Aside from his work with Magnolia Park, the vocalist and songwriter has been featured on tracks by everyone from 408 to labelmates poptropicaslutz! and plxntkid. Like many of the greats, Joshua Roberts grew up singing in church but seeing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for the first time was an awakening for him to find his own voice and pursue his calling. Inspired by a diverse mixture of genres and generations, his biggest influences are Justin Bieber, Labrinth, Billie Eilish and Usher; artists who inform his new age R&B/pop style with an alternative twist. He sees this solo venture as a personal journey to push himself not only creatively, but to grow as an individual as well. “It’s a whole side of me that I never talk about or share, so it’s a scary venture for sure but it’s something I feel I needed to take.”
In the kitchen of the Byron Bay home of Winston McCall stands a refrigerator, adorned on one side by a quote from Tom Waits: "I want beautiful melodies telling me terrible things." This, the Parkway Drive vocalist says, is a pretty good summation of himself. It holds true, too, as one of the guiding principles behind Darker Still, the seventh full-length album to be born of this picturesque and serene corner of north-eastern NSW, Australia, and the defining musical statement to date from one of modern metal's most revered bands. Darker Still, McCall says, is the vision he and his bandmates have held in their mind's eye since a misfit group of friends first convened in their parents' basements and backyards in 2003. The journey to reach this moment has seen Parkway evolve from metal underdogs to festival-headlining behemoth, off the back of close to 20 gruelling years, six critically and commercially acclaimed studio albums (all of which achieving Gold status in their home nation), three documentaries, one live album, and many, many thousands of shows.