Having risen to the status of demi-gods in the metal scene, not just here but pretty much everywhere, Byron Bay lads Parkway Drive have detailed plans of their yet-to-be-named impending release, looking to drop before the year’s out. Now in a recent interview with Drum Media, drummer Ben Gordon has explained the issues the band faced when selecting producers for the hugely anticipated release.
For previous albums Killing With a Smile and Horizons, the band enlisted the genius of Killswitch Engage personality Adam D. Though the band were in awe of his expertise, Gordon explains that there were some concerns with his techniques: “Adam D is really, really tight, like a drum machine, Everything is so perfect, and in a way, it makes it sound pretty lifeless. So that’s why we went with Joe, because we wanted to get away from that.”
It was for that reason that they then selected Joe Barresi (of Tool, Kyuss, QOTSA fame) to steer the wheel behind 2010’s Deep Blue. Barreri’s style is what attracted the band, given his raw technique: “With Joe, we were happy with Deep Blue, but in a sense it was off too far in the other direction. He was so old-school that he just wanted us to play whole takes and he didn’t edit anything and it was extremely raw and the other end of the spectrum.”
Gordon did unveil that the band will be using Matt Hyde for the new album. With his fingerprints on releases from Slayer, Sum 41 and Alkaline Trio, Hyde was seen as the perfect middle ground: “What we wanted was basically something exactly in the middle, someone who was not super-new, somebody who’d been around for a while but also has the knowledge to be able to make everything sound tight and massive,” Gordon told Drum.
“That’s why we went with Matt, and he’s perfect – we’re absolutely stoked with him. This album’s the album we’ve always wanted to make. We feel that we’ve found the perfect formula.”
If you haven’t seen Home Is for the Heartless, the band’s latest DVD, you seriously need to. The doco gives fans a chance to see behind the scenes of Parkway Drive’s latest world tour, and all the dodgie places they went.
