|
|
 |
Parkway Drive
 Three years ago Parkway Drive were nothing more than a bunch of kids from Byron Bay playing the music they liked to sweaty guys with tattoos at the local pub. Today, Parkway Drive now stand at the forefront of Australian hardcore, boasting full-frontal live intensity, an insatiable musical ability to create unique, punishing metalcore music, and are now returning to Australia brandishing a new album after the crushingly successful first full-length 'Killing With A Smile'.
"It's something we never thought we'd be in the position to do when we wrote 'Killing With A Smile', we didn't think we'd be able to write any more songs," says the elated singer and frontman Winston McCall. "It was kind of strange for us to actually sit down and write because we've been touring so much. Last year I think we played something like 190 shows."
The new album, entitled 'Horizons', is due for release on 6 October.
"The title came from us not having an idea at all of what we were going to call the album. We were in Germany, playing a show, it was late at night and we couldn't settle on something we all agreed upon. We eventually came up with the idea of 'Horizons', because over the last two years that's pretty much all we've seen, we've been in cars and planes heading towards the horizon; I really like the way it's panned out though.
"We basically kept the same Parkway sound, which is what we've always wanted to do. We tried to make music that we liked, but at the same time we basically tried to refine everything, so when we went into the studio and recorded we'd be like 'this is a fast bit - let's make it as fast as possible' and when there was a heavy bit we made it as heavy as we could - we tried to make sure every bit served its function to it's utmost capability.
"We haven't written a concept album as such. The tracks stand on their own as significant songs, as opposed to running a whole concept of sound through the entire album."
For the new album, the band have once again teamed up with Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, whose skills as a producer have been an undeniably crucial element to Parkway Drive's recordings.
"Thinking back now it was really important to team back up with Adam. A couple of months before we booked the recording, we were thinking about finding other people to record with because we didn't want to release a 'Killing With A Smile II' but we've always done what felt right to us, and recording with Adam again felt right.
"He's an amazing musician in every aspect, he has a keen ear and he can pick out things that work that we would have had no idea about. We went in with a bunch of songs written which we thought were good, but we knew they were only skeleton songs and Adam was going to rip them to shreds when we got in there; we were excited to see what he'd do with them."
Having listened to the new album myself, the band has once again pushed musical boundaries melodically and technically to create a well refined, atmospherically pleasing metalcore sound.
"I think we've improved musically, though I'm not sure whether anyone else thinks that, simply because we've toured and played our old album so much; you kind of evolve as musicians. I know my voice has got a hell of a lot stronger since touring, and the other guys have adopted new techniques when it comes to playing. We have stepped up, I just hope it's enough for it to be noticeable to other people!
"We try and increase the technicality of the music purely because we have an interest for it. We put in some sweep-picking, more solos and more technical stuff because we had fun doing it on the last album, so we thought 'why not try it'; it keeps our music interesting for us."
Fans will notice however, the new album doesn't include those infamous sound-bytes in between tracks that made 'Killing With A Smile' all-the-more cooler (yippee ki-yay motherfucker).
"I am actually a real fan of putting little sound bytes in an album. When we came to write 'Horizons', I wrote to Epitaph and asked whether we could use them and they said 'don't even bother because with the 'States being the 'States, they're going to sue your arse off'. We actually had to take the ones in 'Killing With A Smile' out to release it in the 'States, so their version has gaps all over the place where those little sound bytes used to be. It's a legal nightmare - a lot of bands get smashed for it too."
Parkway Drive return after playing on the recent US Vans Warped Tour, but regardless of overseas success, they still call Australia home.
"We never intend to relocate, I can promise you that one. No offence to the 'States, but it sucks. Australia for us is amazing, it's home. I've been in a fair few countries and we have the best one in the world."
In light of the band's climb to fame, their success is still so overwhelming to a band that only ever played music because it was fun.
"It's awesome when I see kids singing along to tracks, I mean I'm a kid from Byron Bay who wrote songs in his bedroom. To have it mean something enough to the point where someone is screaming it back in my face whilst trying to rip the mic out of my hands is amazing. For us to write another album and come back to play in Australia, it's mind-blowing. Expect me to be smiling the whole time."
Brad Holland
Parkway Drive play The Gov on Thurs 18 October with The Warriors (US), Her Nightmare and No Apologies.
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
