Parkway Drive - Tale Lights

Calling them just another band to combine the sounds of metal with hardcore would be a disgrace. This is simply because they do it so well. After just completing a month long stint on the infamous Warped Tour around the US, Byron Bay lads Parkway Drive are back home and awaiting the release of their much anticipated second full length album.

For those who don’t know, the Warped Tour is big, almost 50 stops around North America, 10 stages and up to 100 bands per show. Winston McCall, the rather fine vocalist of Parkway Drive sounded very impressed by the whole journey. “The Warped tour was amazing. It’s kind of weird, there are so many bands, and it is sort of hard to keep track of what’s going on. We tried to keep pretty under the radar, it’s our first time there so we didn’t want to burn any bridges or piss anyone off. Later on we would all hang out, as soon as the show was finished it was just a giant party, hanging out around the barbeque getting drunk and doing what ever.”

It makes you wonder with all these bands playing at once, how the crowds reacted to the only Australian band on the bill. “The whole warped tour full stop is kind of a strange set up compared to anything we’d ever done, because there is 10 stages that are all going at the same time, its kind of like people react in a different way when they are observing. They have an option to see ten different bands at once, so if they don’t like you they immediately walk straight on past. But, it was really really good considering that. A lot of kids seemed to watch us and enjoy what they heard so it was rad.”

Parkway Drive are one of those bands that have built a fan base around the globe by consistent touring. Right now, the band is taking a much deserved break “Two weeks off, I try not to count, it gets kind of depressing”. When asked how they survive all this touring, McCall simply answered “Barely”. There was a short pause. “I don’t know, I guess we just get into a mode of touring, its kind of our lives these days. It’s coming home and adjusting back, not having to do anything, no having to sit in a car that is kind of the strange thing.”

The band have been busy recording their new album, with producer and Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz in Massachusetts. McCall spoke of Dutkiewicz highly, “He had a fair bit of input on our songs, because we worked with him before (Killing with a Smile) we knew what to expect this time around, especially in the writing process. We tried not to get our hearts set on songs exactly the way they were when we went in to how they were when we actually record them. He has a totally different ear when it comes to music than we do, so he has ideas that we wouldn’t have normally thought of, especially with the song structure. He kind of butchered a fair few songs and muddled things around which definitely made it better in the long run. We have songs that sound completely different now too when we wrote them. They definitely sound a hell of a lot better. It was cool.”

When asked how pleased you are with the twelve tracks there suddenly became a strangely nervous tone to McCalls voice, “Um, yeah, really pleased,” replied Winston. “I’m probably most pleased with these songs, as I have been with any other songs we’ve ever written. So, I’m kind of excited to play them live and I’m also interested to see other peoples reaction. It’s hard sitting on them for two months, just waiting for it to come out.”
They are playing a whole stack of dates around Australia in support of their new release Horizons. The band are supported by The Warriors (USA) and fellow Australians No Apologies and Her Nightmare. McCall seemed rather excited about the tour. “(We’re) super stoked that The Warriors are able to come out, because they are amazing guys and a really great band. They did the first tour with us in the states, helped us out a lot and I’m stoked that they can come to Australia. No Apologies and Her Nightmare, good friends as well, all amazing bands so I think the shows should be really really fun.”

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