Country boys: Parkway Drive is on a national tour, visiting Geelong this week.
ERIN PEARSON
A SUBURBAN-sounding name belies the death metal intensity of exciting Australian rock band Parkway Drive.
The Byron Bay group is starting 2012 with an all-out tour of regional Australia, with Geelong set for its serving this Friday night.
Lead singer Winston McCall said the Sick Summer II tour would shock unassuming punters taken in by the band’s mild moniker.
“The music we play is very heavy and dark-sounding but, being in Byron Bay, we didn’t want a deathly-sounding name because we didn’t want to scare people off,” McCall said.
“It worked. People just sat there and looked at the sign with our name then looked at us and were pleasantly surprised.
“In the first place it took several years for people to even figure out we were a heavy metal band. People thought we’d be soft, so it was a real surprise.”
McCall said the band had chosen to visit regional towns and cities on purpose after growing up on the sunny northern coast of New South Wales.
Many smaller towns were traditionally fed a diet of pub cover bands rather than original rockers, he noted.
“We come from a small town ourselves, so our background is from a relatively starved music area. To be in a position where our band can do these regional tours is great.
“We figure the major cities have had their chance, so it’s time to bring the show back to regional Australia and see how crazy the small towns can get.
“These tours always end up some of the most fun shows we play anywhere. Sweaty venues, stage dives, singalongs, beach hangouts. Sick summer, indeed.”
McCall said the band’s unlikely name arrived on a whim when members were forced to make a quick decision.
Parkway Drive was the name of the street where they first rehearsed and continued to do so, he said.
McCall said fans could expect “a million per cent” from the band’s Geelong performance.
“It really is the case for us because we play every show like our last,” he said.
“We’re not a massive bells and whistles band, what we love about the music is having a connection with people.
“We’re just going to put on a massive show.”
Parkway Drive will perform at Geelong Arena on Friday night.
