Winston McCall just went full softie on national TV – and in the most metal way possible.
Appearing on The Project, the Parkway Drive frontman gave the kind of take you don’t usually get from a guy known for leading circle pits the size of a small town. When one of the hosts called metalheads “some of the loveliest people,” McCall didn’t flinch. In fact, he doubled down: “It’s a really loveable ball of barbed wire.”
McCall, who’s been fronting the Byron Bay wrecking crew since 2003, pointed out the contradiction at the heart of the metal community. That he sound is heavy, but the people are often the most generous. The most supportive, and also the most emotionally available folks in the room.
“It’s a community of outsiders,” he said. “Everyone’s really nice and really kind, but the music itself is as spiky as it gets. You’ve really got to be committed to actually get inside it.”
He’s not wrong. Anyone who’s ever been in the pit at a Parkway show knows that when someone goes down, there’s a dozen hands picking them back up. That’s the unwritten code – chaos with care.
McCall was on The Project promoting Parkway’s sold-out Sydney Opera House gig, where they debuted the new single Sacred and unearthed deep cuts like Home Is for the Heartless and Dark Days for the first time in years. It’s all part of a huge year for the band. With the Summer of Loud tour about to tear through North America alongside Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, and I Prevail. They will later head to Europe for their 20th anniversary run – including a career milestone at London’s Wembley Arena.
Parkway’s latest album Darker Still dropped in 2022, and while no new full-length has been announced, Sacred hints there’s plenty left in the tank.
For now, it’s just refreshing to hear one of heavy music’s leading voices remind the world what we already know: the mosh might be violent, but the love runs deep.
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