Because of course the Waterparks frontman has…
Sweaty palms. Sleepless nights. The whirlwind of hopes and doubts over what’s next. Exam results are looming and for many students, the whole summer (indeed, even the last five to seven years) has been building towards the outcome of the next few days and weeks.
As millions prepare to celebrate, commiserate and simply move on towards life outside of full-time education, we thought we’d throw a little perspective on proceedings by talking to rockstars about their exam experiences and whether they really made any difference in later life. Up first: Waterparks' Awsten Knight.
In high school I was really loud and obnoxious (shocking, I know) and it was fun. The assistant principal had a drawer full of my things they’d confiscated throughout the year and at the end I finally so much stuff back. I wish I could remember everything but I know there was definitely at least a train whistle, 2 harmonicas, a Dr Seuss hat, a recorder, and 2 du-rags.
Later, at college I hated it so much. I only cared about Waterparks at that point, so I stayed quiet and kept coming to get work done so I could leave. I did work hard, though, and mostly got As and Bs. I remember feeling fine about everything, and crushing it unless it was math. With math [it was like] I turned into a f*cking infant and mostly just peed on myself. Still, I did well! That’s the thing; if I’m going to attempt something I’m going to bust my a*s to do great. At the same time, that’s the reason why I had to quit. It started to take too much of my time and attention so I had to drop it.
I regret nothing from my school-days except letting a girl force me to eat mashed potatoes. A fuckin’ gross-ass, room-temperature potato smoothie! Seriously though, my grades didn’t affect my life in the slightest. I just write songs and tour. Knowing algebra helps with that in [precisely] zero ways, because we have an accountant. I can list all the presidents in order though!
Is it worth getting stressed out over grades? NOT. AT. ALL. I don’t think it matters in the least unless you’re straight-up failing. You shouldn’t do that because, yikes, you’re gonna’ have to stay at school even longer!
My advice to kids getting their grades is that everyone should just start a band – then none of your grades count! That and ‘SKATE FAST! EAT ASS! KISS YOUR PARENTS!’
So there you have it. Wisdom duly imparted. We hope it helped. If not, sorry about that – we tried.
Words: Sam Law
Here, enjoy this Waterparks video while you cry / celebrate / let the numbness of not caring wash over you in glorious waves:
