What a trip it has been for the Aussie powerhouse that is Parkway Drive. From starting as a band with bone-crushing breakdowns we have seen them evolve into a heavy music act that progresses with each record. Their latest, Reverence, is no exception and we had the treat to chat with Parkway Drive frontman Winston McCall at Carolina Rebellion on a special day, their album release day.
READ OUR REVIEW OF REVERENCE HERE
The Whirlwind & Evolution
We discuss obviously the new record, Reverence, and how much the band has grown over time. We find him stunned and elated about where Parkway Drive has come. McCall discusses slowly changing every time they release a record and the scope they reached on this one is in his words, mental. Playing for a sea of people on a massive mainstage for any band would be wild, but there’s something special about coming from the small Warped Tour stages to massive festival circuits.
Comfortable Venues vs Hot Festivals
A theme we went into this year was the transitioning between the tours most of these bands are on to an outdoor all-day event. Tons of variables come up such as set times, crowd sizes, limited production, and the unpredictable weather. We have found various answers to these questions but one common theme has been set length.
For Winston, he states that the daytime affects the mood of the crowd. He does love it because he can see everyone and the massive crowds vs being in the dark in a dark venue. He states he wants their music to connect and participate with the band via moshing, crowd surfing, etc.
Fan Safety
We discuss that twice on their current tour a fan had suffered an injury during their set crowd surfing in which they had to stop the show. A video surfaced last week of a girl in Virginia being flung over the barricade like a rag doll and lay almost lifeless between the stage and barricade. For her privacy, we will not embed the video, but Winston expresses his concern for her and fans watching to take care of each other.
Stream Parkway Drive’s new record Reverence below:
