Anger, rage, fury or wrath – whichever way you spin it, Parkway Drive’s fifth studio albumIrehas all the intensity we’ve come to expect from the five-piece.
Their mission has always been to challenge the status quo, and whether or not you agree with their politics, there’s no denying that after years of constant touring and perseverance, they’ve become a force to be reckoned with on the international metalcore scene.
“It’s been a long road to get to where we are, but the making of Ire was probably the longest road we’ve ever been on because of the changes that we made sonically on this record,” says frontman Winston McCall. “This album is bigger than anything we’ve done since starting the band. It was a long learning process – there was a lot of trial and error and a lot of work, rather than simply going back to a formula that we’d already established on the past four records. But at the same time, it wasn’t tiring – it was just really different and very enjoyable.”
Parkway Drive have always relished the opportunity to push the boundaries, whether it be in making a call to action on social justice or environmental change, or by challenging themselves beyond the realm of safety to hammer home their message. When it came to planning the concept for ‘Vice Grip’, the lead single from Ire, the Byron Bay locals chose to look fear straight in the eye and film themselves jumping out of a plane and hurtling straight to Earth. The pinnacle of the video is the moment McCall looks into the camera and screams their war cry: ‘One life, one shot / Give it all you got’.
“That one shot was the moment the entire clip was based around, because we thought it would be pretty powerful – and it only took three takes to nail it,” McCall smiles. “But it was actually really hard because we didn’t have any playback, so I had to make sure that I had the right timing in my head to link it up with the pre-recorded song – it’s not like we had a stereo blaring outside the plane!” he laughs. “For the first two takes I went too fast simply because the adrenaline kicked in, so I devised a couple of little tricks in my head like smashing my teeth down in between words to get the timing. When we landed and played it back everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, we got the shot!’ and so from there we just had fun – it was the best experience.”
With the energy still pumping through their veins, Parkway Drive chose to up the ante during the making of the gravity-defying video for ‘Crushed’, the second single from Ire. The lyrics highlight the need to rebel against those who abuse their power in modern society. “‘Crushed’ is about breaking that cycle. There are certain things that are unbreakable, like gravity, but we could do our best to twist it – so we constructed a room that rotated 360 degrees for the clip,” McCall explains.
“At first we thought, ‘It’ll be OK, because we’ll be able to see the horizon outside the room and we’ll realise that it’s rolling’ – but once we were actually in it, it really tricked our senses and in that sense we did feel gravity shift. Imagine you’re looking at the floor and then all of a sudden you’re falling eight feet and go smack down on the floor. Then add either a drum kit that gets bolted into the floor so it doesn’t move, or for me I had a desk and lights – if you fall from the top of that room to the bottom you could literally break your spine.
“During my first take, Jeff [Ling, guitar] was watching, and as soon as they started rotating and I started falling and trying to sing at the same time, he was screaming. All I heard was, ‘Oh God, oh God, stop! He is going to die!’ the whole time the tape was rolling. It was hilarious, but at the same time, when we watched the footage back, there are so many near misses.”
Parkway Drive’s unwavering determination to take risks and never compromise has earned them respect from fans and fellow musicians around the world – but McCall remains humble and prefers to talk about bands he admires.“I love Northlane’s new record [Node]. I’ll start with those guys simply because they made a very large change from their last album. Firstly, they had to adjust to an entirely new singer, and then they created a record that not only managed to hold onto the elements of the sound they’d already established, but managed to move into a different direction that expanded on that sound. It takes a lot of guts to do that – they’re far less established then we are and they’re already taking those steps, so to me they’re inspiring.”
McCall is also full of praise for fellow Australian band Thy Art Is Murder, who stepped up to the plate to fill the lead support slot on the upcoming national tour when Californian deathcore crew Suicide Silence were forced to pull out.
“I’m not going to say that it worked out better, but…” he pauses. “There’s no-one better to fill that slot than Thy Art, to be honest, and I’m actually really stoked because that new record is absolutely incredible and they’re going from strength to strength – and they’re doing it worldwide. I’m really stoked to have the boys with us.”
Parkway Drive will also be joined on the road by Texan group Memphis May Fire and Arizona’s The Word Alive. “[The Word Alive] are one of the bands that we like playing with overseas. And the fact that they haven’t been to Australia that much is kind of mind-blowing – and it’s exciting to say, ‘Ah, boys, come on over!’ If anyone hasn’t actually seen these guys, and I think most of Australia hasn’t, they’re in for a treat.”
Parkway Drive‘sIre is outFriday September 25 through Resist, and, supported by Thy Art Is Murder, Memphis May Fire and The Word Alive, they play the Hordern Pavilion Friday October 9.
