Watch Chris Hemsworth Try To Play Drums With Parkway Drive: ‘That Was Pretty Sad’

Parkway Drive have shared footage of Chris Hemsworth attempting to play drums during rehearsals for his Limitless series.

Parkway Drive have shared behind-the-scenes footage capturing Chris Hemsworth attempting, and struggling, to sit behind the drum kit for the Byron Bay metalcore band. The clip, which the band posted on TikTok on December 17, offers another look at the Hollywood actor stepping well outside his comfort zone and into one of metal’s most demanding roles.

The footage originally aired earlier this year as part of the second season of Hemsworth’s documentary series Limitless on Disney+. In the segment, the Thor actor joins Parkway Drive during a rehearsal session that was intended to help him learn drums for a performance alongside Ed Sheeran in Bucharest to a crowd of 70,000. What unfolds instead is a chaotic practice marked by missed cues, uneven timing, and repeated restarts as Hemsworth attempts to keep up with the band.

From the opening moments, it’s clear that drumming at Parkway Drive’s level is not quite the easy task Hemsworth might have been hoping for. He struggles to lock into the tempo, forcing the group to halt and reset several times. Despite the band’s patience, the session never quite comes together, leading to an unfiltered reaction from guitarist Jeff Ling at the end of the rehearsal. “That was pretty sad,” Ling says, summing up the experience bluntly.

Hemsworth chose Parkway Drive for the challenge largely because of his personal connection to drummer Ben Gordon. The two are friends and live in the same area, a relationship Hemsworth has spoken about publicly while promoting the second season of Limitless. “He’s a good mate of mine and lives in the same town as me,” Hemsworth. “And he’s the drummer for Parkway Drive, one of the biggest metal bands in the world. He’s incredibly talented, but with quite a sort of Buddhist approach to it all. There’s a Zen quality to Ben that I love, which is such a contrast to the music he plays.”

At the time the second season aired, the Parkway Drive drummer spoke about Hemsworth’s drumming ability during a Today Show interview.  “When he first came to me, he was really bad,” Gordon said, noting he had “no rhythm” or “coordination.”

Chris Hemsworth has been a heavy music fan for some time now. In a 2013 interview with Esquire, Hemsworth recalled how discovering Metallica at a young age left a lasting impression, and even a physical one. “My cousin, who was educating me on heavy metal, bought [Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, AKA The Black Album] for me. I remember at the age of 11 pulling something in my neck from headbanging – being kind of semi-paralysed from trying to mosh and outdo each other.”

Limitless first premiered on National Geographic in 2022 and follows Hemsworth as he takes on physical and mental challenges designed to explore longevity, health, and resilience. Both seasons of the series are now available on Disney+ in multiple regions – although this Parkway Drive moment stands out as one of its most entertaining misfires.