Parkway Drive

by Corey Apar & Andrew Leahey
Hailing from the hippie-loving, beachfront town of Byron Bay, Australia, metalcore outfit Parkway Drive blasted out of their serene surroundings touting a volatile blend of intricate metal riffing, punishing breakdowns, and hardcore's emotional tension. Named after a rural countryside road, the band was formed in summer 2003 by vocalist Winston McCall, guitarists Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling, drummer Ben Gordon, and bassist Jia O'Connor. The five-piece outfit split an EP with like-minded countrymen I Killed the Prom Queen that same year, and later appeared on the local hardcore compilation What We've Built. This activity preceded the May 2005 release of Parkway Drive's debut EP, Don't Close Your Eyes, on the Sydney-based Resist Records. Parkway Drive continued building a respected name for themselves in the Australian hardcore scene, often opening for Bleeding Through, Shadows Fall, Every Time I Die, Hatebreed, and other American bands who were touring abroad. When the time came to do something traveling of their own, Parkway Drive journeyed to Massachusetts to record their inaugural full-length with Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz. Recorded over a two-week period in 2005, Killing with a Smile entered the Australian Independent Chart at number two upon its February 2006 release. The debut album sold extremely well across the country and later saw a North American release through Epitaph Records, which issued the album in August. For the band's sophomore effort, Parkway Drive again traveled to Massachusetts to reprise their successful partnership with producer Dutkiewicz. The metallic Horizons emerged from those recording sessions, and Epitaph released the record in October 2006.