Winston McCall Hints About Parkway Drive’s 20th Anniversary Tour

For two decades, Parkway Drive have continued to push themselves and the boundaries of metal music in Australia. Redefining the heavy music landscape while maintaining a concise and solid vision that has taken them from strength to strength, the Byron Bay group celebrates their 20th anniversary the only way they know how.

And that is large. With a lot of fire.

Parkway Drive – 20 Years

Set to embark on their largest tour of Australia to date, Parkway Drive embrace arena levels of greatness on home turf. Debuting a brand new stage production, the most ambitious of their career, Parkway is looking forward to giving their legion of fans an unforgettable experience to celebrate two decades in the game.

Moreover, this anniversary tour is a way for the group to kick off a bright new chapter of music and artistry.

Ahead of the national run alongside US acts I Prevail and The Ghost Inside, as well Melbourne metalcore faves Void of Vision, Parkway frontman Winston McCall drops some key hints about what fans can be expecting from this milestone tour.

The Parkway Drive vision has never been clearer

Prior to this Australia arena tour, Parkway Drive had completed full tours of Europe and the UK, as well as North America – a full Northern Hemisphere summer spent sharpening chops in preparation for a special homecoming.

Says McCall: “We did three weeks, then eight days off, then three weeks. We were then home for five days, and then went to the United States. In theory, it didn’t feel like much, but then it did feel like I was on tour for six months straight. I still feel like I am, but that’s alright!”

2. With this tour, fans will experience Parkway Drive at a new, fiery creative peak

20 years of anything is an achievement; for a band, it is a particularly special accomplishment. For Parkway Drive, they have been a band that has set a standard for Australian heavy music – a standard that has been built upon beautifully by many waves of bands who have come up under them.

Reflecting on where Parkway Drive started and the band they are today, McCall notes the importance of a group taking ownership of their talents and chemistry.

“It’s strange, the first ten years had pretty much no goals — if you have no goals, you have no disappointment,” he says. “We had a motto of saying, ‘Don’t talk it up’, even if it was the best gig we’d turn up to. Don’t talk it up, because that way you’re not going to get disappointed. What happens, happens, that’s great. It also meant we didn’t take ownership of the band’s direction and the band’s potential.”

“We used to get interviewed and they’d be like, ‘You’re doing this, you’re doing that, how did you get here?’ and we’d go, ‘We’re idiots, we don’t even know how to play our instruments; this is all just luck.’ After ten years, I personally was like, this is not just luck. You have to take some responsibility. And only through taking responsibility and ownership, [you acknowledge] people generally like this band and it means something to them. There’s potential here. Start the work mentally, start working on what you actually think it can be.”

3. This tour would have been “impossible” for Winston’s brain to conceive a decade ago

At this point, Parkway Drive is a band known worldwide for staging live shows that match brutality with pure spectacle.

Pyro upon pyro (upon more pyro), brought together with the band’s inimitable brand of rhythm, pacing and relentless chaos, makes for a helluva show. But with this tour, even McCall is open in noting this is definitely the biggest venture Parkway Drive have embarked on.

A grin spreads across McCall’s face when he describes the magnitude of this new Parkway Drive production.

“Putting together what we’re about to put on stage would have been impossible for my mind to conceive ten years ago,” he says. “It’s one of the joyful things about what we’re doing. We’re pushing ourselves to the complete limit with what we’ve been able to create and articulate as a vision for this band, with these shows. It sticks so perfectly to the core ethos we had when we started this band, and where we are now.”

4. Though Parkway Drive are ready to celebrate 20 years, their focus is firmly trained on the next chapter

For fans who have been with Parkway Drive for the last two decades, this anniversary tour is set to be a fitting moment of tribute and graduation for all involved. And for fans who are coming to Parkway Drive, the live behemoth, through this run, McCall promises a live experience that they will never forget.

Making it to 20 years is an achievement Parkway Drive recognises the gravity of, which is why so much blood, sweat and tears have been poured into this live venture. Bringing the gnarly, frenetic energy of their early tours together with a slick and forward-thinking perspective on the future of the band, McCall is looking forward to dumbfounding audiences around the country.

“It’s such a clear signpost that this is by no means, the end goal of what we want to do, which is really crazy to be putting out there, 20 years in!” he laughs. “When you walk into an arena and this first song kicks off, you’re gonna feel like you’re at a youth centre somewhere, which is nuts.”

“The goal for this is to make people understand that they’re part of this journey, and that the journey has been one of connection the entire time. The goal is to create a memory for people; when they walk out of this event they go, ‘I have never seen a show like this, and there’s only one band who can do it’. That’s what we’ve set ourselves up for and that’s what we’re going to execute. There’s no way you’re walking out of this without thinking, ‘My god…’”

Parkway Drive ’20-Year Anniversary’ Australian Tour

Supported by I Prevail, The Ghost Inside and Void Of Vision

Wednesday, 18th September – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, QLD – NEW SHOW
Friday, 20th September – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane QLD – SOLD OUT
Saturday, 21st September – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney NSW
Sunday, 22nd September – John Cain Arena, Melbourne VIC – SOLD OUT
Tuesday, 24th September – John Cain Arena, Melbourne VIC – NEW SHOW
Friday September 27th – AEC Arena, Adelaide SA
Sunday September 29th – HBF Stadium, Perth WA – SOLD OUT

Tickets on sale now via ParkwayDriveRock.com.