Parkway Drive Go Deep
July 9, 2010Winston McCall has drilled a dreamlike narrative and a dark view of human nature into Parkway Drive’s new album Deep Blue. By Peter Ryan.
Deep Blue was created with legendary US producer Joe Barresi (QOTSA, L7, Melvins). “It would be easy to make another ‘teenage heartache’ record. That’s me, but that’s never been ‘us’. This record sounds like people playing, like a singer singing. You can hear me breathing between the lines. We’d say to Joe, ‘what’s in store for us today?’ and he’d say, ‘grab this 12- string electric guitar – with some weird grid, that has some odd sound – and use this microphone we got off a World War II backpack’.”
For a punk record, Deep Blue has some unexpectedly lofty influences. “Some of the earliest music I heard was (Sergei Prokofiev’s) Peter and the Wolf. It was a story told through the narrator, and the artwork. You could see the story in your mind, because of the music. (Deep Blue) follows a man, from waking up in the city and realising his whole existence is living under someone else’s shadow. He tries to find his own self, truth and enlightenment – and travels to the bottom of the ocean to do that.”
McCall says the story told on the album is akin to a snapshot of the human psyche. “It doesn’t end in a nice way. I don’t think most human endeavours do end in a nice way; we’re programmed to become violent and rage-filled monsters as opposed to (being) loving and compassionate. You see more wars and violence in the world than people feeding starving millions.”
The album also has an Orwellian/dystopian feel. “There’s a lot referenced, a fair few bands, certain religious beliefs, and books – 1984 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – stuff influenced by society. It’s strange to read a novel written long ago and say, ‘this guy got it so right’. It’s pretty insane: yet we consider this ‘normality’, the pinnacle of human existence. This is it: we’ve never been freer, this is what we live in; it’s very strange.”
Classical music and literature aren’t the only elements shaping the record; UK illustrator Dan Mumford makes a telling visual contribution. “The images inside far surpass the cover, there are many panels of really wonderful artwork. I’ve can’t get enough of Tom Waits. That’s influenced a lot of how I think, that guy writes like an absolute genius.”
Deep Blue is available via Resist/Shock. Visit: parkwaydrive.net
