Laws of attraction, it turns out, play a massive role in the world of rock’s most charismatic young star. Having dashed home from getting his hair “freshly green, trimmed up a bit and good to go” to chat to Kerrang! ahead of the photoshoot that will accompany this piece, Awsten is trying to make sense of his whirlwind life thus far. His breakneck Texan-accented patter is more jittery than usual, thanks to a combination of no food and too much coffee, but as he settles into the flow of our hour-and-a-half-long conversation, the frontman pauses for reflection over his more transformative moments. As a young teen, for example, he remembers how he somehow sensed that music would be where he found his calling – long before Waterparks existed, even.
“There was never an ‘A-ha!’ moment where it clicked,” he shrugs. “But I’ve always hoped for it, and I think just naturally knowing that I was going to do music really helped me.”
Still, it wasn’t a walk in the (water)park to get here. Though Awsten began learning about the marketing and business side of being in bands from the age of 13 (“I was trying to promote the most garbage shit ever!”), he also quickly realised that he was going to have to do a hell of a lot of work himself if his burgeoning career was going to become reality. And so he taught himself Photoshop to create flyers, and drew up maps of the local venues that he needed to go to in order to hand them out. Whenever he was home from school (and not out pestering Houston’s local gig-goers), he figured out how to write songs, edit videos, and design merch.
“I don’t remember where I picked up this ideology, but I have the mentality of, ‘If someone else is working harder than me, then they deserve it more,’” Awsten explains. “And back when you’re a local band, you have to learn to do everything. This is the case even if you become the biggest artist in the world; at the end of the day, nobody cares as much as you do for your project.”
It’s a lesson he learned first-hand once Waterparks became a serious proposition. When recording their debut EP, 2012’s Airplane Conversations, Awsten, Geoff and Otto would be left for hours in the middle of nowhere, waiting for studio staff to turn up, or be held up for days as gig flyers took their sweet time to arrive from the promoters. A proactive approach, then, became key.
“I was like, ‘Dude, they don’t give a shit, and if I keep relying on these people then it’s just not gonna work out,’” Awsten recalls. “I think it’s helped, because it all comes from the same place, and I think that made it more authentic.”