Parkway Drive Put Their Success Down To A Fluke

Byron Bay metal masters Parkway Drive have admitted that their status as one of the country's premiere heavy bands is largely a fluke. Atlas.

In a recent interview on the eve of their fourth album Atlas, frontman Winston McCall described the feeling that they could go down in local music history as “pretty weird”, but one they would gladly take on.

“We do [take it on], but it's always in a, 'I can't believe we've won awards, and that people come to the shows in the numbers that they do,' sort of way,” he explained.

“We definitely are one of those bands who happened to be right place, right time, right sound. It's a complete fluke in regards to all those chance factors. We do look back and think, 'Man, if we had started six months later this wouldn't be happening. If we had written songs that were a little bit different, this wouldn't be happening.

“There was going to be clean singing on [debut album] Killing With A Smile, but the bass player at the time screwed up. So it could have been completely different, we could have written a record that people went, 'Urgh, clean singing'. So many things could have changed in the band's trajectory that would have had us fall out of that arc of what sounds were in at the time.”

McCall also said that their relentless touring schedule might ease on the back of Atlas, but they'll compensate by putting a bigger production on.

“We want to make the shows something bigger. And I don't mean the amount of people coming, but what we can actually do with the band in regards to the band in making it something unique. The amount of touring we're doing can slow down a little bit, but we want to make it worth it when people come to see us.”

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