I first became aware of Parkii when the name still stood for a moody teenager called Will, who was making music by himself in his bedroom and posting his tracks on soundcloud. He sent one of his songs in, and I was immediately obsessed – raw and vulnerable lyrics, shoegazey guitars – it felt like I was being transported back to my early 2000s childhood.
A couple of years on and Parkii is now a band of young guys putting on shows at skateparks and playing local venues like the Thunderbolt and Zed Alley. There’s always someone with a camcorder filming the set and always a friend in the audience shouting for encores.
They seem nostalgic for a time they weren’t alive for yet: my youth. Whenever I go to see them, I feel like I’m the supportive auntie, standing in the front and being a little cringe.
I speak to them outside Zed Alley after one of their shows. They are all a little giddy and shouting over each other. I ask Will why he decided to form a band after doing his own thing for a while.
“I had a solo band but they left me one day so I had to get these two losers to play drums and bass. It was only supposed to be for festivals we were playing last summer,” Will says.
“Me and Kane knew each other from being neighbours as kids. I realised we were way sicker as a band and so we kept doing that. It’s heavier. But still lots of song-writery stuff going on.”
Kane laughs and adds that he always thought of Will as a kid when they were neighbours, because of their age difference.
“I was in rehearsals for another band and Will was there and I was like: he’s a child!” Kane remembers.
“Then your band left you on the day of a show. We were really drunk and I said, hey, I’ll play bass for you.”
They have been a band ever since and as far as they are concerned, they aren’t going to stop anytime soon.
“We’ve got an album on the way. We want to put that out and play bigger shows with more bands we love,” Will says.
They are also teaming up with friends Lord of the Rigs to play shows on curbsides and skate parks.
Speaking of skate parks – I ask what draws Will to the early 2000s aesthetic.
“I just like skating quite a bit and lots of 2000s music. Since I started skating I listened to more emo – or maybe the other way around. There’s so many skaters that like or music and we like skating we’re just not very good at it,” he says.
He adds: “I can’t lie, my ideas always come from girls. I’m an idiot so I make a lot of silly decisions about relationships and then I write songs about it.”
You can catch Parkii at the Louisiana on 28 September.
//Words: Clara Bullock//