Ben Gordon, the drummer of the Australian metal juggernaut group Parkway Drive, chatted about their 2023 U.S. Tour.
Aside from Gordon, the band is made up of Winston McCall (lead vocals), Luke Kilpatrick (guitar), Jeff Ling (guitar), and Jia O’Connor (bass).
The Paramount
On February 10, they are headlining The Paramount in Huntington on Long Island, New York.
“It feels really good. We haven’t been back to American in four years, for obvious reasons (COVID and then we had internal turmoil going on). We have played The Paramount once before, it’s a really cool venue, so we are looking forward to playing here again. It has been an amazing tour, and it has been sold-out,” Gordon said.
“The energy is feeling good and that’s exciting,” he added.
‘Darker Still’ album
On the song selection process for the album “Darker Still,” Gordon said, “When we write, we never have any extra songs. If the song is not flowing, we scratch it before it gets written. It takes us a long time to write albums because we are very particular and perfections. We were very happy with this album, it had a good flow of some different songs, and it is a good progression on what we have been doing.”
Gordon listed “Soul Bleach” as his personal favorite tune from the record because it is drum-driven. “It is the most technical and fun song for the drums,” he said.
“We have been a band for 20 years so now our music is less on external influences and more about where you are at in your life,” he acknowledged. “I’ve had a lot of life experience now, I’ve been touring since I was 17. It doesn’t feel like it but we are a veteran band.”
The digital age
On being an artist in the digital age, he said, “It’s interesting, the technology changes every month. I feel it’s better now than it was 10 years ago with torrents and illegal downloads were happening. That was hard because people would illegally download your record, now everybody just waits for Spotify.”
“Get therapy. That’s what we recently had to do. We had some bad dynamics going on and some terrible communication within the band and it blew up like a marriage. The key to any relationship is communication, that’s my biggest advice.”
For young and aspiring bands, he said, “Do it for the love of it, and do it to have fun. If you do it for the love, you will never be disappointed. Just do it for the love.”
A defining moment for him was doing the “Cage of Death.” “Doing that upside down was pretty challenging but it was fun as well,” he said. “We are looking to try to bring it to America.”
“I am also proud of the fact that we have lasted 20 years,” he added. “Also, we are still friends and we still love each other, as a band. That’s really cool. We have toured with so many bands and I am just proud of our whole career.”
On staying in top-notch physical shape while out on the road, he said, “That’s actually something that I work on. It takes a lot of effort.”
Gordon defined the word success as “happiness, fulfillment, and contentment.” “Success is being the best person that you can be and living a happy and fulfilled life,” he said.
For the fans, he concluded, “Thank you very much for sticking with us. We have changed a lot in sound and we really appreciate them following our journey.”
“Darker Still” is available on digital service providers by clicking here.
To learn more about Ben Gordon, follow him on Instagram.
For more information on the Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive, their music and tour dates, check out their official website, Facebook and Instagram.
