Waterparks | Interview with Lyndsey Parker (LPTV)

Hi, I'm Lindsey Parker for LP TV here at Liquor Pizza Records with Water Parks. We are here with Austin, Otto, and Geoff. And yes, thank you for Thank you for helping me out like that. Um and you have a new album actually is out today. It's called Jinx. We have a lot of people lined up outside cuz after this interview you're going to do a signing.

believe you.

No, I would go watch. Trust me. Not only did I notice there were a lot of people in line, there were a lot of people with pink hair.

Good.

And um I've already warned these two natural natural here that the conversation will not entirely be about hair dye, but you know, you walk I saw them

naturally pink. They just

It's all natural, [laughter] right?

They just resent me.

I woke up like this. Only your Only your hairdresser knows for sure. Uh but when I drove up and saw all the I saw quite a few pink-haired ladies and and a couple pink-haired boys and I was like, "It's my people."

Yeah.

you walked in and I I buy with anyone. I'm like, "It's my people."

[laughter]

And we'll take that conversation offline. I don't know how many people want to know what dye you use or whatever.

I'm not telling. Whoever pays me the most money.

to keep Oh, do you have an endorsement?

Not yet. With Manic Panic you should.

Not this cycle.

[laughter]

Well, cycle-wise though you said you you know, you dye your hair a different color for every album. So I I've got to ask why was pink on the mood board for like the Jinx situation?

It felt it felt right with the songs. A lot of the songs have like that they kind of coincide with different colors for me. And this cycle was the first one where kind of wanted to start it with a blank slate. And so it was just like a very like whitish blonde. Like you know what I mean? Like a like an empty canvas. And as singles came out we're like adding more and more of the album to you know, what it would be by the time Jinx came out. And that is the hair story of this album.

Awesome. Any more to add how your aesthetic ties in?

Uh I mean

my pits.

Yeah.

[laughter]

My pits are pink. So I can swim better.

You got to be streamlined cuz you got all these shows on the Warped Tour. You got to be able to move fast.

Yeah, got to run.

Aerodynamic, yeah.

But when we're talking aesthetics, I'm just going to, you know, for the sake of time because we do have a lot of people queued up. Whether you believe me or not.

Don't.

It's true. It's true. You'll see. Next door to uh meet you guys and have the album signed. But aesthetics-wise, I read something about how this album was recorded in some kind of fun house. It looks like an absolute fun park.

Yeah.

And I I wrote down cuz I there are different theme rooms. So, okay. So, there was a Barbie theme room, Playboy theme room, GI Joe, Elvis. I was wondering

Playboy is the bathroom.

Oh, that makes sense. That makes sense in a

Yeah, and it scares the [ __ ] out of you like the first five times you go in there, swear. Because there's a mannequin in the bathtub like in a chair like really aggressively like, you know, kind of spread out and had the ears on and it's just like face It's like a It's like a uh kind of hot Slender Man.

[laughter]

Oh, it's a play girl room.

Yeah.

It's a play if there's a It's a

play girl is boys.

Yes, but it was a male mannequin?

No.

Oh, okay. I wasn't following the story. But there was a lot of layers to this. I was just wondering if I don't know

I just took my meds, so I'm locking in.

all good.

I can't remember if I did or not.

Huh? [laughter]

I said I can't remember if I did or not.

We'll see how the interview goes. I was wondering I don't know where you Maybe you didn't record in the bathroom, but I was like, you know, there's certain song titles and I was like, oh, is the song called Gwen Stefani? Did you do that in the Barbie room? Did you do Girls with Guns in the GI Joe room? Like did did you do theme songs and themed rooms? Or like what was the space like and how did it affect the album?

So I wish it was that fun and that

Yeah.

uh that specific, but we So, we recorded in the basement, which is even weirder. Yeah, so there's this whole fun house thing with these giant like novelty. There's like a Predator and like a bigfoot like Predator like from the movie Predator, not not like the president. Uh I mean like there's a

I do want to ask about your ice song if there's time, but let's save that to

Yeah, there's there's giant life-size people everywhere. There's like Um yeah, massive silverware and just it it it's a very it's a incredibly like fun house experience. Uh you walk in there's like a giant butler and a bear.

Yeah.

And

real butler being like, "Your drinks, my lord."

Yeah, he looks like a haunted mansion butler. You know, it's not like a Bruce Wayne. What's his butler? Alfred. Not like Alfred. Alfred seemed nice and helpful. This butler was like, "I want to drain your life force." But so we recorded in the basement and next to the actual There's you know like the live room, the control room. Next to the control room there's a big-ass room that's like fully green-screened out.

Oh, yeah.

The floor is green-screened. There's like pillars that are green-screened, the walls, the ceilings. All green.

So, why this space? I don't know if it's a normally a Oh.

Oh, oh, like why did I thought you were asking why they did that. I was like, "I wasn't there." Oh.

It sounds like it could be It could have gone one way or could have gone a like some of this stuff is a little scary.

And it went both.

I think I think the room came with the territory.

Yeah.

Honestly. What is this space? Is it normally a recording studio? Were you like, "Hey, there's a theme park. Let's go record there." Like the Scooby Doo

There was a water park nearby.

Make sense.

a picture Oh, I should have posted that today.

[ __ ] Sorry.

All good.

Mhm. Let me think. So, the reason we recorded there is because a lot of time or like so every album has at least like a couple songs that I like to write with my friend Joe Vergasta. He's an incredible songwriter and he's based in Long Island on Long Island. I got corrected a lot out there. Um and

said in as well. I'm a West Coaster.

Yeah, cuz it makes sense. They're like, "Nah-uh." Um

[laughter]

Yeah, whiny.

You're you've you've you corrected yourself. It's all good. People on the East Coast watching this do not get mad.

Don't.

They're already mad. They're on the East Coast. They've never [laughter] They're born mad, they'll die mad.

Yep. West Coast is the best coast.

But, so Joe was like, "Hey, I want you to try some songs with this guy Nick Zanotti." And I I trust Joe. He's one of the few people I shouldn't. He's a bad guy, but I trust him.

And he was like, uh, "We should really try this out." And I I had no idea what I was getting into. I had no heads-up. He's just like, "Yeah, it's just over at uh, Nick's parents' house." And I get there and I realize it's just a full-on swingers pad. Like It's not confirmed, but it is.

[laughter]

Like, his parents are definitely like swingers. You can. In like the '80s. Like because you go in there and like there's all the weird [ __ ] but then there's also like giant lips on the wall and like red leather couches and then like a big grand piano and like there's like checkered stuff and like I wish It's all Do you know what Visible Changes is? Like the haircut place in the mall or is that just a Texas thing?

Is it?

Yeah. Mhm.

Well, it looked like that.

[laughter]

I love that you brought it back to the hair thing, by the way.

Yeah. Full circle. Um

It is all connected.

So, I go there. It looked like an '80s like Patrick Nagel hair salon.

Yeah, it was it was really crazy.

I get it. I I get it.

place I've ever been.

Amazing.

And I was just like, "Wait,

open? Can I go visit?"

Um, you have to talk to Nick's parents.

Like, do they do tours?

No, they swing.

[laughter]

To be clear, I just wanted to Anyway.

You don't want to swing with Nick's parents? I met them, they're nice.

Let's take that

[laughter]

Let's take that conversation offline.

Fine.

Back to you.

Me? Okay, cool. So,

Yeah. Um

like to view

So, yeah, I go there. I had never met Nick before and I was just like, "Hello." And he was very He's the opposite of Joe. He's quiet and kind.

[laughter]

And swingers

parents' kid was quiet.

The swingers had a quiet child.

to himself in his room.

Yeah, and he did and he got really good at recording.

[laughter]

Um

I'll be in my room mom and dad.

I'm like Nick, what do they need a full green screen room for?

[laughter]

Oh my god. Do you film stuff in there of like not of you swinging?

I mean if you did that's cool, but I meant like you know

We swung with Nick's grandparents.

And did you

There was a swing. Yeah, we filmed it.

Music video next week. Nobody but you video dropping in 6 days.

you filmed any like music videos there studio. It feels like photo shoot ready. So

[laughter]

Maybe I'm coming off as a fun person in the studio I'm not. And so

a blast and this interview has taken a turn. I'm like I'll throw these questions your way.

Do it. In the studio I'm like very locked in and I'm I'm in like I'm kind of like mad scientist mode where I'm like but I'm it's like very analytical and very like okay now we do this to do this. Now this would make sense if we this. So I kind of was like in a in a very different space where I wasn't like we should go film in that [ __ ] green room. Like normal, you know, like if that was that room right there I'd be like we should make 10 videos today. Every song on the album gets a video. Um but no in there

Little preoccupied.

I went in there I'm just like this is crazy and then go back in and keep working. Yeah, and then cuz it's also like I I had never worked in I mean I've like you know done like writing days in studios before whether it's for like us or other people or just to do it or but never made an album anywhere except for uh like one place with Zack Cervini. And so this was like the first time trying something new and I hate trying new things.

Oh really?

I hate trying new things.

changes his hair for every album cycle hates trying new things.

You seem like an adventurous All three of you seem like adventurous

to do a mic drop at the same time? You just got me.

[laughter]

Well, not just that but you're famous for like genre and no two albums sound the same, so that's a surprising statement for you to make.

That's fair. I guess it's just like in certain ways. Like I like to I don't know. I like I like sleeping in my bed, having all my stuff, being like, "I'm going to get coffee at one of five places."

Familiarity.

Yeah, I love familiarity and consistency, which I know

Picked the wrong job.

I know I did. That's why I touring, I'm like, I really love that I love playing the shows. That's awesome. That's so fun. Everything else I'm like

[laughter]

You know? I like hanging out with them and I like playing shows. The rest of it is kind of like hurry up and wait.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, you sit there for like

He likes hanging out with us.

He likes hanging out with us. He said it on the He said Strike that.

No, we're leaving that in. We're not taking it out. Words out. You guys like each

[ __ ]

I mean, it seems like

going to get a Metallica documentary.

[laughter]

I mean, you need to make the documentary about the swinging grandparents.

Mhm.

Well, that's not my story to tell, but I'll tell it.

[laughter]

I mean, you kind of told some of it just now.

I feel like the treatment I feel like someone's out I mean

We could just call Nick.

I'm just fascinated.

[laughter]

Real fly-on-the-wall piece.

Mhm.

Does Like is this out there? Is Nick going to be okay with the fact that you're like talking about his uh his family's uh sex spicy time?

He's not going to see this.

[laughter]

He's busy.

Come on. Everybody watches Licorice Pizza interviews. This is going to go viral.

That's true, but he hasn't even seen Breaking Bad.

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Well, as you can

I don't think he's seen Sopranos, either.

I haven't seen either of those, either. I'm weird.

[laughter]

I like see weird like rock musicals and like rock operas and stuff, which brings me

I was like, "Whoa, sec Wait a sec. Wait a sec. Wait a sec." I was like, "Land the plane. Land the plane."

I was like, "If I only have time to ask about certain questions, these are the ones." And then totally derailed and I didn't ask any. But like one of the ones I wanted to ask was about first song.

Oh, any song, but no, not,

Come on. It's basically a rock opera.

It really is.

I feel it should be expanded. Some of the people on it, Mark Hoppus, Dillon Francis. I was incredibly excited to know that Eric Nally is on it. I'm a huge Foxes fan.

He was one of the first texts I got this morning.

in a good way.

He texted me saying he was going to listen to while I mowed his lawn at like 7:00 a.m. this morning. I was like I was asleep.

mowing his lawn in like, I don't know, like a Evil Knievel cave or like something crazy.

It's wild to like picture He feels like a unicorn like a

cryptid.

Yes. And it's like

Yeah.

It would be like seeing like the Jersey Devil like in a good way. Like [laughter] mowing the lawn. It's like I don't I can't picture that.

I I mean, you know, he was maybe some people know him more from he was on that Macklemore song Downtown riding in a prayer, but Foxes is am amazing and insane.

Love him so much.

Elfman is on this and they're all on the same song.

Yeah.

And it's I want you to sort of say what it's about cuz it is kind of like

a rock opera. I'm like, let's take this to Broadway. Let's take this to off Broadway. Let's Let's do it.

Are there Broadway developers and or producers?

I'm on Like, you know, Tommy, The Wall, The Apple.

Yeah.

I like all this crazy [ __ ]

So, let's do it. The what Let's talk about how this epic This is the first track of the album, too. So, like people who don't know what to expect from Jinkx are going to be like hopefully in a good way, like

Yeah.

What the hell?

They're going to turn on the song and just get blasted every 10 seconds. Like, what the hell?

Yeah.

So, tell me all about how this came to be.

That was probably the hardest song I've ever written. Um It Honestly, the it was going to be a different song like entirely. It was called The Trick Is to Stay Alive. Like that, which was originally how the elevator part ended. Like the There's no escaping. I've already tried. It was like, remember the trick is to just stay alive. Good luck. It was like a whole switch up, but the main thing that stayed was the chorus. And like when Joe and I did that chorus, if the only point of life is not to die, can you tell me why? Like that thing. I was just like, oh my god, this is so much bigger than the rest of what that the rest of that demo.

And it kind of like unlocked this whole thing where we had just done red guitar and it was like okay, that was such a story. This is an even bigger idea rather than just like

you know, uh personal path and like delusion and like what it takes to get there and like expectations versus reality and blah blah blah. Like if if the only point of life is not to die is like it opens up everything. It's so existential and it starts at like a base point. It covers all ground because we're like, all right, if we did it like because mhm I'm like a little scattered right now and I apologize. It's I'm trying to like formulate where I want to go with it.

There's there's a lot of layers to this.

Essentially trying to lock in on the concept was such a thing because we're like, we could do it like this or like this, but we're like, what if it's actually a full-on narrative, like a linear narrative and you show both sides

of all of it. You know what I mean? It's like you're here, you're dead, you're in all parts of being dead, you're at least as far as like you know Christian lore goes. And um yeah, heaven, hell, purgatory, all the stuff. And at the end you're still at like exactly where the song started showing

None the wiser.

Yeah, exactly. It like you're you're exactly where you you began again. And then I I felt like that was just the perfect way to start this album. Because the next song is like discussing this with your inner child. And from there it does feel like a very linear through line.

It there's it's like an all-star cast, like

Yes.

Danny is Danny the devil? Who's Eric? Eric is God.

God.

I mean, he is God.

He is God.

You're like, what are all the roles and

So, Mark and Dylan are the Purgatory

guys.

Yeah.

So, basically, Tell Me Why was written and all the voices were me. And everybody was kind of like, "This is [ __ ] awesome." But they Nobody understood it on first listen, which was a problem.

Mhm.

And

A bit

Yeah, just it we needed different voices.

to cast the movie.

different tonalities.

Nutty Professor this [ __ ]

just characters, yeah. Um to to really lock it in. And and I mean, for a lack of a better term, sell it. Um because I mean, just in the earlier drafts of it, you know, Austin was

doing all the parts.

doing all the parts. So, he had

here's an exclusive. We're going to drop that version. When does this come out?

Um soon, but I mean, if we'll drop it when you say to. Okay.

I think Monday.

It'll come out after Monday.

Yeah. The version with all me [ __ ] and a few other things. Tuesday.

Yeah.

Drops on Tuesday, so you can [ __ ] check out that part.

Holy cow.

Oh, yeah. No, so I mean, it was just him donning all of these different voices, you know? And so

And I was singing like God in the devil.

you know, try Yeah, trying to have this, you know, this booming, you know, holy

My turn.

Yeah.

[laughter]

And and then, you know, this sinister, you know, conversely, this sinister, you know,

It's a hot one in my right ear.

Yeah. gravelly

tonality and um I think it's just you know, for us, it's we already know the intent there, so it's easier easy for us easier for us

like, "By the way, this song is this and this is" Like I You know what I mean? I'm I've explained it.

Uh-huh.

I feel like if you go in blind, you're just like, "What the fuck?"

Like someone Anyone else hearing it for the first time might be thrown for a loop and it wouldn't quite land the same.

Well, I I was going to ask you guys are on the Warped Tour right now. Are you doing this song on the Warped Tour cuz I'm trying you doing all the vocal parts? I'm trying to imagine how that would go over live.

live yet.

Are you going to do it live?

Yeah.

Yes, definitely.

going to do it live with the All-Star cast at the Hollywood Bowl?

Oh, ideally.

I saw Jesus Christ Superstar there, so why not?

Wow, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's that's even

I mean, in all seriousness though, do you have a a plan to maybe do this live cuz

I've thought about like I've thought about certain parts and we've thought about like, "Dang, if we toured with so-and-so, we could do this or you know, you know who would sound really good doing their part is this person or um yeah, we've we've thought about how to do it live. I've even

Yeah, they're different we we run through different ideas and and logistics where we can

pull pull it off and and yeah, and make it collaborative and you know

Get everyone from the Warped Tour on stage.

Hey.

Not everyone.

[laughter]

We don't have to say who you wouldn't want. Would there be [clears throat] people on the Warped Tour that you would want to do it?

Yeah. OH, NAME THEM.

[laughter]

I MEAN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO.

OKAY, I mean, I here's the problem, I'm going to forget some and I'm going to feel terrible, but like okay. Adam Lazzara Bert McCracken um who? Justin from Motion City Soundtrack um let's see. Got to get from First to Last involved. We got to get [ __ ] man. uh

You can mull it over, we're running out of time.

sorry.

That's enough to have all the parts.

Although, with the

having Danny Elfman and Eric Nally and you guys on stage it would be really good. We do need to wrap it up, it's fine cuz we asked all the relevant questions. Well, that's what I've been told.

what Nick's parents taught us.

It's The reason we need to wrap it up is because there are people next door who want to meet you even though you do not believe me. You will soon. All of it will be revealed as well as this this multiple part Tell Me Why. But the last question I would ask you is Jinks a concept album? And by the way, that's a good thing in my book. Some people think that's bad. Is it a concept album? Like is it all tied together? Cuz starting with Tell Me Why is kind of some crazy stuff.

I'm going to get I'm going to say it's loose concept. You know what I mean? It's not like such a tight story as like, you know, Jesus of Suburbia, but it does deal in the same It all operates in the same world and kind of it starts in a particular place and ends in it where where it does make sense to be a story, you know?

Yeah.

All right. So the Jinks musical

Mhm.

film

Yes.

immersive experience at the Swinger's

this [ __ ] song.

Swinger's house yeah, you know, immersive experience. I don't know what else. Warped Tour.

The There's also a giant Donkey Kong portrait on one of the ceilings.

Man, I wish I could I wish I could interview for luck. [laughter] You're like we just got started.

Yeah, that should be the stage set.

It's kind of like the Gorillaz holograms, but we're just being blasted by a Donkey Kong design.

Holograms, yeah, we'll do that as well.

Yeah.

I mean, you're welcome back to come to Licorice Pizza and try to stage down if we have room, but you're welcome back here anytime cuz chatting with you was a freaking blast.

I'm going to come here in 2 weeks.

All right. We'll set it up. In the meantime though

Swear to god.

Yeah, let's do it.

I'm being serious if you

to Eric Nally?

I I swear to Eric Nally [laughter] and Nally open. No, I mean if you ever wanted to do something to like showcase that, yeah, hell yeah, I'm putting it on camera now cuz I'm like all about this stuff. But we do need to let you go cuz there are people Yeah, I'm not lying. I'm not making this [ __ ] up. Yeah, let's do it all. Oh, I'm done. I'm okay. Sorry. I'm

I have double locked.

Okay, it's happening. It's happening. Watch this space and on Tuesday or Tuesday will have already happened. We'll get to hear this alternate take. In the meantime though, go I swear to god, they're waiting next door. Go.

You're going to carry me. This is going to be terrible. You're going to pour blood on me

[laughter]

in front of my closest friends and family.

No, I wouldn't do that to you.

I liked the remake.

Yeah?

Watched it on the bus.

I never saw it, but I'll check I'll put that on my list of things I haven't seen. I haven't seen a lot of movies.

But in the meantime, I'll watch your movie when it comes out. Talking to you was a blast. I'm only going to let you go because there other pink-haired people who want your time. I swear to God. So, I'm going to let you go. In the meantime, everybody watch this space for more stuff with Waterparks, and thank you guys. It was so much fun.

I touched Frances' guitar.

It's happening.

[laughter]

All right.