Magnolia Park

A band determined not to be pigeonholed, Magnolia Park have made a name for themselves by ignoring stylistic, thematic, and cultural boundaries. Their music is primarily rooted in upbeat pop-punk, but contemporary pop, hip-hop, emo, and electronics are among the many ingredients in their formula, and the multi-racial group write heartfelt, personal lyrics that realistically reflect joy, despair, and sometimes both at the same time. The prolific Florida-based band released close to a dozen singles and digital tracks before they signed with punk powerhouse Epitaph, which released their 2021 Halloween Mixtape, as well as their first official album, 2022′s lyrically incisive Baku’s Revenge.
Hailing from Orlando, Florida, Magnolia Park formed in 2019. The members of the group — Joshua Roberts on lead vocals, Freddie Criales and Tristan Torres on guitars, Jared Kay on bass, Vincent Ernst on keyboards, and Joe Horsham on drums — were all veterans of the local music scene, with their résumés covering everything from pop-punk to metalcore. Citing influences ranging from Panic! At the Disco, Linkin Park, Paramore, and Gym Class Heroes, the musicians in Magnolia Park were playing standard issue pop-punk early on, but that changed when Tristan Torres went through a period of deep depression and was seriously considering suicide. He wrote a harrowing song about the experience, “Outside,” and when the group chose to record it in 2020, it was their first step in a more adventurous direction. Magnolia Park made a conscious eff7ort to deal with real-life issues in their lyrics, and their increasingly eclectic sound — sometimes mixing metal guitar tones, pop melodies, punk riffing, Auto-Tune vocals, and rap-influenced lyrics on a single track — spoke of a desire to be sonically as well as thematically inclusive. (Inclusivity comes naturally to Magnolia Park, which includes Black, Latin, and white musicians.)
Relatively early on, the group reached out to producer Andrew Wade, who had worked in the studio with A Day to Remember, Wage War, the Dead Rabbits, and many more. Wade, based in Florida, appreciated Magnolia Park’s adventurous approach, and he helped them craft their sound as they recorded and issued a steady stream of material, issuing five singles in 2020 and three singles and two EPs in 2021. Magnolia Park collaborated with the band 408 and Sleeping with Sirens frontman Kellin Quinn for the single Mark Hoppus, a witty meditation on what it would be like to be the blink-182 founder. The track opened the band to a wider audience, and they were spending more time on the road, headlining small shows and opening for major acts such as Simple Plan and Sum 41. Their higher profile brought them to the attention of Epitaph Records, who signed Magnolia Park and put them into the studio to record an EP. The band cut nine songs, and whittled the track listing down to four tracks for 2022′s Heart Eater, while the label also reissued the Halloween Mixtape the band brought out the previous year. While the group kept cranking out singles (including “Don’t Be Racist,” “How Could You,” and “Catastrophe”), they were working on a full-length album, and Baku’s Revenge was issued in November 2022. A loose concept album involving the character Baku, who frequently appears in the artwork of Magnolia Park’s releases, the album included guest appearances from Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade, adventurous country artist Taylor Acorn, and electronic pop songwriter FRED. ~ Mark Deming