Parkway Drive

Byron Bay, Australia; situated on the far north coast of New South Wales, it's arguably one of this planet's most idyllic tourist destinations. A tranquil paradise of immaculate sandy beaches and lush tropical rainforest, it's full of surf retreats, hippie communes and backpacker hostels. Perhaps the most notable thing to come out of the place prior to 2003 were surfing champs and picturesque postcards, but all that changed with the spawning of Parkway Drive.

Blasting out of Byron, almost as an affront to the serenity of their surrounds, Parkway Drive quickly established themselves as the most formidable force Australian heavy hardcore had ever seen. A five-piece of awesome power and charisma, they caused a storm in their homeland that is quite literally without precedent. Charting in the national Top 40 with their utterly brutal 2005 full-length debut Killing With A Smile (released by Sydney independent Resist), headlining sold-out tours, gracing the covers of magazines, playing the Big Day Out and the Australasian leg of Taste Of Chaos '06 - this has been reality for Parkway Drive at home the past few years. The Earth is next!

With the sound, attitude and ability that took Australia at by storm, Parkway Drive have recently begun focusing more sharply on forging their reputation on the world stage. Having already made inroads into North America and Europe via intensive touring, a deal with Epitaph Records in 2006 and the subsequent release of Killing With A Smile in the U.S. has seen the group spend a large part of the past year crisscrossing North America, Europe and Japan, a 31-