PARK RD

Since forming in high school and finding their feet through Smokefree Rockquest in 2018, PARK RD have spent the better part of a decade carving out their place in New Zealand's indie music scene. The four-piece, made up of Tom Chamberlain, Leo Crawshaw-Bond, Te Kapua Pene (TK) and Carlos Martin, have since built an impressive catalogue of releases, surpassed millions of streams and played alongside some of Australasia's biggest touring acts. Earlier this year, the band made the move across the ditch to Sydney, looking for a change of scenery and new opportunities to push themselves creatively.

Now, PARK RD are about to release their second studio album, BOYHOOD, a collection of eleven songs capturing the coming-of-age experiences the band are navigating in their own lives. Rather than rushing to release a record they weren't entirely satisfied with, PARK RD made the decision to scrap half of the original tracklist and start fresh, allowing themselves the freedom to explore a sound that better reflected where they were in life. Speaking with vocalist Tom, we discuss the band's beginnings, navigating the music industry, finding creative freedom in a new city and the experiences that shaped BOYHOOD.

How did PARK RD become a band?

We all met in high school, and the initial lineup of the band was for a fundraiser for my brother's class trip going overseas. That version of the band actually had none of the other original members in it. Then in 2018 we did Rockquest. That was our first time playing a gig with everyone in the band now. Rockquest was super exciting, it was such a big thing for us to get to meet all these other musicians from around the country. We really found our stride playing through Rockquest.

How have things changed for the band since then? 

We're definitely all not the same people as we were back then. I think everyone's had patches where they've had to do a bit of growing up, and we’re probably still going through those moments. probably learnt a lot. And when you're in a band with your mates it can be very intimate, and you learn a lot about relationships in general; which is kinda cool and very challenging at the same time sometimes. But at the end of the day, the music seems to be the thing that makes it all worth it. And sometimes you have lots of really honest conversations, which sometimes are a bit uncomfortable, to keep everyone in check. It's just as important as the music and staying together. 

You guys recently moved to Sydney. What prompted the move, and how are things different in Sydney than here in New Zealand?

We’ve done a few tours over in Australia, and most of our listeners are in Australia. So we’ve always been thinking about coming over. We were always in this space of saying "We're moving this year. We're moving this year." And then we were like, “I'm 25! You know what? I don't wanna look back and think, 'Oh, imagine if we went to Australia and played music over there and saw what opportunities were available.'"

And I think everyone wanted a bit of a change. I was probably a bit too comfortable in New Zealand. And we felt like in New Zealand we'd had a really good run, and we’ve been so lucky playing so many awesome festivals and shows, but we had this feeling of not wanting to overstay our welcome - because New Zealand's so small, and you can only really be booked for the same festivals a certain amount of time before, you know, they probably want a new lineup. So it just felt like the right time to make the move. 

You guys have been in the music industry for a while now. How do you think it's changed since 2018 when you first got started?

Yeah, we were a band before COVID. I think there we were sort of the “last band to make it out” before COVID hit and managed to stay together. Not that we actually were the last band, but it was a weird period of time where all of the natural organic bubbling up of bands and jam sessions and playing cool little venues just didn't happen for a couple years. So that was kind of wild to see, but now it's come right back. You can see all of these cool bands starting up and starting lots of new creative projects. 

I think the industry has changed in a few ways, but a lot of it is probably still quite the same. Bands helping each other out, becoming friends with other musicians and building up community is what makes it all work. And it's been really cool to see that re-emergence coming back in the last couple of years in New Zealand.

And I guess there have been some big changes. Spotify has changed quite a bit, the way it pushes songs to the algorithm is always changing. And social media now has such a huge influence on how music is found and heard. There have been a lot of changes all around. Music has always been the main focus for us, and we should probably put a bit more focus into things like social media. Some of these young bands are just so good at that now and it makes me feel a bit like an unc.

You’ve said that your new album BOYHOOD is about navigating your 20s and coming of age. When did you know that you wanted to pursue those themes and ideas with your next album?

We had an album in the works when we moved from New Zealand to Sydney, and we were just sitting on it. I was sitting around with Leo and his girlfriend Hattie, and she pointed us in this direction where she gave us some honest feedback, and we were thinking that we had to release this album, which we weren't that excited about. And we decided “Actually no, let’s keep our creative integrity intact.” We took half of the album, and wrote a bunch more songs. 

There’s a bit more of a vibe that feels a bit more like where we’re at now as a band since we’ve moved. And I guess as we were writing, well, I don’t know quite how to explain this. We picked the songs that didn’t “try.” They felt a bit more honest and vulnerable. It felt like a way of bringing some of those elements of boyhood back into the songs. 

There’s this analogy that I think of, where it's basically like- you’re in traffic, and you’re thinking “We gotta get this album finished. We gotta get to work." And then being like, okay, actually let’s trust the process a bit and sitting back and seeing where the drive takes us. That was our thought process with a lot of the album, and we made sure along the way that each song felt special to us and would be exciting to play and share.

What is your songwriting process? 

We wrote one song with Molly Millington, and that was just a day in the studio. We had a day off on tour in Australia, and we reached out to her. A friend recommended us to her and we thought she was really cool. And so the song was written and recorded in the whole day, and then we polished it up back home. 

Then there was one song, Saturn, that me and Leo were working on after I had just moved here and I was staying with my auntie. He had the beat and stuff, and I had a verse melody that I really liked, but I was just singing random words. It's kind of what I go for, like the melody first, just singing random words. And then I sang this chorus and I was like, "Oh, yeah, that felt really good." You get all the endorphins in your brain, and it's like this drug feeling, I guess, when you sing something and it feels really good. So I always follow that. And then I said to Leo, "Oh, do you have that verse that I just recorded? I feel really good about that one."

And he said, "Oh, it just deleted." And I could not remember what it was. We were trying for about 10 minutes to find it. He's like, "Was it really that good? Should we just move on?" And I said, "Nah, give it a few more minutes of trying."

And then he somehow managed to find it, and then we listened to it and we were like, "Oh, yeah, that was worth it." And then that's the chorus now for Saturn. A few of the songs kinda came like that. I could probably go on for ages about all of the songs, but maybe I'll leave it at those two.

Do you have a favourite song off the album or one that feels especially personal to you?

There's a song called Tomorrow Song, which is a really stripped back song, which I really like. It's the last song in the album, and it's a completely different sound for us. It’s one that I kind of made in my room, and I was jumping around dancing while I was singing it, and I was super stoked about it.

And then I showed it to Leo and Tessa [Messie], she was in Sydney, and so they were working on it, and they instantly said "120s too slow!" I’m not super savvy with, so I had just used the default that was there. They were saying “We gotta make it way faster.” And they just made the song sound incredible, they really brought it to life. And that song feels really cool because it's like we've gone into different unknown territory, and it feels really exciting because of that. And it’s going to be so fun to play live.

What would you like people to take away from the album?

I want it to take you into a world, and I want people to feel this sense of excitement and energy that makes you go, "Ooh, yeah, I wanna do something cool." I think the coolest thing that art can do is inspire someone else to make something or do something. That's what I want. And a sense of your boyhood, your childhood coming back to you. 

You're taking the album on tour soon. Have you played any of the songs to a live audience yet? 

Yeah. We've been playing them for a little bit. We opened for No Cigar, who smashed it in Sydney a couple weeks ago, and we used that as a chance to play a lot of the new songs, which was really exciting. 

And we're putting together a whole show and making it a performance. My friend Molly Millington, who we made the song Fatal with, she's also a seamstress, so she's been making me a bunch of outfits to wear. We’ve worked together on a mood board, and she's incredible. I've kind of just told her to have free reign, and make me into a rock star. And then my auntie was telling me I have to do an outfit change, and Molly got on board with that idea too. We’re going all out.

And we’ve really shaped the show to have these moments of, like, boyhood. While I’m singing the first song, I’ll be doing something special. I won’t say what it is, but we’ve really crafted and thought out the whole show, which feels really fun and it is so much more exciting. We’ve really thought about the characters we want to be on stage and what energy we want to bring.

Have you found when you've been playing the songs live that audiences have connected with any one song more than others, or has there been anything that surprised you with the way the songs have been received?

There's one song called Good Time, which people have been singing along to, which is pretty insane when it's still unreleased and, you can hear a few people in the front row that are singing along. Realising that “This person's come to the last show and, and learnt it from there." I think that’s just super cool.

There was another song that we played for the first time, and we thought to ourselves “Oh, I don’t know how well that one went.” And after the show someone in the audience came up and told me that that one was their favourite. It's kind of random how that works sometimes.

But there will definitely be a few songs which we haven’t played live yet, which is also super exciting.

When you look back at where PARK RD started, is there anything about the band's journey so far that would surprise your younger selves?

I remember thinking like, "Oh, if only I had one million streams on Spotify on a song."

I was always thinking about those bands that I looked up to. Imagining how much better my life would be, how much more opportunities I would have, if I had one million streams on a song on Spotify. And then I remember saying that to my dad, and he was like, "Yeah, it's a great goal to have, but just keep in mind that when you get there, you’ll probably want something more. Like, that’s a great goal but its not the end.”

And now we’ve managed to actually hit that for a couple of our songs. It doesn’t feel like it’s happened super, super fast. We’ve just been working on our music, and we’ve enjoyed it all along the way. And I think people notice how hard we work at it. It’s definitely nice to acknowledge how far we’ve come, because otherwise it can be easy to look at where you want to be and feeling bad about not being there yet. There was a long time where I felt like, "I'm still young. I've got heaps of time," you know? But now I'm feeling a bit more like, "I wanna really give this thing a good shot."

I'd say all of it has kinda just happened and I've just taken it as it's come, which has been a cool experience. I feel like I've learned so many life skills through being in a band. 

What are you hoping the next chapter of PARK RD looks like?

I feel like I'm keen to take it to the next level kind of in terms of our production. I’m really big on making our work all self-produced. A lot of BOYHOOD has been self-produced. I'm keen to really just find our stride. I think moving to Sydney and, rearranging from a five-piece to a four-piece, we've been finding our sound and finding our roles.

It feels like there's a really cool team around us. Hattie, as I mentioned earlier, Leo's girlfriend, and Cameron, who's been doing the videography, they're kind of creative directors of how everything looks visually and the performance and stuff. So it's really cool having that group around us and so many of our people and other friends who support us. And yeah, I guess I'm just ready to take off, spread the wings. 

You can follow PARK RD on Instagram @parkrdmusic