Paul McBride
Feature Interview: Winston McCall of Parkway Drive
November 1, 2019 Paul McBride	Leave a comment
Sixteen years and six albums into his glittering career, Parkway Drive frontman Winston McCall isn't about to start taking anything for granted.
"From day one, we've always had to prove ourselves," he says. "We've always said in interviews that we just go out there and do what we do, but, now having sat back and looked at it, the place we're at now is literally the last place anyone would have expected for this band, including ourselves."
Sixth album 'Reverence', released in May last year, pushed the band's creative ambition further than ever before and has brought not only exciting new avenues and achievements, but additional pressure to the Byron Bay metallers.
"The past 12 months has been crazy; like a complete time-warp," McCall says. "We've done a hell of a lot of touring and the band has grown so much in that time that I forget the fact it's only been a year since ['Reverence' came out]. It's been the biggest release of the band's career and we've reached several milestones in the past 12 months. These are things we never even thought we would see and they just rolled over, one after the other. It's been busy and hectic; so hectic. We've had three major injuries within the band in the past 12 months, we've played the biggest headline shows we've ever played in every continent we've played in, then we've played the biggest festival appearances and biggest shows of our lives."
Written and conceived around a dark period for the band, 'Reverence' was informed by personal tragedy and loss, and took the five-piece's music into sometimes difficult yet often ground-breaking territory.
"All of that writing and stuff happened, we brought the record out during that whole ongoing thing, and I guess it's just a part of life." McCall says. "It's something that never leaves you, that loss. It gets easier the amount of time you put between when it happens and now, I guess. You carry it with you all the time and you see it through different lenses and shades as you go. In that respect, dealing with it is going well, but you always have a relationship with it. That's probably the best way to describe it."
After a heavy few months spent touring Europe and the States, where McCall says he was offered crack in a diner before food was even mentioned, the band will play its only Australian shows of 2019 at Good Things Festival; a trio of dates which stand out for several reasons.
"It's our first time being able to headline a major Australian festival," he says. "And it's really cool to see heavy and alternative music making a resurgence in festivals in Australia because it's such a massive thing and it's such a massive community. It's been underplayed in the past as a lot of people think it's a small amount of people in this country who enjoy this music, which is so far from the truth it's insane. So it's really nice. So many people in the past have seen the local Australian scene of lesser or less of a commodity than an overseas name, and for us to be able to make a statement by being in that slot is a massive, massive deal. It's going to be fucking awesome and we're pumped."
Australian fans can be guaranteed an eye- and ear-blistering live show when the band lands for the December run of shows. Inspiration for the visual spectacular that is a Parkway Drive gig can come from almost anywhere, McCall says.
"We've retained creative control over every single aspect of this band, which means there's a hell of a lot of work that goes into it. If you have the drive to create something more, we have a very large canvas, but that means you have to have the imagination to fill it. Ideas come from everything: other bands, theatre, music, film, videos, from literally just walking around spaces, architecture and anything from the past. We're taking an interest in what our lighting guy is doing and work with him to create something so we know what the physical and emotional impact of the stage show are. It takes a hell of a lot, but being able to couple your music with something you know will heighten the experience is a very powerful experience. At the end of the day, when you rock up to a gig, you know it's very different to just watching your favourite band play your favourite song. We want it to do things that create moments that are worthy of your time."
While they've come a long way from that Byron Bay backstreet to being a major player in Australian and world metal, McCall and Parkway Drive will likely continue aiming to prove themselves for some time to come.
"Years ago, nobody was saying Parkway was going to be able to get as big as we are, play the songs we play, create the music we do, put on the shows we put on and have the actual imagination to do that," McCall says. "We've had 16 years' worth of pressure and this has been the year we've realised we can do this and we have the space to create something using our imaginations, rather than just be in survival mode. So there's more pressure, but we're also aware of what the pressure is, and how to deal with it better. There's been a hell of a lot of people who say we're one thing and we'll never be anything else, or we've been left out of many equations, which is fine. But it helps us realise the fact we were aware of that status the entire time, and it's something we've been trying to smash. It's nice to know we've been able to do that. It's been a very interesting experience."
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