metal

Parkway Drive

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Byron Bay metalcore institution of two decades, grown from hardcore roots into a pyro-heavy arena spectacle led by Winston McCall's roar.

Parkway Drive formed in Byron Bay in 2003, taking their name from the street where the band rehearsed and played early shows, a house known to friends as Parkway House. With few local venues open to punk and hardcore acts, the house became the band's own space, and their first show at the Byron Bay Youth Centre caught the attention of I Killed the Prom Queen's Michael Crafter, leading to an early split release.

Fronted by vocalist Winston McCall, the band emerged from that scene and became one of the defining Australian metalcore groups, with records including Killing with a Smile, Horizons, Atlas, Ire and Reverence. Killing with a Smile was recorded in the United States with producer Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, an unusual step at the time for an Australian band.

Earlier material centred on breakdowns and twin-guitar melodic leads, while later albums brought in orchestration, cleaner singing and a more anthemic approach aimed at larger rooms. The band's lineup has been settled since 2006, when bassist Jia O'Connor joined following the departures of Brett Versteeg and Shaun Cash, and the same year Parkway Drive signed to Epitaph Records.

Of the band's seven studio albums, the last three have each topped the Australian ARIA chart: Ire in 2015, Reverence in 2018 and Darker Still in 2022, and Loudwire has grouped Parkway Drive among modern metalcore's so-called "Big Four," alongside Bring Me the Horizon, Architects and Underoath. Live, the band is known for a heavily produced show involving pyrotechnics and staging, maintaining a following well beyond the metalcore audience they started with.

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