Why Waterparks Fans Are Problematic, & Why They Need To Stop

By Alexx Shaner

Crash & Burn Blog

8/30/22

Credit: Most Likely Jawn Rocha, but I found it on Google

Waterparks is a modern alternative band, formed in Houston Texas. Awsten Knight is the lead singer and rhythmic guitarist, Geoff Wigington is the lead guitarist, and Otto Wood is the drummer. They have released four albums, and two eps, and are working on their newest album currently. I have been a part of many fandoms, and this is by far the worst one I have ever been a part of. At first, I thought the fandom was normal, but I soon realized the behavior of the fans was way beyond normal.

There is a lot of background info on why they became so aggressive online, and I believe it was caused by Awsten’s Twitter. There was a thing going around, basically, if you said anything bad about the band… you would get “muted”. In summary, if you said the slightest bad thing about the band or just a negative comment about the song… you would get muted. This was a fear factor ultimately into getting the fans afraid to say anything bad about the music. The issue usually was that someone would share their opinion, and the parxies would either attack them in the comments or harass them in their DMS. I have seen many examples of this, in many comment sections. I get it, Twitter is very controversial. But that doesn’t give anyone the right to make such negative comments or say, “you’re a fake fan” to anyone who just makes an opinion about something.

I had dealt with many things involving parxies, and none of them have been good experiences. The first and most memorable time was when the All Time Low drama got released. The statements regarding TikTok were false, and All Time Low did release an official statement. They are in an abiding lawsuit right now due to these comments. People in the music industry constantly have to deal with people making false claims to hurt their careers, and I can name numerous occasions. There was the Tumblr account made by Lindsey Way to practically harass Mikey Way of cheating, and he made a statement disregarding the comments Lindsey was saying just because his ex-wife was her friend. There are many examples, but that would turn into a whole other blog post. I decided to support All Time Low, and at the time everyone was believing the TikTok even though it was false. I simply just stated that I was supporting All Time Low after a few days of contemplating because they were a support band at the time. At first, I didn’t get any bad responses, and they were the only ones asking for clarification on the situation. That was until I was getting multiple threats. I was getting messages from people who all had waterparks-relate profile photos. There were some saying I should kill myself, or just die for supporting a band. That hurt. It only did because the way I thought, fandoms were not supposed to do that to each other. I just assumed people understood that saying those things were terrible things to say. I took to my story after comprehending it, and made a statement. I said that even though someone has a different opinion than you or in general, you should never tell someone to die. I thought I would never have to say that in my life. What's worse is that some of these people were full-grown adults. I instantly realized that even things regarding other fandoms and parxies would somehow make a mellow situation, extremely toxic, extremely quickly. I tried to stay off Twitter after that, and I tried to interact with the fandom as little as possible. I still supported the band, but more mellow. I was seeing them at the Wiltern in December, and I remember feeling the most uncomfortable there. It started with people just staring at me, I was fairly young at the time I was only fifteen. My dad was with me, and I tried to stay calm. I hated how judgmental the fans were, if you were young you couldn’t even listen to their music it felt like. People looked at me a ton in line, and I didn’t understand why. I was the most anxious at that concert, and I have been to bigger venues than the Wiltern. Overall, it was hard to have a good experience. The band did great, but the feeling was terrible the whole time.

I think the violence that parxies promote is completely wrong, and they should stop this behavior. It all comes down to being a good person, and if your day comes down to bullying people on Twitter that is a different problem. I’ve simply chosen to occasionally listen to the music, and I’m only seeing them again because I’m going to an MCR show. I just can’t support a fanbase like this, and the overall toxicity. I’m sorry if you ever had to deal with anything like that.

Sending Love,

Alexx

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