The Daily Illini sat down with American folk band The National Parks to discuss their upcoming album release, “Wild Spirit,” and how it feels to take the Lollapalooza stage.
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity purposes.**
The Daily Illini: What inspired the creation of your upcoming album?
The National Parks: I think for this album, we really wanted to take things back to our roots. It’s more of a bulky, stomp, clap, stomp and holler kind of sound, but incorporating our pop elements too. This album was very much an album about life, getting lost, finding yourself and everything in between.
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The DI: Were there any central stories or themes you incorporated into the album?
The National Parks: Yeah, definitely. I think this really is about slowing down the chaos of life and focusing on what matters most — the people you love, and kind of just letting the journey unfold through the highs and lows.
The DI: How did the creative process for this album unfold? Was it different from your previous works?
The National Parks: We still kind of followed our same formula for song creation … I think one thing that we were intentional about was trying to bring a little more folk and rootsy sounds back into this album. So we definitely kind of leaned into more of like natural instruments, some banjo everywhere, stuff like that. But other than that our process was very similar. We just really focused on that and wanted to bring kind of that folky Americana stuff back into it.
The DI: Did you experiment with any new sounds or techniques in this project?
The National Parks: We’ve evolved quite a bit from the early days. We’ve had albums that are pretty pop, and so I think that this album was intentional in that we didn’t want to push it too far into being too produced, or too poppy. So, I think that was one thing we really checked ourselves on in the studio.
The DI: Can you tell me a little about the songwriting process, and how you guys collaborate as a band?
The National Parks: Usually, I’ll start by writing the song on guitar and making a little demo. And I’ll either send these guys a voice memo of the acoustic version, or I’ll send them a demo of some ideas. And from there, everyone just starts brainstorming their parts and their ideas — messing around with drums and banjo and singing. When we take it to the studio it becomes everyone bringing their ideas together to bring the song to life.
The DI: Are there any particular songs that hold special meaning for you?
The National Parks: There’s one for me. My dad passed away at the beginning of the year, and we had a song called “Where You Are.” The main hook is “I want to be where you are” and I repeat that. When we first made the song, my dad was still alive and so I didn’t have that meaning. As soon as he passed away, the whole meaning of the song changed so that kind of holds a special place for me
The DI: What do you hope listeners take away from this album?
The National Parks: I feel like we all go through times in life where we feel lost. I hope that when people hear this album they know that it’s okay to be lost. Because in that process is when you find yourself … We just hope that our music can inspire people to get outside and experience the beauty of the world around us and appreciate the journey.
The DI: How do you think this album reflects your growth as a band?
The National Parks: It’s kind of like we went full circle in a way. We started really rootsy, folky and then we branched out to other genres, and now we are bringing it all back around. I think this is our most mature album yet, because I think we knew exactly where we wanted to go with this album, and we just let it unfold.
The DI: How does it feel to be part of the Lollapalooza lineup this year?
The National Parks: It’s so rad. This fest has been like one of our top bucket list festivals since we started the band. We actually were on tour in Chicago when we were a brand new band, and it was during Lollapalooza. I remember looking over and seeing the festival setup and thinking that one day, I want to go to that fest. So to be here now is a dream come true. We’re really excited.
The DI: How do you prepare for a festival set, and what can fans expect from your performance at Lollapalooza?
The National Parks: We usually get together and rehearse a few times at our warehouse. With a festival setup, you have to do things a little bit differently, you can’t do a typical headline set … But we try to really involve the crowd and just bring as much energy as we can.
The DI: How does performing at a major festival like Lollapalooza influence your creativity and future projects?
The National Parks: It’s really inspiring to be surrounded by such great talent. I feel like sometimes you get in your head a little bit, and you feel like you’re grinding on your own for so long wondering if there is anybody out there. Just to come into this environment is really inspiring, and it sets you on the right foot for the rest of the year … Being able to play for large crowds and have that energy, makes you want to have that again and again.
The DI: Beyond the upcoming album, what are your future plans or projects?
The National Parks: We are going to Europe for the first time in a few weeks. So that’ll be a first for us. We’re doing London, Ireland and Scotland.
The DI: What do you guys enjoy most about performing live?
The National Parks: Everywhere we go has a different personality … You can’t really explain it with words, but you can feel it, and everyone’s in the same room experiencing the same thing. It’s really cool.
The DI: Can you guys share a memorable moment from your time doing live performances on tour?
The National Parks: There was a festival called River in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We had a 2 p.m. slot, an early slot, and we didn’t know how many people to expect or what was going to happen. But we got on stage and there ended up being like 15,000 people. That was really cool and a lot of good opportunities came from that show. It always sticks out in our minds as one of our favorites.
The DI: Anything else you want to share that we didn’t get to?
The National Parks: We just released a new single today called “Whatever Comes” so check it out.
