Parkway Drive
Band Members
- Current Line-Up
- Ben Gordon (drums)
- Luke Kilpatrick (guitar)
- Jeff Ling (guitar)
- Winston McCall (vocals)
- Jia O'Connor (bass)
- Former Members
- Shaun Cash (bass) ( - 2006)
- Brett Versteeg (bass)
- Tom Jagels (guitar)
Website
Formed
Byron Bay, NSW, 2003
Band Information
Parkway Drive is a band from Byron Bay in New South Wales and one of those modern bands that blurs the line between metal and hardcore in such a way that it's difficult to tell into which genre they fall. The band formed in early 2003 and named themselves after a street in their suburb. Parkway Drive then quickly began to establish a name for itself on the south Queensland/northern NSW hardcore scene. By the end of that year Parkway Drive had released a split CD with the like-minded I Killed the Prom Queen.
The "Don't Close Your Eyes" EP followed the next year and Parkway Drive undertook a relentless touring campaign that helped to promote their aggressive style of melodic metalcore. Along with supports to bands like Shadows Fall, Chimaira, Hatebreed and Alexisonfire, Parkway Drive appeared at Metal for the Brain in early 2005. After this, the band went to the US where they recorded the album Killing With a Smile with Kilswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz producing.
Shaun Cash left Parkway Drive in May 2006, just before the band was signed by legendary US punk label Epitaph for the worldwide release of Killing With a Smile. He was replaced by O'Connor and a world tour was completed that featured shows throughout Europe, Japan and the US. Parkway Drive played the Taste of Chaos tour in October 2006, followed by a national tour with Himsa and an appearance at the Homebake festival in Sydney in December and was arguably now Australia's best-known metalcore act. During 2007 the band played the Vans Warped tour in the US and returned to release the Horizons album in October that was supported by a national tour with No Apologies and US band The Warriors. Horizons debuted on the national Top 40 at #6, unequivocably the highest entry position on the chart by any domestic metal band.
Parkway Drive headed back to Europe for an extended tour in November 2007. That was followed by another Australian tour in February and March 2008. In April 2008 Parkway Drive toured Europe for two months with Bury Your Dead and Suicide Silence before undertaking another exhaustive Australian tour throughout May and June. The band toured through Japan with Shai Halud in January 2009 ahead of shows in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. After five Australian shows in March, Parkway Drive returned to North America in mid-2009 and then Europe in June and July, featuring at events like the Download Festival in the UK, Finland's Tuska Open Air, Graspop in Belgium and With Full Force in Germany. An Australia tour with August Burns Red and Architects followed in August, to promote the release of The DVD, a 70-minute film of their career to this point. The DVD subsequently went gold, and was released in the US in September to coincide with yet another tour there, this time with A Day To Remember and In Fear and Faith. In December 2009, Parkway Drive will tour through north Queensland, Northern Territory and rural Western Australia.
Discography
Albums:
| 2005 | Killing With a Smile | Resist | |
| 2007 | Horizons | Resist |
EP:
| 2004 | Don't Close Your Eyes | Resist |
Split:
| 2003 | Split with I Killed the Prom Queen | Final Prayer |
Compilation tracks:
| Year | Track Title | Album Title | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "Looks Like Yoda" | Metal for the Brain 2005 | Faultline | |
| 2006 | "Smoke 'em if You Get 'em" | Short Fast Loud | ABC/EMI |
