Aussie metalcore legends Parkway Drive released another documentary earlier this year, Viva La Underdogs. Front man Winston McCall hosted a live view party and Q & A this week to shed some light on what’s been happening in the world of Parkway and what may be happening in the future, (Covid permitting of course).
If you haven’t seen any documentaries from these Bryon Bay boys – get onto it! It’s hard not to love what Parkway Drive are all about. This particular doco’ follows the band on their journey to headlining non-other than the mother of metal festivals, Germany’s Wacken Open Air 2019.
The movie starts off by talking about the evolution of metal in the world. ‘Passing of the guard’ if you will… from major headliners like Motorhead, Slayer, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden to the ‘new’ generation of metal, bands who have been cutting their teeth and making their way up the ranks.
Briefly before all the chaos really starts, you see the boys in a very candid, ‘where will we be in 5 years’ segment. It’s quite wholesome, they really have no idea that Parkway Drive would blow up to be one of the biggest Australian metalcore bands – still going strong 10+ years later! We then get a little introduction to all the band members and a look into their character types. At the end of the day, these guys are a bunch of down to earth skegg heads from Byron Bay that love to shred stages and waves consecutively.
After voicing their collective anxieties about their headliner tour, they are off on their next venture. Day 1 of rehearsal comes around and the sheer size of this tour sinks in. The stage set up, lighting, pyro and all the bells and whistles you could ever desire. It all looks fucking awesome!
The tour starts and sells out much to their surprise – I guess imposters syndrome effects even the big hitters, – the fans are loving it. Germany, London and USA, it doesn’t matter, these guys are eaten up for breakfast! You get to see thegood, the bad and the ugly of the tour. All the things that work without an issue and what happens when things go wrong and it’s completely out of the bands’ control. Imagine selling out a show in HOLLYWOOD and your front of house completely fails you….FUCK.
Before you know it, Parkway are back in Germany and prepping for this monster Wacken performance. I feel anxiety for them. I want everything to go well, the team to pull together and for this Aussie band to KICKS ASS. Much to my delight the show starts and as they part the sea of metalheads, (which is pretty fucking impressive considering the sheer size of this festival), my heart is beating fast. I can’t help but wonder to myself if mankind will get back to a position where we can enjoy such a festival again? The performance goes well. Everything went right and the band seems absolutely elated and grateful for the opportunity. What an amazing feat for Parkway Drive and pivotal moment in their career.
Once the documentary is finished, Winston put on a live Q & A for fans to voice their questions. Poor dude seemed a bit overwhelmed. I personally couldn’t imagine watching that back and miss playing and touring with every inch of my body – it would have been very surreal.
Winston hinted towards a new Parkway album, all very illusive about details of course, by the sounds of it the boys have been busy writing during lockdown. It’s been 19 years since the boys have stayed in one place for so long, a forced change for the band but an opportunity to evolve Parkway Drive. You can check out the whole Q & A on Parkway Drive’s Instagram if you want to hear what Winston had to say in its’ entirety.
A cool thing that he mentioned was that Netflix Australia put Aussie metal to the front and given us metalheads this massive platform. Supply and demand are so important our voices are being heard! That’s pretty fucking awesome guys…long live metal *throws up horns* !
That’s quite enough out of me! Get on Netflix, watch Viva La Underdogs and enjoy all it has to offer.
