PARKWAY DRIVE BIOGRAPHY

PARKWAY DRIVE
Biography

Parkway Drive is a metalcore band formed in 2003 in Byron Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia (official website). It takes its name from the street where its members rehearsed in their youth, at the home of the drummer's parents (ABC, 2022). After a split CD with I Killed the Prom Queen in 2003 and the Don't Close Your Eyes EP in 2004, the band released seven studio albums, from Killing with a Smile (2005) to Darker Still (2022) (official website). Ire (2015), Reverence (2018) and Darker Still reached No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart one after another, and Deep Blue (2010), Reverence and Darker Still won the ARIA Music Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album (ARIA). In 2019 Parkway Drive headlined Wacken Open Air in Germany, and eleven songs from that set make up most of the soundtrack of its 2020 documentary film Viva the Underdogs. As part of its 20th anniversary it played a one-night concert with an orchestra at the Sydney Opera House on 9 June 2025, the subject of the film Parkway Drive: HOME and of the live album HOME - Live at the Sydney Opera House, with a release date of 4 December 2026. The line-up is the singer Winston McCall, the guitarists Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick and the drummer Ben Gordon, all four there from the start, with the bassist Jia O'Connor, who joined in 2006 (official website / MusicBrainz).

Beginnings and the first recordings (2003-2004)

The band's website says that Parkway Drive was formed in Byron Bay in 2003, and traces it back to a group of friends getting together in their parents' basements and backyards (official website). The name comes from a street in Byron Bay where the members rehearsed in their youth, at the house of Gordon's parents, and in 2022 the band was still rehearsing there (ABC, 2022).

Its first recording was a split CD shared with I Killed the Prom Queen in 2003 (Theprp.com, 2023). Parkway Drive contributed two songs, "I Watched" and "Swallowing Razorblades", recorded in April 2003, and the CD came out on Final Prayer Records (Discogs). In 2004 the band followed it with its first EP, Don't Close Your Eyes, on Resist Records (Theprp.com, 2023 / Discogs). The bass was played at first by Brett Versteeg, and from 2004 to 2006 by Shaun Cash (Wikipedia / Discogs).

Killing with a Smile and Horizons (2005-2009)

In 2005 the band released its first full-length album, Killing with a Smile, on Resist Records (official website / Theprp.com, 2026 / Discogs). It was produced, engineered and mixed by Adam Dutkiewicz, the guitarist of Killswitch Engage (MusicBrainz), and recorded in May 2005 at Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts (Wikipedia). In August 2006 Epitaph Records released the album in Europe and the United States (MusicBrainz).

The band's first trip to Europe was paid for with a loan from McCall's parents. Soon after they arrived, the bassist of the time left, and his place went to O'Connor, who had been selling the band's merchandise on tour and working as its roadie, and who had never played bass before. McCall has said that rather than look for a skilled player, the band chose a friend it enjoyed spending time with (ABC, 2022). O'Connor's arrival is dated to 2006 (MusicBrainz / Discogs).

Horizons (2007) was again produced by Dutkiewicz and recorded at the same Zing Studios (Wikipedia). In 2009 the band released a video, The DVD (MusicBrainz).

Deep Blue and Atlas (2010-2014)

For Deep Blue (2010) the band worked with the producer Joe Barresi at Jhoc Studios in Los Angeles (Wikipedia). Talking to Metal Hammer at the time, McCall described the album's background as his doubts about the systems of school and work and about a culture that puts money above everything else (Louder). Deep Blue won the ARIA Music Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album in 2010 (ARIA).

In 2012 Parkway Drive released Home Is for the Heartless on DVD and Blu-ray, a 75-minute live and documentary film shot in 42 countries on five continents; its North American release was set for July that year (Theprp.com, 2012). The album Atlas, also from 2012, was produced by Matt Hyde (Wikipedia), and "Dark Days" came out as a single the same year (MusicBrainz).

Ire, Reverence and Wacken Open Air (2015-2019)

Ire (2015) was recorded in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, with the producer George Hadji-Christou (Wikipedia). It went to No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart of 5 October 2015, the band's first chart-topping album (ARIA), and was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album at the 2016 ARIA Music Awards (ARIA).

Reverence (2018), again made with Hadji-Christou, was recorded in Vancouver and Ottawa (Wikipedia). It was preceded by the singles "Wishing Wells", "The Void" and "Prey" (MusicBrainz), reached No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart of 14 May 2018, and won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album at that year's ARIA Music Awards (ARIA). In 2019 the band headlined Wacken Open Air in Germany (Blabbermouth, 2020).

Viva the Underdogs and the pandemic (2020-2021)

In 2020 came Viva the Underdogs, a documentary film that follows the band's story through more than a decade of behind-the-scenes footage. It played for one night in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 22 January 2020, the same day as its premiere in Australia (Louder, 2019), and in March the band announced that it would show the film on YouTube on 4 April 2020 (5 April in Australia) as a gift to its fans (Theprp.com, 2020).

The film's soundtrack, also called Viva the Underdogs, was released on 27 March 2020. It holds eleven live recordings from the band's headlining set at Wacken Open Air in 2019 and three studio recordings sung in German: "Würgegriff (Vice Grip)", "Die Leere (The Void)" and "Schattenboxen (Shadow Boxing)", the last with the German rapper Casper (Blabbermouth, 2020 / Theprp.com, 2020). It was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album at the 2020 ARIA Music Awards (ARIA).

The pandemic reached the band's touring as well (Theprp.com, 2020): a North American tour with Hatebreed was postponed several times and finally cancelled in the autumn of 2021 (Theprp.com, 2022).

A break, and Darker Still (2022-2023)

On 6 April 2022 the band called off its North American tour of 8 May to 5 June with Hatebreed, The Black Dahlia Murder and Stick to Your Guns. In its statement the band explained that nearly twenty years of non-stop activity had left its members almost no time to take stock of themselves, and that this had worn on each of them and on their friendships (Theprp.com, 2022). On 23 May it added that, after the shutdown of the pandemic, its members were taking time to look after their mental health (Theprp.com, 2022). According to the Australian public broadcaster ABC, the members went into group counselling during this period (ABC, 2022).

In September 2022 the band released the studio album Darker Still on Epitaph Records (Theprp.com, 2022), produced by Hadji-Christou (Wikipedia). McCall summed up its theme as "the dark night of the soul", and the video for the advance song "The Greatest Fear" was directed by James Chappell (Theprp.com, 2022); "Glitch" also came out as a single that year (MusicBrainz). Darker Still entered the ARIA albums chart of 19 September 2022 at No. 1, the band's third No. 1 in a row after Ire and Reverence (ARIA). At the 2023 ARIA Music Awards it won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album and was nominated for Best Group; ARIA lists its Australian release as Parkway Records and Cooking Vinyl Australia (ARIA).

Parkway Drive was on the bill of Knotfest Australia, the festival hosted by Slipknot in March 2023 (Theprp.com, 2022), and for the autumn of that year it announced the Monsters of Oz tour of North America as part of its 20th anniversary, headlining with The Amity Affliction, Northlane and Make Them Suffer in support (Theprp.com, 2023).

The 20th anniversary (2023-2025)

The band counts 2023 as its 20th anniversary (official website). In April that year it announced an expanded vinyl edition of Don't Close Your Eyes for August, adding the songs from the split CD with I Killed the Prom Queen and tracks the band had given to compilations (Theprp.com, 2023).

In September 2024 the band toured the arenas of Australia for its 20th anniversary, opening in Brisbane on the 20th, with I Prevail, The Ghost Inside and Void of Vision (Theprp.com, 2024). The band billed the seven-date tour as the biggest headline tour ever by an Australian metal band, and released a documentary about it in several parts (Theprp.com, 2025).

In May 2025 the band released "Sacred", its first new song since 2022, with a video directed by Third Eye Visuals. That year it was also on the bill of the North American Summer of Loud tour, co-headlined by Beartooth and I Prevail, alongside Killswitch Engage and The Amity Affliction among others (Theprp.com, 2025). Its 20th-anniversary tour of Europe and the UK in the autumn of 2025, with Thy Art Is Murder and The Amity Affliction, was announced to open in Leipzig on 19 September (Theprp.com, 2024).

HOME at the Sydney Opera House (2025-2026)

In February 2025 the band announced, as part of its 20th anniversary, a concert at the Sydney Opera House backed by an orchestra; it was advertised as a black-tie event and was to be filmed for a feature-length live film (Theprp.com, 2025). The concert took place on 9 June 2025, and two songs were played live for the first time that night: the new "Sacred" and "A Deathless Song" from 2015, the latter with Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive (Theprp.com, 2025).

The film of that night, Parkway Drive: HOME, was co-directed by Allan Hardy and Macario De Souza (Theprp.com, 2026). Its world premiere was announced as a black-tie screening at the State Theatre in Sydney on 10 November 2026 (Theprp.com, 2026 / official website), and its cinema release was announced for 12 November in Australia and 18 November in North America (Theprp.com, 2026). The band's website announced premiere screenings in Los Angeles (15 November), New York (17 November), London (19 November), Berlin (22 November) and Tokyo (25 November) (official website).

The recording of the concert is the live album HOME - Live at the Sydney Opera House, on two CDs and three LPs, with a release date of 4 December 2026. A live video of "Prey" from the night was released ahead of it in October 2026 (Theprp.com, 2026 / official website).

Shows and events, 2026-2027

In July 2025 the band announced Park Waves, a touring festival of its own, to run in Australia from February 2026 (Theprp.com, 2025). On 1 December 2025 it announced that Park Waves had been cancelled because of the rising costs of touring; The Amity Affliction, Northlane, Alpha Wolf and Story of the Year had been among the acts on the bill (Theprp.com, 2025).

In June 2026 the band announced the Killing Horizons Tour for August, two nights in each of five Australian cities, with Killing with a Smile played in full on the first night and Horizons on the second (Theprp.com, 2026).

Parkway Drive was announced as the headliner of Hellbound, a metal cruise on the Carnival Splendor out of Sydney: the first edition, from 22 to 25 October 2026 (Theprp.com, 2025), and Hellbound II, from 17 to 21 January 2027 (Theprp.com, 2026 / official website).

For June 2027 the band was announced at Rock for People 2027 in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, on 4 June (Rock for People website). The band's own website also listed shows in Nürburg and Nürnberg, Germany (4-6 June), Sölvesborg, Sweden (9-12 June), Interlaken, Switzerland (10-12 June), Dessel, Belgium (17-20 June) and Ferrara, Italy (20 June) (official website).

Members

The current line-up is the following five (official website). The years are those given by MusicBrainz, Discogs and Wikipedia.

Member	Role	Years
Winston McCall	Vocals	2003-
Jeff Ling	Guitar	2003-
Luke Kilpatrick	Guitar	2003-
Jia O'Connor	Bass	2006-
Ben Gordon	Drums	2003-

Former members (Wikipedia / Discogs):

Member	Role	Years
Brett Versteeg	Bass, backing vocals	2003-2004
Shaun Cash	Bass	2004-2006

Concerts in Japan

In Japan, Sony Music Japan International released Killing with a Smile (May 2007, EICP-767) and Horizons (24 October 2007, EICP-871) (Sony Music; Tower Records), and Silent Trade issued the Japanese edition of Darker Still (STCD-0006, 2022) with three live bonus tracks (Tower Records; Gekirock).

Parkway Drive played in Japan in 2007. On 31 March that year the band's Australian label, Resist Records, said that the band would record its next album at Zing Studios in Boston in May and then tour Europe and Japan in June; on 2 July it reported that the band had finished recording Horizons and had just completed its dates in Japan and Europe (Resist Records, 2007).

For 2009, Resist Records announced on 28 January that the band would play in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia over January and February (Resist Records, 2009). In November 2008 the news site Lambgoat had reported the Japanese leg as five shows with Shai Hulud and Crystal Lake, from Osaka on 28 January through Nagoya, Koriyama and Kawasaki to Tokyo on 1 February (Lambgoat, 2008).

On 1 and 2 April 2023, Slipknot's festival Knotfest Japan 2023 was held in Halls 9 to 11 of the Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall in Chiba, with Slipknot headlining both days; the organiser was Hayashi International Promotions (H.I.P.). Added to the bill in the festival's second announcement in January 2023, Parkway Drive played the second day, called FESTIVAL, which also featured Korn (Makuhari Messe; knotfest.com; Tower Records; Loudwire, 2023).

On 13 October 2025 Parkway Drive headlined LOUD PARK 25, a one-day festival at Saitama Super Arena put on by Creativeman Productions. On a bill that included Bullet for My Valentine, The Haunted, The Ghost Inside and Heaven Shall Burn, the band closed the Ultimate Stage, going on at 19:20 (the festival's website, 2025).

Two days later, on 15 October, the band gave a concert of its own at Toyosu PIT in Tokyo, Parkway Drive Live in Tokyo 2025, promoted by Creativeman Productions, with the Tokyo-based metalcore band Prompts, whose members are Japanese and Korean, in support. Doors opened at 18:00 and the show began at 19:00; tickets were 9,500 yen, all standing, including tax with a drink extra, or 10,500 yen at the door, and went on general sale on 20 September (Creativeman Productions' concert page, 2025).

Cinemart Shinjuku in Tokyo announced a one-night premiere screening of the documentary film Parkway Drive: HOME on 25 November 2026, with vocalist Winston McCall coming to Japan to appear on stage (Cinemart Shinjuku, 2026).

Date	City	Venue	Show
2 April 2023	Chiba	Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Halls 9-11	Knotfest Japan 2023, day two (H.I.P.)
13 October 2025	Saitama	Saitama Super Arena	LOUD PARK 25, headliner (Creativeman Productions)
15 October 2025	Tokyo	Toyosu PIT	Parkway Drive Live in Tokyo 2025, headline show (Creativeman Productions)

About the sources

The sources are Parkway Drive's official website (parkwaydriverock.com), with its band profile, its tour page and its page for the film HOME; Epitaph Records' artist page; the ARIA charts and the records of the ARIA Music Awards; the Rock for People website; a 2022 report by the Australian broadcaster ABC; Theprp.com; Blabbermouth.net; and Louder (including Metal Hammer features). The labels and credits of the records, the years of the singles and videos, and the years of the former members were checked against MusicBrainz, Discogs and Wikipedia.