, the band released "FAI2", featuring Zeph, a re-imagined version of Fuck About It (2023). On August 2, 2024, the band released a statement on their Instagram saying the album had been canceled. On August 4, 2024, the band released one more single from the album, titled "Guilt (Interlude)". On August 16, 2024, the band released "GH2024", a medley of songs from their 2021 album, ''

''. On October 15, 2024, the band released a second demo collection titled ''2 (A Collection of Unreleased Home Demos, This is Not J, or Even an Album, Shut Up Enjoy)'', consisting of the tracks "Call Me Beep Me - Demo" and "Talking to Myself - Demo." The band was featured on Michael Clifford (musician), Michael Clifford's single, "Give Me A Break!", which was released on May 23, 2025.

Musical style and influences

Waterparks' musical style has been mainly described as

, alternative pop, electronic rock, emo, Pop punk, neon pop, and power pop. It also incorporates elements of Punk rock, punk, rap, bubblegum pop, Electronic music, electronic, Indie rock, indie, jazz, drum and bass, Industrial music, industrial, grunge, post-hardcore, dark pop, Orchestral pop, orchestral, emo rap, Arena rock, stadium rock, and Lo-fi music, lo-fi genres. The band is said to derive their unique sound through the addition of Auto-Tune, vocal modulation, layered synthesizers, and fast vocals to the traditional rock sound. Frontman Awsten has stated that he considers the group to be a rock band that has garnered significant inspiration from pop music. Since the departure of former bassist Gage Matthieu, the band has remained without a bass player in its official lineup, instead performing with a rotation of fill-in bass players or using pre-recorded backing tracks in live appearances. They have cited Sum 41, Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Kesha, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, No Doubt, Kanye West, the Beach Boys, Donald Glover, Tyler, the Creator, Taylor Swift, Chance the Rapper, Linkin Park, Paramore, and Saves the Day as musical influences.

Band members

Current members * Awsten Knight – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, programming (2011–present), lead guitar (2012) * Geoff Wigington – lead guitar, backing vocals (2012–present) * Otto Wood – drums, backing vocals (2012–present) Former members * Gage Matthieu – bass (2011–2012) * Owen Marvin – drums (2011–2012) *Tommy Denley – lead guitar (2011) *Tyler Comer – keyboards (2011) Touring and session members * Mikey Way – bass (2016–2018)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums *'' Double Dare'' (2016) *''

'' (2018) *''

'' (2019) *''

'' (2021) *''

'' (2023)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Pop punk groups from Texas Rock music groups from Texas Musical trios from Texas Musical groups from Houston Musical groups established in 2011 Equal Vision Records artists Hopeless Records artists Fueled by Ramen artists 2011 establishments in Texas 300 Entertainment artists