The Hitching Post

Waterparks. What an interesting name for a three-man band! This band consists of Awsten Knight as their lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Geoff Wigington as their backing vocalist and lead guitarist, and lastly, Otto Wood as their backing vocalist and very talented drummer.

Waterparks’ music style varies from pop punk and rock, alternative rock and pop, and emo. Waterparks said that they want to do different genres because not everyone loves listening to the same genre over and over again. Knight named the band Waterparks because, funny enough, all three of the guys hate water parks and it sounded fun.

This lively and silly band was formed in Houston, Texas in 2011, but the origins of Waterparks didn’t have Wood nor Wigington in the band at first. The story starts with Knight and Gage Matthieu in a different band named The Blue Poptarts. In 2011, there were four members, with Knight being the only original member remaining in the band now.

As the years went on, the band kept losing members, but soon after losing their lead guitarist, the band found Geoff Wigington. Also in search of a new drummer, Knight had no option but to ask Otto Wood. Too much drama happened between the past members, but if it wasn’t for that, then Waterparks would’ve never had Otto or Geoff.

Waterparks, as a three-man band, debuted with their song “Stupid For You” on August 31, 2016, to promote their debut album, Double Dare.

Double Dare is made up of thirteen tracks. In November 2015, before launching their debut song, Waterparks signed with Equal Visions Records, and stayed with them until May 2019. With Equal Visions, Waterparks released “Blonde” as their single in November 2017 for another album called Entertainment, which was released in January 2018 with ten tracks. Entertainment did so well that it made to Billboard 200 as #98 and there were positive comments from critics about it.

Right after leaving Equal Visions Records in May 2019, Waterparks signed with Hopeless Records, and throughout 2019, they released six singles, “Turbulent,” “Watch What Happens Next,” “Dream Boy,” “[Reboot],” “High Definition,” and “Easy To Hate.”

Between February and March 2019, Waterparks opened for One Ok Rock on their North American tour. By the time October 2019 came, Waterparks released Fandom, which is probably one of their most popular albums because it introduced many fans to the band. In December, their song “Turbulent” won a Rock Sound award for song of the year.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Waterparks performed at the O2 Academy in England on January 27th, 2020. This was the first time that Waterparks was going to record their performance and release a live album called, Fandom: Live in the UK. This is currently their most popular album.

Once again, Waterparks re-signed with a new label, 300 Entertainment, in September 2020. At the same, they released “Lowkey As Hell.” The next year, in February 2021, Waterparks announced that they’ll release their fourth studio album called Greatest Hits. With a new album coming out, Waterparks came out with another single, “Snow Globe.”.

In March 2021, they streamed an online concert called The Anti-Tour to connect with their fans during the pandemic. Throughout May 2021, Waterparks was able to put out their next four singles, which were “Numb,” “You Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You),” “Just Kidding,” and “Violet!”

For the first part of promotion for Greatest Hits, Waterparks was able to announce in-person shows and their A Night Out On Earth Tour that went from September to December 2021. They also announced that more tours were coming soon for summer of 2022.

In April 2022, Waterparks’ song “Telephone” was featured in the Netflix series, Heartstopper and that was very exciting for Waterparks’ fans.

In May 2022, Waterparks officially switched labels from 300 Entertainment to Fueled By Ramen, the same record label as bands like Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots, and Panic! At the Disco. During the same time, they released “Funeral Gray” which was teased in their pervious tour.

In July 2022 to March 2023, they put out their next four singles, “Self-Sabotage,” “F*ck About It” featuring Blackbear, “Real Super Dark,” and “Brainwashed.” On April 14, 2023, Waterparks released their fifth studio album called Intellectual Property. After the release of Intellectual Property, they came out with another single that was added in October 2023 called “Sneaking Out of Heaven.”

In April, they also announced their next tour to promote their newest album Intellectual Property, and how fitting that it was called The Property Tour. The tour lasted April to June 2023.