Parkway Drive are the titans of Australian metal, and when they're not creating waves with their music, they're riding them. Frontman Winston McCall is particularly fond of partaking in his country's wetland pastime of surfing, and while any song on their new album, Darker Still, or any of their metalcore classics are fit to soundtrack a day at the beach, McCall isn't hubristic enough to bump his own shit before he hops on the board.
Oddly enough, the music that he associates with surfing is a lot less heavy than Parkway Drive, but all incredibly physical and sonically connected to the primeval rhyhtms of the great sea. Below, are McCall's five favorite surfing jams.
5. Pixies - "Where is My Mind?"
It literally sounds like whale songs during these verses. The other songs I've picked resonate with riding waves, this is more about the time in-between. The minutes and hours you spend just floating around in the middle of nowhere. It's just you and your brain drifting around, lost together.
4. Dire Straits - "Sultans of Swing"
Just the sound of the guitar lines reminds me of long rides, cold winds and deserted beaches. It's part of my soundtrack to long cruise rides, fiberglass crackling across the water and the feel of salt on sun-burnt skin.
3. Fugazi - "Waiting Room"
That bassline. Damn ... The dynamic rise and fall, the push and pull of the whole song drives the energy to a place of raw expression that matches the chaos and stillness of the ocean so well. Plus, the majority of the time you spend in the ocean is spent waiting, anyway. Seems about right.
2. Tom Petty - "Won't Back Down"
When you're paddling down the face of a mountain of water and you're staring down at a vertical drop straight at the reef below you, this is the jam you want pushing you over the edge. Sure, you might end not end up making the wave and getting completely decimated on the rocks, or you could get the craziest wave of your life and remember it forever. You can never get that ride if you just back down.
1. Bad Religion - "Part III"
It's got that strong bassline that sticks in your head, duel solo breaks and an unrelenting drive from start to finish. It's enough to get stuck in your head for hours on end while keeping the adrenaline high that you're looking for on the water.
