In Conversation With WINSTON McCALL of PARKWAY DRIVE

Hello, welcome everyone, thank you for joining us. I support everyone at Quran HQ. Thank you to everyone who made the trip to London today. Thanks hello to everyone who joined us on Facebook. I'm Sam Core and the Crying editor you're joining us in

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with. Sir. Winston McCall round of applause, very good, applause. He wasn't anticipating a pause. He wasn't anticipating applause for these things, so it's really nice, but thank you, it's a nice welcome. Winston, once again we were talking. world to talk about your Kenan purchasing office efforts we have in Australia to send people overseas there's a big queue loading you into the cannon you shoot yeah that sounds like a nice flight we're traveling sure we're here tonight because it's wednesday january 22 Viva the underdogs will be in theaters for one night only, yes it's a great movie, it shows the kind of bow tour era that builds up to your headline on Vulcan, yes I want to talk about the first two thirds.

From the film in this you know the type of journey, the documentary part more than anything, but before we jump into that, I guess let's start from the beginning, where did the idea for this film come from and why was it important to you? Documenting this chapter in the band's career is really strange because it came from not having documented anything like if anyone here has seen the other movies we made or something, yeah, so we always document things and post. two before and this was the longest period of time between not releasing something and it was also the period of time where a lot of weird stuff happened and a lot of development happened within the band and just with us as people and it got to the point where that, why haven't we released something, this is quite interesting, well, it's just that there are a lot of things like you, a lot of changes have happened since the last time people saw us, basically, but we didn't really know what to do in the sense of what's the story here the first one was literally this is who we are intro to the world we're a bunch of weirdos who play loud music and jump things and act like idiots number two we're in it but around the world likes it but that's not it It's like that, it's not like that where we are now with different people doing different things, but the vehicle is still the same and we wanted to catch up with people because it's still interesting, it's just a different thing, I think it's really It's interesting that the The film captures you and the rest of the guys trying to fly, discovering a period where you still know you're arriving at these big venues, these festival spaces, and somehow we can get on the journey. with you as you figure out how to do it, yeah, how to do it, basically there's a little bit, I think it's during your first kind of production rehearsal where you say it's the first opportunity to see the ideas. that start with little pieces of paper and become reality, who in the band is the kind of driving force behind those things or is it very much a collaboration, it's not me and look in terms of the visuals, the creative team I'm Myself, Luke Fishy Steve? lighting designer and then many who are our head of para, owner of the pyro company and between us, basically we will start with a concept that I have in terms of a basic concept of what staging is like, like what I say for the staging. and moments that have to do with songs and things that we want to emphasize in certain ways and from there that is launched into the group and we start to build things around those concepts and everything works within the framework of dimensions and basically how big the stage, how big the stage is how BIG the room is what you can put on it and what effect you want to create with the songs and what effect you want the whole set to represent and this era for impact and how you want your songs to be performed And that's where those concepts start to come to you as you write and record the music, you know you're seeing things visually, abso, they're one hundred percent, yeah, it's um, I mean, for us we've always been the direct one.

Before recording we've always been a live band, the recording part came after and it's just as important, it's a different aspect, but when we start recording we're always recording and trying to capture something live, that's obviously it. recording allows for a completely different expression, but when you get into the studio, I mean music is a set of things that stimulates your senses in a very encompassing way, even though it's just Sonics and when you play in a live concert You're not just listening, you're experiencing it, so that's what happens when you're creating in the studio, that's something you take into account and for us it's gone especially for me, it's gone beyond just wanting to express that. and share like chaos, like making people do parodies.

I really enjoy doing that, but there are other elements of me that I want to illustrate to people through lyrics or whatever, that are not necessarily chaos and the urban flow that is felt through the music. I want to be represented through images. real. Have you ever come up with an idea and then sat down with the guys and walked away? I have this great idea guys and everyone has looked at you like they're clinically into what we've had. Scale things back, but the idea has always been to do a little more than you're supposed to risk, like putting that spinning wheel in that room it doesn't quite fit in and then setting it on fire that way.

It's been the mentality we've always had, but so far it hasn't gotten to a point where it's even gotten to the bits, people have left, yeah that's crazy and we've all run out of the production room because that is literally going away. to kill us has never been on stage, so yeah, we're still pretty far away, we're still growing in the process, that's kind of the thing, even when people think about this band now and say the production is crazy and what You see on The Stage it's crazy, it's literally been in the space of recording cycles which is not something massively established for us and this is something considering we handle all of that ourselves, it's something we're growing a lot in, we're still like imagination is several steps. versus what you say these days, you talk about in the film, I think it's pretty early on about how the arena operation opens up the age of reverence and preceded the kind of festival headlining spaces, it was about showing that you earned those unstable spaces that were emerging, where does that mentality come from with you that you feel the need to prove something because you were just singing about it?

Because I always feel this way about all the people who shout for us like there have always been people who have seen us as if we had reached a potential by having been doing a button, like doing what we do in an area where we are not supposed to do it. , from a place where we are not expected to believe what we do. I'm creating a type of music that's not meant to have the shelf life that it's had, it's not seen in the right way, like not knowing the right people, all that kind of stuff has always influenced it, so I've always just done it. had on our shoulder in that sense, but at the same time what we've had behind us, that has always had our back and always given us confidence, is the fact that you can't argue with the personal connection and when it's broken.

Everything, the only reason we are where we are is because we have not been ashamed of doing what we do and that has connected with so many people, like the people that come to the shows, it is the purest representation of what this band represents , it's like that simple, you can't fake a human connection with the amount of people that come to a concert and that's not something that happened because of anything other than that desire to prove that we belong there and that anyone who comes to our shows belongs here. Well, and that's it, if other people have doubted you at times, have you ever doubted yourself that you would get to oh yes, you would get to that point, yes, one hundred percent?

It was never like that until about three to five years into it really was waiting like we had accepted that concept that this is the best it's ever going to be Wow, I can't believe we're here, I don't know how we got here, we just got so lucky. and that was it, and as much as there was, yes, you. You are lucky to do what you do, we are very aware of how privileged we are to be in this situation, but that does not mean that we have not dedicated thousands of hours committed to the craft we have and that what we do is something that literally dominates our lives and our mentality like there's not something else in our minds that this is playing against, like we live everything about this band and we have for almost half our lives and when you put in that much time get good at that thing and it turns out which is something that continues to connect with people that now we have faith that it will continue and that it will be war, but there was a very long time where we were like, yeah, this is like there has to be a lot of luck and that That's all, but if you give it all to luck then you do yourself a disservice and you do a disservice to people who make a connection based on something they see as pure. and not just based on luck, I think it's quite interesting that you mentioned that you know other people may be expressing their opinion by doubting you, you know, the headline appearance of your blood stock last year appeared in the movie and you know, I remember when it was announced that there was a

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for, you know, that blood warehouse purist kind of conversation.

Wow, you're nice, you know for sure if they died, yeah, do you feel that way after the last one? summer the conversation has changed around your band I have no idea to be honest because I don't really pay much attention to it I think perceptions change well, I know it just because it keeps going, that's the thing if you just look at the trajectory it's had This band, it seems like people go to a show and then just buy numbers, the next time they come back they bring at least one other friend with them because there are twice as many people, so you can't.

I really argue with that, that's the question and whether or not the conversation has changed as to where we belong, who we are, what our identity is, what people's perception of Parkway Drive is and what the name sounds like and what the name sounds like. music, is reasonably like me. To be honest, I'm not going to put someone down or judge someone for their opinion on anything, because it's music, everything is subjective, if you don't like what we do, that's great, there are a lot of things that I don't like, she does not? I don't have to like it and that's fine, but if someone is going to book us for a festival or give us a venue because they also want to achieve something with what they're doing, then I'm more than happy for them to like it, get up and go.

You all believe we fit in there, we will do it and we will give you 100 percent and I am not ashamed of who I am and what I do. The movie obviously focuses entirely on Reverend Sarah, but it contains some incredible old footage, yes, of you guys on tour and Resi watching the fountain playing and surfing and some kind of idiotic-style stunts, yes, and a ridiculous amount of nudity. , you should have seen the other unedited version. Jesus, I said looking back at those. days, what did you like most about touring? Everything, everything, and I still love the same things.

We've seen the world through this band as a bit of background if anyone doesn't know where we came from and when. came from there when we started this band our team had the highest unemployment rate in our country I was making hamburgers in a cafe two of us were washing dishes one was working at the video store one was literally watering wheatgrass for a company juice and those were the best jobs we could get now in the city and we were never looking for anything else, so when someone can play music and have the opportunity to go to these places that you've never been in your entire life and seeing things like That seems like the most incredible thing, the most incredible opportunity you could ever have.

Why would you say no to that? You have nothing to do in the place where you were. That was literally what drove us to tour and it was like, Oh my God! I had never been there before. I'll go there. Great, my God, we're playing at the same time. Sweet and that was something that took us around the world. It literally took us around the world. I don't know how many countries we are in. I've played now, but it's like 70 countries plus Africa and Antarctica. When I look at the globe next to my bed I can imagine what a lot of this planet looks like when I see it, it's amazing that music has given that and that's the best thing about touring and so many different places to take off your clothes, there are so many Yes, why do you guys like to take off your clothes?

It's mainly Chaya. I don't know exactly, you know what we had. This thing with Jaya from the beginning where he was the guy you could pressure her into doing something stupid or getting naked or just doing it, it usually involves him getting naked for some reason and when he was our merch guy, especially we were like you. We're doing a lot of stupid things toentertain us and he would go and do it and then when he was in the band it's like you're the new guy in the band you do dumb things the artists always involved him being naked what's the dumbest thing you're going to do?

Oh, the PC-only tests on the electric fence were pretty heavy and I think that's in the movie, isn't it? Yes, that was it. I couldn't believe he was thinking what do you think he was going to happen. Then, my God, it almost killed me. Yes. The horse kicked at three o'clock in the day. Signal as if. There is electricity. That? You think it was going to happen, so yeah, that's probably just because it's disgusting. I'm sure it's a lot worse, to be honest, you talked before about the type of connection with the fans and how that's the type of driving too.

On stage, I guess the connection with people when you play in small rooms is very easy, you know that you are so close to yourself, so at those festivals and those huge stadiums you know that you are quite disconnected from the audience, how have you had to adapt as a frontman to maintain that connection with you um it goes between the direct connection of literally trying to make eye contact with people and relating to people because distance is distance, but I can still see someone's face get a little bit more It lasts when someone is hundreds of meters away, but I'm still very conscious of the fact that people sing to me, people look at me and that makes me smile.

I could see that I have a human reaction to that and the other, the other way around, is like interpretation. more abstract in the sense of who we really are, what I'm really doing and what the music embodies on stage, but giving the truest physical and visual representation of what the music really means to me, in the hope that that helps connect the The meaning and emotion behind the song is not the same as communicating in the sense of literally I see that you're having a good time, which I do a lot too, but this is what I think made me make the song. music is special.

The first place where I discovered that there are so many times that I have seen artists perform on stage and it has been that it touches me and strikes a chord in me in a way that no language can say something that we cannot communicate and have not been able to communicate with me in a way other than what I'm experiencing at that moment and it's not necessarily just a smile and a wave and a crowd surfing so those who are those artists to you, those are to me the number one, Nick Cave, like, straight up, it's um, it's very surprising to feel impacted like that lyrically.

What caught my attention with his interpretation was that his lyrics seem absolutely incredible but incredibly descriptive. and cryptic at the same time to use that concept of language and acting in such an emotionally resonant way that I actually find myself feeling things that you know you can't feel like there isn't a word to describe them inside. the language that I have, so yeah, that's what I have to fulfill is to be able to be someone who can do something like that. We answered a few questions from our audience here, yeah, before we start, do we have Francesca Harrison in the room hey hey gone Francesca is going to know what you've discovered about yourself over the years on your journey with Parkway I'll definitely talk to you about what I have discovered.

It's a very important question because of the amount of time we've been going through. been doing this, it was actually one of the things that I find really evident in the film, because I see very old footage and, as a man, we were very, very young when we started this, even at the age of twenty-one, we thought that we we knew everything and then when you travel the planet and you find yourself in situations where you have to learn to survive, but at some point you have the opportunity to do what we do, it literally defines who you are.

It's a very, very deep question, to be able to match mine, honestly, to be honest, I think I like the person I would be without Parkway. It would be completely different because it has given me the opportunity to really focus on that discovery and then. Being able to put that discovery in an environment that is a test but at the same time open to that interpretation of who I am as a person and creatively as if that is a very big part of me, as if it is allowed to come out in me. and being that person on stage and collaborating with people who just enhance that aspect of my personality, so that's a very random answer, but it's a very, yeah, that's a very good question, so I hope that gives you a little bit of a little bit.

I think the movie offers a really good look behind the scenes for anyone who's never been backstage or seen what a big show is going to put on, was it nice for you to be able to give a little bit of spotlight to the guys who work so hard for you guys, yeah, 100% 100% because that's been one of the really shocking things? About being in this band, we are still shocked by this whole experience. I remember playing our first show like it was yesterday, so when you're on stage with these five guys who remember that, you just stand on stage and play, but now there are literally 50 incredibly talented humans working to create this show that , as you have designed on stage and you like it, I don't have the skills to be able to say what they do, we just stay there and follow, how it is happening.

Did it come to this? How is this possible? It's really like being able to just tap into your imagination and let it flow onto a stage and have these people execute like your wildest dreams and work hard for Everyone thinks we work hard as a band, we do, but in terms of what the journey is raw, we literally rock like rock at 8:00 in the morning, they work hard all day until show time, they work to make the show work, we get off and go get food to eat and they work to pack it for another four hours, we go to bed for six hours, we get on the bus and we do it the next night and that's hers for her and it's just hours and hours of very skilled work to make sure everything is put together so we can go there and playing with it for a couple of hours, so yeah, I was wondering if people would find it interesting, hoping that it will because it's um, it's pretty wild, it's quite a thing to put the yellow on.

I mean, your tour manager is him, who is he. When you see the movie, you'll know, tell me about him, it's like you can inspire, yeah, that's what our director also said, "Oh my God, I could do a whole series about that guy or if he's dating a manager, he's from Bavaria in Germany, it's very funny and where do I start?" From this on, he's an amazing MT, absolutely hilarious, but I love how he manages to go from being super hilarious in a minute to literally slapping them in the face and even saying yes, and they need him, yes, so what happened with Ozzy was that we met him years ago on I.

I think it was a never die tour we did a long time ago and he ran the whole tour and came on our bus to oversee everything and we behaved noticeably like the Australian Trail was just be an idiot with your mates so that no one has a bigger ego and everyone is basically happy being semi themselves, yeah, so that's what happens, anyone who rides our bus like it's a complete trial by fire, like semi bullying, um, which we. Since then, we've gotten out of it just within the Parkway circle, but anyone who came into that circle would get over him and I'd have to deal with it until he got used to it and he would always show up and someone I can't.

Remember how it started playing right away and he just came back and roasted them on the floor and we were like, oh, this guy, this guy can hang well, this is going to be interesting and ever since then he's been telling us that we're like what. Do you think the first time you came on the bus and he said, yeah, I came here and I wonder if you said anything, Peter? I said, this is how it's going to be, it's like the prison fight, you find the biggest guy and take them out and that's it. Oh, he set it up from the beginning and since then I just don't like that he gets the last laugh and he's a very intelligent human being and has a wicked sense of humor like that's him? absolutely hilarious, but he's a really, really, really good TM and we're lucky to have him like we're lucky to have our whole team, but he's like he bounces back and he actually also says something really interesting in the movie, which is that As a band you guys are always one step ahead of yourselves, but sometimes your operation is one step behind because you know the other thing that's really interesting in this movie is how much of it you do yourself.

You consider that kind of DIY approach to a lot of your stuff to be a strength or a weakness or a bit of both sour both mostly a strength to be honest it's like choosing not to commit so I guess everyone will figure it out and say yes I have to see this movie, but yes, we do everything we can do within the band, we do it ourselves, as if the band were self-managed, self-written, self-created, as if the staging you see on stage came from us , as if all we can do. do and then we hire people we trust to run things like I don't have a fireworks license so I'm not going out.

I can't go out and learn that, but I will learn what will work in what situation and I will trust the professionals who would trust because we do it because we basically have faith in what our vision is for all of these things and not only that, but we have found that if we don't you do on this day. and age, you'll have to get someone else to do something and that costs a lot of money. If you want to survive in this world as a touring band, I'm just this band and that's it, like every penny counts and the The strength of the strength and the weakness of things is that if you don't have the strength to stand up to that wrong person , you'll have to pay someone to do it because you can't just continue this operation, just expand. exponentially and the rolls don't fill up, so that's what we like the most, okay, look, you're the manager like Winston, you'll do all the press and you'll design these things like anything we've ever had interest in.

I've taken on those roles and I've done that and what it comes down to is I think it's a strength for us because we're proud of them and we put effort into those areas and these are also their areas of genuine interest, but at the same time it's you have to be prepared for a lot of work and that can be really exhausting, so yeah, it's not so much a weakness in the sense that we're bad at it because I think we're pretty good at it, it's a weakness in the sense. You have to really know what you are capable of doing and you have to commit to it because the stakes are high and the bigger you are, the higher the stakes are.

That's what there has never been. moment when you say I've made it now I can relax, it's like you've made it and ten problems are now 100 problems, so yeah, you mentioned the pyro license, yeah, one of those symbolic moments in the movie, I mean, it's on the movie poster, she appears several times throughout the movie, she's throwing a bomb on stage, you're the one throwing some, do we have Celia in our audience, the only one, it's not how you feel in that moment when We're standing with the Molotov for a moment figuring out You're okay, just for starters, it's not going to explode, there's a degree of control, so I feel good because it's stressful because it doesn't always work. which again you'll say when things go wrong, it's a very interesting thing, it's a really naked performance moment in the sense that it's literally me on stage and I'm not screaming into a microphone and there's no music or anything like that.

That was the first piece we had where, when we rehearsed, it was like this was literally just performance art, there's nothing to do with our music here, it's about what that moment represents and when we were designing this show we went through several things. . We thought we wanted to destroy that logo and we wanted that to literally represent like setting everything on fire and breaking down these preconceived ideas of what it really is and trying to figure out how to do it. It went from being fine. We could establish it. We put it out with jets of pyrotechnics or you get a flamethrower to do that and every time we had something, we somehow defeated that raw element of that moment, which is that spirit of rebellion, like that underdog mentality that we had.

Luke had the idea of ​​just throwing a Molotov at him because that's what he's always represented, the Molotov cocktail has been rather sweet, but for me, to go ahead and do it, that's what that section of this program represents to me in the same point. time I wait for the lighter to work. I hope there is fuel in that fuse and I hope everything doesn't turn out like you. You can't explode, but it still can as if it went off in my hand. A couple of times it's not like boom, you just have to throw the glasses away and then I hope my aim is decent, especially on the nights where it really has to be Jason because there have been nights where we've played festivals now like if NoYou hit that and it happens, you're destroying the headliners, the wall hanging behind it and you're going to call the tarna damaged and we can't afford that, let me say right, be really good at throwing this thing, so every Every time it hits and it works, I say yeah, and every time I don't like it, I'm just going to start the song because I really need something to get me out of this attack, yeah.

You know, that's the kind of tension that I'm dealing with at that moment, it's hard to overcome, it seems hard to thrive, yeah, it's hard to overcome, because the other thing that you guys probably don't know is what you guys definitely don't know. . I hear it's timed so I have to make sure my throw is lined up and goes a certain distance which is different every night within a certain period of time because it's a click track that goes with the rest of the Sonics which is like the sound design on top so figure out how you're going to throw that and not burn your arm properly and the flame is a different size every night depending on how much fuel there is in the week or where. where I'm holy and the fuel might have moved around in the bottle and all that kind of stuff, yeah, they end up with pitches where I'm like the Haitian picked her.

I'm like that and yes, the releases are over. I've literally had spears where it's like this, it's three feet away, but I need the throw to take three seconds and it's like I have to hit it at an angle and stuff and it's a constant struggle, man, and you gotta try to not just hit it. the curve right into the head and kind of like a torch, it's, yeah, yeah, that's it, um, there have been several nights where it was like it was hit and pieces of the flames literally fell right on the battery so everyone knows , look at the boys. don't get hot, turn off the drums so the drums are on, so yeah, you mention in the movie that you know the reason Vulcan and everything was so important to you is that kind of thing that was always seen as The festival headlines were always kind of like that was the dream, you know, that was the goal.

Do we have Robert in our audience tonight? Rob, oh, hey, ya. I guess this, yeah, well, I wanted to ask what kind of feeds there were. sending this your question, how do you stay motivated and those kind of milestones and those ambitions that you have yet to achieve? You know, they had such a great summer last year and hit those festival headline laws. What is the next type of goal in mind? moving on basically for me it's less about those slot machines just representative of the number of people you can play with as well and obviously it's representative of someone's faith that you can do that for what their event is and it's not something in the one that you can pretend, like at the end of the day, someone who is putting on a festival that is a financial endeavor for them and has a brand and has a passion in the same way that you have for what you do which is for us to be in a band, so they have to believe in you to be able to go like Parkway leads the name, it's worth putting it in that space because there are so many people, although I would like to see what they do at that time.

There is still a lot of potential for us to grow there and I want, I would love to continue doing that and for me the goal is not so much to say I want to play at this festival, at this festival, I want this space, I want this prestige or something like that. That's right, I just want to expand the experience that I have on stage playing for people and that moment that you have for an hour and a half, two hours or whatever, I don't know if I have any addiction in the world is being on stage. feeling that community spirit that's happening in that moment because I can't even describe what it's like.

I see bands in the crowd and I know that feeling. of being connected to everyone around me and we are all in the same moment at the same moment, but the perception of being on stage and your artwork and something that is present resonates so deeply with you as you connect with so many people, it is so It's a humbling, life-affirming feeling that I would love to be able to keep growing and it's nice to feel like it's continually growing, that the growth of the band isn't something that just goes up and down or anything like that.

So, it seemed like people were really enjoying the experience of being there when we played and at the end of the day that's all we want, so the next milestone is to keep doing it, more really that kind of community and shared experience was that one of the motivating factors for wanting to put this movie out in the cinematic aspect, you know, just one night, at the same time, everyone can see this at once, yeah, it would have been easy to just put this out. online, yeah, it was a way to combat that. I like the idea of ​​it being something frivolous and making it an event that way, but I also like the whole idea with everything we've done.

This the way this is released is to give it the perception and similar change the angle in which it is seen before everyone's eyes in the sense that this will be played in a cinema where the other music by application themes where the other blockbusters It may not be a Hollywood production, but it is art made with the same quality as this. Put it in a movie theater. When we do the art for the movie poster, it will be done by the people who made the star. "I work, so it's the same because we come from a background that doesn't look like heavy music is still mocked and it's still seen like, well, I can't understand what they're saying, stay away from this." It's scary, I have no idea, it's the caricature and it's like one of the last caricatures left within music and if we can do something that eliminates that and can even make people who don't like that not get involved . this kind of music, wow, wow, it seems kind of interesting, I find it attractive because it's not presented in a stereotypical way, that's why it's important Winston, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

Viva, the response to voters in theaters on Wednesday in January. 22. If you've been watching this on Facebook, you'll have seen some links to tickets and things to buy there. It will spread throughout the world. Join your fellow Parkway fans. A round of applause, please, for Winston. Thanks guys. In fact, we will. ends with a final question, very different, you have Wembley Arena with diarrhea in April, yes, what comes after that, yes, good question, honestly I'm not thinking beyond that at the moment, it seems that way this year . It's especially like Wembley is the only UK show we're doing this year and what we've planned for it is obviously next.

We don't do it, we don't go backwards, it's the next evolution of what we're doing and beyond that. The next evolution of what we're doing is going to be very interesting and it's going to take time to work on it and all that, but to be honest, it feels like we have a creative gas tank that's completely overflowing and we have the time and desire to really harness all the potential that we can hopefully see in what we've done so far. We consider that what we have done has been very dictated by many circumstances and we would love to have the opportunity. to be able to create something that is literally 100% pure potential of what we can do and is not limited by time, resources, circumstances, musical ability or anything like that, because I feel like we've finally grown to a point where that we know our and we really want to express it in a way that is expensive and representative of what we love within heavy music and that's what's next, we're looking forward to it once again, so to the pool, thanks for listening.