A Short History Of Parkway Drive
February 14th, 2011
One of the most popular metalcore bands today is Parkway Drive. The band was formed back in 2002 in New South Wales, Australia. So far there are three albums under their names and these are: Killing With A Smile, Horizons, and Deep Blue. And aside from the albums, there are now high demand for great Parkway Drive merch today.
Byron Bay, the hometown where the band was exactly started, is actually a very peaceful, quiet and idyllic town with sandy beaches and lush tropical vegetation. It is considered by many as a backpacker’s top destination down under. Therefore it comes as a big surprise to learn that a metalcore band like Parkway Drive would be formed from this village.
Their current band line up is: Winston McCall at vocals, Ben Gordon at drums, Jeff Ling with guitar, Jia O’Connor at bass guitar, and Luke Kilpatrick also at guitar.
How The Band Was Formed
The origin of the band’s name is pretty much straightforward. When they were formed in 2002, they were practicing in the garage of a house that was located on Parkway Drive.
A few months later, they released what is called a split EP with another band called I Killed The Prom Queen which was based from Adelaide. The EP was aptly titled “I Killed The Prom Queen / Parkway Drive Split CD.
Then in 2005 the band went to the United States to record the first of their Parkway Drive albums, the Killing Me With A Smile which was released in August of 2005 under Epitaph Records. It was produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz.
But just some months after that, their bass guitarist at that time, Shaun Cash, decided to leave the band and he was replaced by Jia O’Connor. Jia was already with the band when they kicked off their first international tour of the U.S. and Europe.
The album, Killing With A Smile was praised by many critics for its technical musical precision which they believe would be a hit to all extreme music fanatics.
The band’s second album was released on the 6th of October, 2007 and titled, Horizons. Its hit single “The Siren’s Song” was included there. “The Siren’s Song” was originally played by the band at Underworld just a few months before the release of the album. Soon after that they went on a tour of the U.S., Australia, and Europe.
The album immediately rose to the number 6 spot of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Chart. It also ranked at number 27 in the Top Heatseekers chart. Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Chart.
After three long years of waiting, Deep Blue was finally released. It is the third and latest, as of to date, of their album releases and it was launched on June 29, 2010. The band recorded it in Los Angeles, California still under the Epitaph Records. It was the longest time of interval since they release another album but it was worth it as it ranked almost immediately to the 2nd spot of the ARIA charts.
Winston McCall described this third album as telling the story of a man who finally realized that his life was full of lies. The man soon went on a journey that saw him going to the depths of the ocean and back again in his quest for the truth.
With their three successful albums and equally successful world tours, and not to mention the demand for their band merch, Parkway Drive is not only Australia’s most famous metalcore bands, but also among the best around the globe.
Categories: Music and Gadget
