In conversation with De’Wayne and Awsten Knight: The rock scene should look like how the world looks and that’s a lot of different people Kerrang! -…

Despite being best mates and touring buddies, DeWayne describes asking Awsten Knight to guest on his new single Perfume as like asking agirl on adate. He was scared.

He hit me up and it was the funniest voice message, the Waterparks frontman laughs of his friends adorably nervous request. I still have it! He was so shy about it even though he knows Ill do anything for him. He was like, Ah, so hey man Iwas thinking and you can tell me to shut up Imsorry!

Im such afan of Awstens, and Iwould hurt someone over this guy Ireally would! DeWayne reasons passionately. And Ijust have this, like, little kid in me, and with anything that happens. Idont Im ever gonna be like, Yeah, hop on this [song] tomorrow! Its more like, Hey, lets get dinner and then do you wanna hop on thisverse?!

Youre gonna wine me and dine me and then be like, Hey, you wanna be on ahit?! Awstenjokes.

Well keep you updated on that, grins DeWayne, but for now Ithink Im still gonna be sending two-minute voice messages with kisses at theend

Regardless of their back-and-forth collaborative methods, DeWayne and Awstens first single together is everything youd want from two of the most exciting young artists in rock. In fact, upon hearing it for the first time, DeWayne had an overwhelmingly powerfulreaction

I show Awsten everything that Ido regardless of if its asong or apicture, he explains. I sent Perfume to him and Ididnt even think about asking him [to guest on it] until Ialready had the song. It made sense, and when he sent it back Icried driving down the 101in my car with flattyres!

With Awsten promising more stuff in the secret bag to come, Kerrang! joined the musicians over Zoom for awide-ranging conversation about collaborations, the state of rock, and the importance of making real art

On collaborations in the rock scene

DeWayne: Collaborations work in every other genre, and Ithink people are starting to notice that. My thing about collaborations is that Iwant to do it with my friends, and people that Iactually love and care about. Weve been getting [offers] for features and Ihave to turn some of them down because Im like, I dont know you. The song is cool, but you just want me to rap and put my hair on it, and Ijust dont really care aboutthat.

Awsten: Yo, Iknow how that goes! They just want ourhair!

DeWayne: And thats fair, but to have Awsten on this song is so perfect for me, and Ithink the song is just so great. Idid asong on Chase Atlantics album those are my friends and Ilove them, and Ilove this fucking guy right here. If its acollaboration, Iwant it to be areal collaboration.

Awsten: I agree with all of that, and Ithink its important to be friends with people [that youre working with]. Because what if theyre atotal piece of shit?! (Laughs) And weve had people suggest things to us, like, Why dont you get this person to feature on your song? And its like, I dont even know that guy, why would we do that?! This could just be weird personal shit, but weve been working so hard for so long that Iwouldnt want to look at our Spotify top songs and out all of these songs Ive written the first one is me and some fucking asshole dude. That would bum me out so much, and feel like amistake, almost.

Collaborations are cool if they make really good sense, but sometimes labels arent thinking about the art or the song and theyre just thinking about the commerce side of it and, What will get streams? Ive talked to alot of friends on labels and stuff, and they still try to revert to the old rules of what they feel like works. Its like, Well, features get streams Ifeel like features are done for the wrong reasons often, but when you do them for the right reasons its fucking awesome like this! DeWayne being one of my best friends, and Perfume being one of my favourite songs of his, its like, Fucking duh, of course Ill dothat.

DeWayne: There are one or two artists that Id be down for [who Idont know personally]. Imentioned [The 1975 frontman] Matty Healy in [2020 single] National Anthem and if he heard asong and wanted to yell over it, thatd be cool. And Id love to have Julian [Casablancas] from The Strokes sing abridge for me it would be something like that if it wasnt my bestfriends.

On the financial impact of streaming

DeWayne: Just getting my [record] deal, and just starting to consistently put out music, Ihave afanbase now and we call ourselves The Circle and people care and buy merch and listen to the songs, and thats enough for me. If the label can give me an advance so Ican live for six months and then Ican make the best music and people will consume it even its just downloading or through streaming services then thats enough for me at the moment. The other stuff Ill figure out. Im okay with that right now because Istill get to eat my food while also getting to make art for aliving and build atrue community. Im not worried about getting amillion dollars right now! Ican go outside and jump on my trampoline and then come inside and make asong, and thats fuckingcool.

Awsten: I would prefer to still be in the times where people bought what you do (laughs) that would be dope. And luckily we do have the kind of fans that do that; we drop avinyl variant and its sold out in 30minutes. Ifeel like that even ties in to the whole collaborations thing; Ithink Id be more okay with features if people bought albums, because Ifeel like it wouldnt necessarily take away from stuff. If you go to anybodys Spotify or whatever, even if someone has amillion better songs, its always the song that has the star next to it at thetop.

Also, it would be dope to sell more albums, because then DeWayne could get abigger trampoline, and Icould buy ajet-ski and put it on thetrampoline.

DeWayne: That would be fuckingtight.

Awsten: Heres the thing, though: theres no point in yearning for the old days because its just awaste of time. Ithink it would be dope to have the benefit of being around in atime when our job was at its height, but all you can do is adjust. Mentally its one of those things that Itry really hard not to [focus] on because it is what it is whats thealternative?

On how TikTok can benefit the music industry

Awsten: I think its areally good thing for music, because nothing else has been this good for the discovery of music since MySpace. With anything new like this, of course theres gonna be dumb motherfuckers that try and bend the system like, Oh, why dont we make art based around what TikTok will think? And its like, Go fuck yourself! But besides those corny fuckers that do gimmicky meme shit just for the sake of it, Ithink its agood thing. Ive even found shit on there myself; Iskim TikTok all the time Ihate going on Instagram and Twitter now and Ifind so many cool songs, and its awesome. Ive never been scrolling Facebook in the past and been like, Oooh, check out all these dope newthings!

DeWayne: Thats true. Ifeel like Ifind more dope comedy stuff on there but maybe Ineed to get more into the musicvibe

Awsten: Dude, Istay on paranormal TikTok all the time! Idont send it to you because Iknow you wouldnt like it, but Im on it constantly (laughs).

DeWayne: I think its cool, but Idefinitely need to be on there more and experience it more. Ithink it allows me to be abit looser, though, and thats what Ienjoy about it. Ithink people think Im so serious all the time, and TikTok allows me to get on there and twerk to my songs! You cant do that on Instagram; people are like, You released apolitical song, you cant do that. TikTok allows that kind of energy, and people are way more accepting to that, and thats fucking cool to me: that balance of trying to be agreat artist and say something, but also liking shaking your ass to your ownmusic!

Awsten: Thats the headline (laughs). Weve gotta do that for Perfume,dude

On being forward-thinking artists

Awsten: One thing Ireally remember is Waterparks played this festival in 2016 when we first started properly touring Im not gonna say which one (laughs) and Iwas looking around, talking to Otto [Wood, drums] like, Yo, every motherfucker here looks exactly the same. This is terrible. Lets just agree right now that were never gonna dress like any of this! And when we were maybe almost done recording our first album [Double Dare], Iwanted to make sure we werent listening to what was around us. It can be subconscious that you take in alot of what your surroundings are, and it was really important to be like, Okay, Im not absorbing what Im hearing right now. No shade to anyone, and there are exceptions to everything, but sometimes things in that world can get so repetitive and so monotonous, and just so unremarkable, that you have to keep yourself in check and make sure youre not accidentally taking in shit!

DeWayne: I agree with all of that, Awsten. Ifeel like for me, it started early on in Houston Ijust came out being alittle to the left or right of what everyone was doing, and that was even before music. Iwas always trying to figure out what worked for me. Irealised that Iwas going to have to come to LA to make something of myself, and Idont mean to say that to sound clich, but Iknew that at, like, 17. So then when Idid that, Iwasnt trying to be different from anyone; Iwas just being myself, and that was it. Igrew up with church music, and with soul music, and with hip-hop, and then for the past five years Iwent to the school of songwriting, and learning songs that nobody else showed me Ijust went and studied them. And now this is whats coming out, and if people like it thats fucking cool, but Im justmyself.

Awsten: Thats exactly right you are so fucking right. When people are like, How do you make asong? Its like, Dude, literally the answers are right there you can open up your Spotify and click on anything, and the answer is there. Being quiet and paying attention for asecond gives you everything you need to know aboutsongwriting.

DeWayne: I just got my situation to where Im on alabel now Im under MDDN with Awsten and Waterparks and Ihad to watch for the longest time, and that really has helped me. Ithought Iwas ready at 19, and Iwas not. But Igot to be quiet and watch, see other people get really good, and Iwas like, When is my time? Igot to rehearse, and practice, and do my push-ups for the last five years so that Icould be like, Now Ican knock somebody out through my music. Im anerd when it comes to expressing myself, and Ikeep Kurt Cobains diary around and Im always reading books on staying in ameditative state, and Im always writing and eventually the songscome.

Awsten: Musically Inever really get stuck, but vocally and lyrically Im really picky. Ive been getting abit stuck on that lately, and Ithink that just comes from wanting to say something new and Im not just harping on past shit, or making aless good version of something weve alreadydone.

On achieving career longevity

DeWayne: I wanna be here for along time. Sometimes people around you say silly things like, Try that! and Im like, No, thats gonna be gone next week. If you write good songs every day, and you make sure that you feel good about what youre putting out, you may stay around. Ireally care about being agreat artist, and Ithink youre required to do that: you want to have the album booklet be beautiful, you want to have the lyrics be meaningful, you want to have your voice be impeccable. Thats what Im strivingfor.

Awsten: Exactly. Iwas talking to Josh [Madden] about this the other day: its so important, because were over here trying to make our Nevermind, and these other fuckers are making McDonalds albums quick things where its like, This will stream well for asecond. Its not about that; its about playing adifferent game. Sometimes you get in your head and its like, Fuck, PewDiePie just dropped adiss track and its sold more than anything weve ever had combined. Its important to keep your head down and focus on what you know you have tomake.

DeWayne: Facts.

Awsten: I want to make aclassic album; Iwant to make something that feels timeless and its not going to be weird six years from now, and someones gonna be like, Oh my god, remember when everybody sounded like this? You have to put on those fucking blinders. And Ithink quarantines been good for the blinders. Youre seeing less people, and were not at music festivals going, Oh my god, 20,000 people really seem to like that Right now it really can be that tunnel vision in your ownshit.

DeWayne: Youre on it, bro! Thats so fuckingtrue.

Awsten: I think what you and Iare both making right now, were making because its art. Were not worried about, Oh man, Isure hope it gets to this feat. When you make real art, Ifeel like its more about the longgame.

On genre and the rock scene

DeWayne: Lately Ireally havent been into describing what Imake

Awsten: Itslimiting!

DeWayne: I dont think anything is dead, because whats happening right now, were doing our own thing. But Ifucking love the idea of having sexy-ass, hard, big guitars, with pop melody, rapping sometimes, yelling, and saying real shit. Ithink Ido make rock music, and alternative music, and new wave shit, and punk, but regardless of that Im giving you something that you can sing along to, and if you listen very deeply, its real. Thats what Iwant to stand for. If there is arock scene right now, Ithink it should look like how the world looks, and thats alot of different people and Ithink were apart of that [movement]: just bringing in anew brand of alternativemusic.

Awsten: Besides really extreme genres, Idont think there are any glass ceilings. Ithink people can have glass ceilings with their ability if you dont practice and work on your shit, and aim to always be levelling up on what you do. But Ialso feel like anyone has the potential to do great shit and always go up and up and up. You can be the biggest fucking thing in the world and still be a rock artist. Iwould consider Waterparks arock project more than any other genre, but Idont think its fair to yourself to bring on that pressure of, Im bringing rock back! Its been said amillion fucking times. Ithink its going to happen when it happens. Its not really up to us; its up to the zeitgeist and the culture when things are going to shift, and its happening right now. To me, its not about whos going to save it; its about who times it right to ride the fucking wave. Idont have ablind allegiance to agenre like, Were arock thing and were gonna save it and blah blah blah! Maybe when we were smaller we were embraced alot more by that kind of community, and Id have abuilt-in loyalty. But Ithink thats too much pressure when the whole thing should just be about trying to keep creating, and keep moving. If you have to sit there and be like, Whats an original idea for me, and also whats this going to do for the culture and the world and everything around it?! then thats gonna fucking freak youout.

You cant carry yourself and create based on trying to effect an entire culture, because its going to happen when it does. And plus, anyone who does shift the culture isnt fucking saying that. Kurt Cobain wasnt saying that; he just did what hedid.

DeWayne: I also think people dont really know what they want until you give it to them, and Im here to serve that purpose. Its like, I believe in this, Ibelieve in punk music, rap, rock, whatever the fuck. Ijust think its good. And Ijust want to serve it upregardless.

On rock and alternative music having a bright future

DeWayne: It has avery bright future. Ithink its fucking sexy and its beautiful and its hot. Iwas [on tour] with Waterparks and Iwas onstage grinding!

Awsten: Those moms watching wanted to kiss you,dude!

DeWayne: And at the end theyd kiss me in my mouth after the show (laughs). At the beginning they werent sure, but by the end theyd [be won over], and thats what Ithink is sexy about rock and alternative music. Its going up right now, and were apart of that. [Touring with Waterparks] was really interesting and thats why Ithank Awsten every damn day. Ithink rock and alternative music have abright future, because am Inot alternative? Am Inot of the culture? Thats why Ithink its cool to challenge all those things, all the time, and do it boldly and do it bravely. Im here for thatshit!

Perfume by DeWayne featuring Awsten Knight is out now. Waterparks new album Greatest Hits is due out on May 21 via 300 Entertainment. Stay tuned for more news on DeWaynesoon.

Posted on March 18th 2021, 5:00p.m.

Excerpt from:

In conversation with De'Wayne and Awsten Knight: The rock scene should look like how the world looks and that's a lot of different people Kerrang! -...