PREVIEW — WATERPARKS at House Of Blues Orlando Nov 19 (Win Tickets)

by Garrett East • November 16, 2021

Well, I guess this is growing up… One of the best parts of the new wave of pop-punk, Waterparks, are sliding into the House of Blues in Orlando Friday, November 19th, 2021 with Phem! Time to get those tickets, cuz these guys will soon be the faces of pop punk! (GET TICKETS HERE).

Waterparks got together in the very waterpark-heavy city of Houston back in 2011, when Awsten Knight, Gage Mattheiu, and Geoff Wigington intersected, all playing in different bands. After some lineup changes and some shows at the Warped Tour in Houston, the new line up, with Mikey Way (MCR) playing bass on the first album, showed that these guys were for real. Four albums and 10 years later, Waterparks is ready to assume the throne of pop-punk

Playing a style of pop-punk that is musically heavier on the pop than the punk, the first band that comes to mind when I listen to them is Forever the Sickest Kids, another Texas native band. On top of the standard punk 3 piece (4 piece when they tour, they don’t keep a full time bassist), they mix in a whole host of genres into their sound, from post hardcore to jazz, hip hop to lofi, and just a little of a lot of dabbling in-between. The synths, guitars, and voice modulation just bring these songs up and pop! My favorite song has to be “I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Want To Die Anymore.” Not particularly long, it helps encapsulate everything Waterparks is in a small dose:

Also fun and fresh off their new album, Greatest Hits, “You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You)”, is the fourth single, and honestly, I just think it bangs. (also, what’s up with these crazy long names? Fall Out Boy time hahah)

I’m not going to lie. I first started listening to this band and immediately thought, “Thiiis is pop-punk?” I then listened to them for about 2 more hours and had a blast. I’m 33 and so far have survived the first two waves of pop-punk, and honestly, Waterparks helped sell me on this third wave. Pop-punk needed to evolve and embrace the other elements of the massive music scene, and I think Waterparks is a major player in this new wave. Get yourself out to the House of Blues Orlando and see them before they’re playing much larger arenas!

WIN TICKETS — If you are on our email list, you’ll have a chance to win tickets via our email newsletter. Sign up at the bottom of the page! It’s going out Wednesday.

Waterparks Orlando Tickets Preview by Garrett East.