Parker Woodland - There's No Such Thing as Time (out Sep. 6 via Flak Records)
ANNOUNCING PARKER WOODLAND’S DEBUT FULL-LENGTH “THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS TIME”
BIO BY STEVE ALBERTSON, BABY ROBOT MEDIA stevealbertson@babyrobotmedia.com
Austin, TX, inquiries contact: sophie@juiceconsulting.com
Austin, Texas, power trio Parker Woodland’s new album There's No Such Thing as Time (out Sep. 6 via Flak Records) is filled with energetic anthems that hit us with punk exuberance, pop hooks and psychedelic guitars. Each fist-pumping anthem makes you want to jump up, dance and shout along to help shape this world into a place of love and compassion, even as the Earth crumbles around you.
Parker Woodland has previously been covered at NPR, Austin City Limits Radio, Austin American-Statesman and more. They’re favorites of KUTX, including playing their Rock the Park with Luna Luna and their SXSW Rock the Shores showcase w/ Waco Brothers, A Giant Dog, Saul Paul, and The Dinosaur's Skin. They played Chicken Ranch Records 20th Anniversary SXSW Party w/ Peelander-Z, and the annual Peace Fest w/ Willie Nelson, Jon Dee Graham, Urban Heat and more. Members of the band have opened for Melissa Etheridge, White Zombie, Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, Big Freedia, Ministry, and John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).
At its core, Parker Woodland has always been a celebration of community. All three members, Erin Walter (vocals, bass), Andrew Solin (guitar) and Keri Cinquina (drums), have been fixtures in Austin’s indie music scene for decades. Known as an activist band (with Walter an award-winning Unitarian Universalist justice leader), their anti-racist, pro LGBTQA+, socially progressive music, live shows and general stance on living is metered out with fun and energetic positivity.
“This is a record for anybody who needs joy in their life,” says Cinquina, an institution in Austin’s queer music scene. “Anyone struggling with inner demons, or is dealing with grief. We want to be a light in someone’s day.”
“We believe that music can change the world,” adds Walter. “The inspirational sparks for our songs come from grappling with heavy shit, like the destruction of the planet and the fight for trans rights. We start in those places, emotionally, then we look to see how we can extend the message and music to be life-giving to everyone.”
The album kicks off with the horror-inflected and apocalyptic “Just in Case.” Its power-pop-punk verses explode into dramatically anthemic choruses. Big layered guitars play over pump-your-fist-in-air pounding drums. Lyrics like “stars flame out while monsters take our place” and “where the floor and the sky are the same thing” conjure ideas that maybe the end of the world and falling in love could feel the same.
“Makeup” is a powerpop fight song for trans rights. Walter sings, “call me by my new name / You just keep trying, but it’s still so tiring / You just keep fighting, cuz it hurts to hide.” The composition of the song itself begins stark and lonely and builds to a triumphant crescendo. Walter’s lyrics dance with Solin’s guitar which bobs and weaves from verse to chorus to push forward the stomping, clapping, gang vocal “heys” of the bridge. You’ll find yourself dancing and singing along before the song’s epic conclusion. The music video features a diverse group of LGBTQ musicians, activists and allies dancing, smiling and singing these words of solidarity.
The escapist summer bop “Ladder at Your Window” is a cheer-filled, hand clapping, foot stomping good time, a perfect pick for your road trip playlist or jumping on the bed and singing along into your hairbrush. Is the ladder there for a lover to arrive, or for the rebel to sneak away? Either way, it’s a call to action for those who didn’t know they needed it, young or old. Landing somewhere between the B-52s and Bikini Kill’s lighter fare, this track sits in the pantheon of great “let’s go!” songs.
The melancholy and dreamy “Last Song on Earth” imagines the last trip to an abandoned grocery before the end of the world. Its soothingly soft indie rock builds into a dreampop choral ending. The vivid imagery and clever lyricism of Walter singing “find me in the candy aisle / I’m your dancing fool just one more time / And as the silver kisses melt away” continues the band’s theme of finding love in spite of living in a dying world.
“I love the zombie film 28 Days Later, especially when they're grocery shopping to the song ‘A.M. 180’ by Grandaddy, a favorite band of Parker Woodland,” says Walter. “I also have my own melancholy, COVID-era, grocery store memories. But the other fun spark came from when I heard the One Direction song ‘Best Song Ever.’ The chorus is, ‘'we danced all night to the best song ever,’ but I thought they were singing, ‘we danced all night to the last song on Earth.’ When I found out that those weren’t the words, I thought, someone needs to write the ‘Last Song on Earth.’ Then I was like, it's me. That is my song to write.”
“Stranger,” the epic track from which the album’s title is taken, builds dark, psychedelic guitar lines that travel alongside Walter’s hushed vocals. Big drum hits accompany the carnival-like atmosphere as the song builds into the massive chant of “you think you know yourself / you think you know the world / grief makes you a different girl.” It’s a haunting and trippy journey who’s sonic textures evoke some of Pink Floyd’s more labyrinthine works.
The theme of escaping grief by embracing the awe of our world continues in the anthemically alt-rock “Jets.” Its restrained verses and heavy guitar/drum choruses encourage you to take a leap of faith, but instead of falling, the jets kick in and allow you to soar. This band is a united front in their display of songwriting dynamics, from the loud-quiet-loud of the Pixies to some straight four-on-the-floor rocking.
“We're interested in helping people express sadness or grief on the path to a triumphant release,” says Walter. “In my experience, when you take a big leap of faith, that's where you soar to places that you hadn’t allowed yourself to even imagine you could go. The leap isn’t a falling sensation – it’s where you find liberation. This song also speaks to our love of going on tour. Willie Nelson was absolutely right when he sang, ‘the life I love is making music with my friends.’ ”
The gentle soft rock of “First One to Fall Asleep Wins” is teeming with longing, before blasting off into a full blown power ballad, or prom jam, or song to hold hands for the first time during the couple’s skate. Is it a lullaby? Is it a breakup song, or just that intense feeling of young love where leaving that person, even for the night, feels like the end of the world? There’s so much drama behind Walter singing, “Where did you come from? / I don’t wanna need anyone / Now the first one to fall asleep wins / And it’s getting easier / This giving in.”
The primal post-grunge fury of “The Reckoning” is a lamentation and a warning. It contains the swirling hexes of a thousand witches cursing the oligarchs who are destroying our world for profit. “All this greed needs a sacrifice,” Walter sings as she pushes back against the humans responsible for militaristic space programs, wonton capitalism and world-ending climate change.
“I got witchy vibes from this right when we started playing it,” says Cinquina. “I knew a normal beat wouldn’t work, so I went heavy on the toms to make a chanting-like beat. I could feel how tribal this song wanted to be.”
Parker Woodland’s prime thesis is the indie-punk “The World’s On Fire (and We Still Fall in Love) - 2024” This shorter, tighter version (than the 2021 debut single) stands out with its punchy urgency and continues to remind us that we can find visceral jubilance in the face of annihilation. It’s a full-speed-ahead power anthem that demands crowd participation. Fans are known to jump on stage and sing along at the end of Parker Woodland’s sweat-soaked live shows.
Album closer “Benediction” is an acknowledgement of Walter as a Unitarian Universalist and songwriter. The stripped-down simplicity of the electric guitar’s perfect vibrato and intimately delicate vocals is this song’s strength. The final words of this record answer all of the hard questions posed by the previous nine songs. Walter sings, “we are / the tide / we rise / and love survives,” leaving us with a hope in our hearts and a lot of love for Parker Woodland.
Walter and Cinquina met more than a decade ago when they made up the rhythm section in the genderqueer-focused muscle rock band Butch County. Walter and Solin came together through mutual friend (and Emmy winner) Matt Parmenter who ended up recording and mixing this album at his Ice Cream Factory Studio (voted Best Studio 2024 by Austin Chronicle). The secret ingredient to these sessions was producer Brent Baldwin who made a name for himself collaborating with acts like Big Star, R.E.M, Wilco, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and Alejandro Escovedo.
“The whole process of creating this album wasn’t just about the album, but about learning to trust each other, learning how to communicate, and finding out how to be a band,” Walter says. “It was at times emotional, grueling, challenging, everybody had to look at themselves. Andrew is a truly gifted, incredible guitar player and audio engineer, but we were strangers in a pandemic when we started working together.”
“We quickly realized the limitations of working with just the three of us in my studio,” says Solin. “We decided on moving to Matt’s Ice Cream Factory studio and getting a producer, Brent, pretty early on. It’s a great studio with a wonderful vibe, and some external perspective could give us more than what we were putting in on our own.”
Baldwin focused on getting a live-in-the-room feel for this Rock (with a capital “R”) record, with Walter’s solid basslines and charismatic vocals, Solin channeling 20th century rock gods while creating contemporary sonic textures, and Cinquina’s hard-hitting, punishing percussion.
“Having a producer and engineer brought great ideas,” says Cinquina.” I prefer playing live. It’s more freeing. I’m a bare-bones rock n roll drummer, an in-your-face power hitter who likes to bring the rock. A true rock girl to my core.”
“We were constantly assessing where to compromise and collaborate, and we certainly had our share of tears and sleepless nights,” Walter says. “The journey makes this moment of releasing There’s No Such Thing as Time even sweeter to me. I think we all feel so much stronger from going through the process.”
Like their riot grrrl forebears Sleater-Kinney, Parker Woodland is also named after an intersection where the band formed in Austin, not a person’s name. Their first release was the The World’s on Fire EP (2021), and the title track remains the band’s thesis and anthem. “I’ve played that song at weddings,” laughs Walter. “We face what’s hard about the world and we also still fall in love. There's still beauty. There's still joy. That song is a guiding force, and that’s why we recorded the new version for this record.”
Live From Love Hill (2021) was a collection of stripped-down live sessions from the band’s original lineup and released during the pandemic. “Those recordings were a spontaneous creation, an origin document,” says Walter. “I had those recordings and people kept asking for these songs. It was mid-COVID, so we put out these live versions.”
“Perpetual Condition” (2022) was a Holly Peck poem that went viral on Facebook and they collaborated on making it a song. “This was a special one-off project with a friend of a friend,” says Walter, “but it was the catalyst to the band that exists now. We recorded it at Ice Cream Factory with Matt. It was right after that session that he recommended that I meet this killer guitar player, and that’s how Andrew came into my life.”
Their cover of Austin legend Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You in the End” and the Holly Near cover “I Am Willing” (2023) stems from a KUTX / SXSW showcase of bands covering Johnston songs, and the Near song fits their social justice values and lifetimes of activism.
Walter serves on the advisory council for The SIMS Foundation, which provides mental health and substance use recovery services, and was the board president for Girls Rock Austin. Due to their commitment to the betterment of their hometown, this September the Austin City Council will be making a proclamation at City Hall to create Parker Woodland Day in honor of There's No Such Thing as Time.
“This album has been a huge growth experience for me,” says Solin. “This is the first band I’ve been in where I’m holding down all of the guitar. It’s hard to know when to step back. If I’m not playing it’s scary. Learning to be okay with space. Learning to work with Erin and Keri. I learned a lot from just being friends with Erin. The way she navigates the world, deals with trials and tribulations and interpersonal conflict. Erin and Keri have made a real difference in my life.”
The title There's No Such Thing as Time comes from a pivotal lyric in “Stranger” dealing with death and the supernatural. This album toys with themes of outer space and escapism but always circles back to a foundation of finding love in our modern apocalypses. Even on a dying planet, love is worth fighting for in the eyes of Parker Woodland.
“A sense of wonder and awe is one of our greatest achievements in our live shows and our music,” says Walter. "I like to push people to let go with total abandon. Like a child. This is for any age. For you. For me. To just let go. Maybe we’re together with our dead loved ones in another dimension. Maybe we’ll have to find another planet to live on. But, for now, we’re here and we’ll continue fighting for the rights of trans people, women, queer people, people like us who are trying to take care of themselves, friends, and their communities. Everybody needs to feel loved for who they are.”