Loudside.com caught up with Winston McCall, vocalist for Australian metalcore titans Parkway Drive, at their show in Santa Cruz, CA during their winter headlining run here in the States, to talk about all things PWD related. From their stint on Warped Tour, to their upcoming run with Killswitch Engage, as well as the differences between writing the new album and their last one, working with KsE's Adam D., and how he feels about illegal downloading and their new album being leaked several months in advance of it's actual release. Here's what Winston had to say about all that, and then some.....

Loudside.com: How has this tour been going for you guys so far?

Winston: Umm, cool so far. California is my favorite place in the States, so we're stoked to be able to tour in Cali, and we get to go to some places we haven't been before, and it's winter, so it's something we haven't experienced in the States yet and we're freezing. But it's awesome. It's cool.

Loudside.com: Now is the line up for this tour a solid line up, or is it different bands on each stop?

Winston: It's different bands every night. I think on this tour, it's a really small mini-tour. And we had dates in Europe, and it costs a hell of a lot to fly to the Northern Hemisphere from Australia, so we just wanted to come over and do a small run of dates, and xDeathstarx jumped on the shows with us, and ummm, yeah...basically that's about it (laughing).

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok cool. Now in regards to the new album, 'Horizons', it's got a more overall Metal feel to it than the last album. What was different about writing this one, compared to the 'Killing With A Smile'?

Winston: Umm, not too much. We had umm.....we just basically tried to push everything a bit harder on this album, in terms of maybe speed and heaviness, an intensity kind of thing. We didn't try to really make it more metal as such, but I think when....definitely with the speed, when you speed it up a bit, it tends to be a bit more metal sounding. Because I've had alot of people say that.....'Did you try to make a Black Metal album or something like that', and we were like, 'Not really. we just tried to play everything faster' (laughing). So, I think that's just the way it came out.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now you guys did a handful of dates earlier this year on the Warped Tour. How was that experience, considering that the majority of the bands that are on that tour aren't that heavy?

Winston: It was....crazy. To be on Warped Tour was awesome. And it kind of worked to our advantage, because I think we were probably the heaviest band on the tour. So it was kind of like us and Throwdown were kind of like the only really heavy bands on the tour. But it seemed to work in our favor as opposed to negatively, cause the kids came out and had fun. Every show was pretty much awesome. Plus, we all love punk music, and basically that's what we were brought up on. So to be on Warped was great, considering the type of music we do make (laughing).

Loudside.com: (laughing) Now, the new album actually leaked online several weeks prior to it's release......

Winston: More like several months.......(laughing)

Loudside.com: Well yeah......(laughing). How do you feel about that, and about illegal downloading in general?

Winston: Umm, I don't really mind, to be honest. Things are gonna leak these days, and I find especially with metal bands, or hardcore bands, or punk bands or anything that's out of the mainstream, I think downloading affects it less when it comes to record sales and support and that kind of stuff. Simply because the music is one facet of what's going on. The music is very important, but kids like to have something solid, they like to support bands, and the artwork and the actual....I guess the package as a whole is more than just the music. I find that kids like to hear things initially, and then they'll still buy the cd, so I don't really mind. If kids like the music enough to go out and buy it after they've heard it like two months before hand, then it's cool. But if not, well they probably wouldn't have bought it in the first place anyway.

Loudside.com: True. Now you guys have worked with Adam D. (of Killswitch Engage) on both of your records so far. Now that you guys have more experience under your collective belts, is there a possibility of you going with someone else next time, or maybe even self producing?

Winston: We were talking about that the other day actually, but I'm not sure. To be honest, the reason we worked with Adam both times is because we had so much fun working with him. And the first time we were just lucky to be able to work with him full stop, but we had a really great time doing that record. And for us, being in a band, it's always been about having fun, and just doing what we wanna do kind of thing. And I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone else, because it's just a really great experience to be able to work with him. So I'm not sure. I think it'd suck to be kind of pigeonholed into having just the one producer, and having one kind of sound or whatever. But I guess it's a challenge when you work with him again, to make it sound different. So yeah, I don't know. We'll see when it comes around.....we might not ever do another record (laughing).

Loudside.com: (Laughing) Ok....

Winston: I didn't think we'd ever do one in the first place, let alone two albums, so yeah......(more laughter) 

Loudside.com: (laughing) Now again, with a good portion of the new material having more of a Metal feel to it, would you say that you have more of a connection with the Metal crowd now, or are you still grounded in hardcore?

Winston: We're definitely......we're hardcore kids. Well, I'm definitely a hardcore kid, so that's kind of all I know. But we don't go out of our way to segregate people or anything like that. I'm really really stoked to see these days at shows, well in Australia because that's where we're from, there seems to be no separation between hardcore kids and metal kids. They just come to our shows and have fun, and that's what I like to see. And I try not to aim for one specific group when it comes to writing our music. We just write our music, and whatever types of people like it, they like it.

Loudside.com: Do you see the difference here in the States though, with the division amongst the two?

Winston: Yeah, I guess I saw it a bit on Warped, with fights starting and stuff like that. But it just comes down to ego's and stuff, generally. I think we had a fight pretty much almost every set at Warped. And everytime kids fight, we'd stop. It's the last thing we wanna see kids doing is fighting over stupid shit like someone pushing someone in a mosh or something like that. Just stupid stuff, and kids just like to prove they're tough by jumping on a kid with five of their mates. I don't know.......but that's about it really.

Loudside.com: Now apparently there's supposed to be a video for the song "Boneyard", although I wasn't able to find it anywhere online.

Winston: (Laughing) It's around somewhere. We filmed it on Warped, and it was supposed to be finished like a month or two after it, and it didn't happen. Much like most of our stuff, it got delayed a hell of a lot. But it's around somewhere online. I think we got the final edit back a couple of weeks ago or something, so it's around. It's a film clip I guess (laughing).

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok, and now is there a possibility of a second video for this record?

Winston: Oh yeah, definitely! It's just a.....I guess it's another opportunity we've been given is to do video clips, and it's a really weird but fun experience to be able to do it. So I think this record's coming off really well in Australia, so we've got the chance to do another one. So we'll do another one, but I'm not sure what song for, or what the hell it's gonna involve, but we'll take the chance while we're given it I guess.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now as far as being on a label like Epitaph, was that the only label that showed interest? And how does it feel to be on a label that's more geared toward punk than anything else?

Winston: Ummm, whole bunch of questions there......alright, start at the top. At the time, we kind of shopped 'Killing With A Smile' around, and a bunch of labels kind of showed interest, but said they wouldn't wanna release a record until they saw us live. And they wanted to hear it first, and all that kind of stuff. And at the time, we were like, you can't see us live because we can't get to the States without a release kind of thing, so it was kind of like a Catch 22. And then, somehow, Epitaph got ahold of us, they contacted us and said they'd be interested in releasing our shit, and that they'd re-release 'Killing With A Smile' for us, which is absolutely retarded as far as I'm concerned, because it had been available for download.....there was like a bunch of distribution for it in the States. Kids could have got ahold of it for like a year at the time they re-released it, so there was no way they were gonna make any decent money off it. But, Epitaph is a label that we as people, and as a band have had so much respect for, and we've listened to the bands on that label for so long, that for them to put out our stuff is just ridiculous because (a) I never thought they'd be interested in a band that sounded like us. Like you said, it's a very punk roster of bands and the history it has. And we're from Australia, so it was kind of like the last things I would expect, but one of the best things that's ever happened to us. So it's really really cool. I don't care what the hell our music sounds like. To be on the same label as Pennywise, NOFX, and Bad Religion is just ridiculous. (Laughing)

Loudside.com: Cool. Now early next year, you guys will be back in the U.S. with Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Every Time I Die.....

Winston: (laughs excitedly) Yeah!

Loudside.com: (laughing) How do you guys feel about that tour?

Winston: It's CRAZY!! It's awesome to be able to be on that tour. It's Killswitch. And we've toured with Every Time I Die before in Australia, so we're friends with them. Basically the only people we don't know on the tour is Dillinger, and Every Time I Die said they're awesome guys, so we're stoked. And to be able to be given the opportunity to do that tour is great. I just wish it was coming over to the West Coast.

(Laughter all around)

Loudside.com: And after that, what plans do you guys have if any? I mean, maybe another U.S. summer festival or something?

Winston: Yeah, I think we go straight home after that tour to do Australia, and then we have a little bit of time off. Then we're trying to hopefully get on Warped this year again. But I'm not holding my breath on that, because it's Warped, and so I'm not gonna cross my fingers or anything like that. But if not, we'll still come back and tour here. We're basically just gonna be touring and touring and touring until this band stops, so no matter what we're gonna be back at some point and time.

Loudside.com: Is there any other interest in any of the other festivals here though?

Winston: I'm not sure. I guess (laughing). It's really weird, because it's like.....there was Sounds Of The Underground, and Taste Of Chaos and stuff like that. And as soon as we got off Warped, we kind of just forgot about all that stuff (laughing). We did it last year, and it was just SO much fun, we were just like, 'We wanna do Warped again!'. I don't know. We're surfing kids, so we just like the summer and the sun and stuff. Yeah, so I don't know. I guess if someone offered us, we wouldn't say no, because it's just an amazing thing to be given any tour in the States.

Loudside.com: Ok. Now I know you guys have had the chance to tour with a number of bands that are pretty big in their respective scenes. But if you had the chance to tour with any band of your choice, what band would you wanna tour with the most?

Winston: Ummmm......I'll say three bands. Bad Religion, for obvious reasons, and the fact that they're my favorite band in the world. The Warriors. We spent the last two months on the road with them, and still, I never get bored watching them, and they're like our best friends in the world. And a band from Australia called Her Nightmare, because they're really really awesome guys, and they're really good friends of ours back in Australia, and I just wish the rest of the world could see them......

(Click Here to check out photos from the show.)