Australian metal band Parkway Drive have had a huge couple of months- from playing a one-night-only show at Sydney Opera House to announcing their very own Park Waves Festival to now appearing on Chris Hemsworth’s Disney Plus show Limitless: Live Better Now. I sat down with drummer Ben Gordon to chat about teaching Hemsworth how to play drums for a sold-out Ed Sheeran concert, as well as the significance of Park Waves in today’s climate.
Limitless: Live Better Now, episode one is out today and focuses on Hemsworth challenging himself by learning to play the drums- and where better to showcase his new talent than at a sold-out Ed Sheeran concert in Romania? Hemsworth calls on his longtime friend Ben Gordon to teach him how to play the track, and what ensues is an hour of frustration and nerves with a satisfying payoff.
It’s not often that three bizarre worlds collide- Ed Sheeran, Parkway Drive and Chris Hemsworth. “It was one of those things where I had so many moments where I was just thinking, ‘how did this come about?’” Gordon muses, going on to share, “The fact that I just happened to be friends with Chris Hemsworth, I happened to be a professional drummer, he happened to get challenged to learn the drums and he called me up and asked if I would help him… It was just so fun to be part of.”
“We became friends six or seven years ago when he moved to Byron Bay,” Gordon says of his friendship with Hemsworth. “We’ll go for a wave together when we’re both home, which is not very often to be honest…This experience has made us much closer, that’s for sure, because we were spending so much time together. It’s great to get to know Chris better, but yeah- it is quite random.”
Upon watching the episode it’s clear very quickly that learning the drums from scratch is no easy task, and going back to step one when you’re an extremely proficient drummer for a heavy metal band is difficult in itself, but Gordon does it with ease. “I haven’t taught for about twenty years. It’s very different being a professional at something and being a teacher. I’m the first to admit there are many better drum teachers out there than me. But, what I have over a lot of other people is the real-life experience. I’ve been touring in a very active band for twenty years and we’ve played to thousands of people night after night. So I’m really experienced at the live performance part of it, which was a big part of this teaching.”
One scene in the episode shows Hemsworth joining a Parkway Drive rehearsal, and you could cut the tension with a knife. As Hemsworth struggles to keep time, the band are visibly annoyed- it’s hard to watch in the most delicious way. “I’ve never seen Winston be the bad guy”, Gordon laughs, adding, “The director told us, ‘don’t hold back. Treat him like you would if someone was trying out for the band.’ There were a few moments where I felt uncomfortable, like, we were going to look like not the best people. Chris told me afterwards that he was thinking, ‘wow, these guys are full on’, he said he didn’t know if we were being real or not.” Gordon also shared that Hemsworth threw up devil horns at one point, before being shut down by lead singer Winston McCall who told him he had to earn it.
The episode finally reaches the big moment, at a sold-out stadium show in Romania. Hemsworth sneaks on stage, ready to play Sheeran’s hit single “Thinking Out Loud”, and the nerves- both Hemsworth’s and yours, as the viewer- are next-level. At this point, he hadn’t nailed the track yet and reveals he wasn’t feeling confident. But once the music starts, the reflexes kick in and he absolutely nails it. “There was so much pressure leading up to that show, there was months and months of filming about this episode.” Gordon reveals. “I was telling Chris on the night, which probably didn’t help, that there’s only one shot. Because with acting, it’s a very high-pressure situation, but if you mess up you just go again. But with this, he had one shot to do it. So there was a really palpable tension on the night and there was just so much pressure for him. And when he nailed it, it was such a relief…Probably my favourite moment of the whole experience was after he played, he went on stage with Ed and then he came back and me and Liam- his brother, and a few of his friends were waiting for him and we all just hugged him and were screaming and jumping up and down.”
February next year will see Park Waves Festival rip through Australia, with eleven shows including regional towns. “Our whole career, we’ve focused on regional areas, because we’re from a regional area.” Gordon says on the significance of bringing the festival to regional towns. “We’re from a small town where we only had a handful of bands come through our town and they were really impactful as young teenagers. We still remember these pivotal moments in out journey… so, we love going to smaller towns.” The only problem, Gordon reveals, is that smaller towns usually equal smaller venues, and that can be limiting for a band with such a huge production. “We had the idea of bringing our own stage- our own venue, essentially, with big pop-up tents. It’s been done before, but it hasn’t been done for a long time. So the idea was to bring a mini-festival with some of the best heavy Aussie bands out there and have full production and put on a proper Parkway show. We have circus acts and all sorts of entertainment.” And at a time where we’ve sadly seen some of our beloved festivals come to a end, this kind of thinking is just what the Aussie music scene needs.
Above all, Parkway Drive strive to make Park Waves the most entertaining festival yet. “I think people who don’t even particularly like heavy music will also just have a great time going there and we’re trying to have something for everyone. So essentially what we’re trying to create is a really memorable experience to take to these small towns. You know, not everyone travels to the big cities to see us or to see bands, so the goal is to show people what live music is and what live music can be, and really just revitalise the scene and just live music in general in Australia.” Its that passion for the Australian live music scene that makes Parkway Drive so great- their ambition and willingness to try new things, like play a show in black-tie with an orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, will make them go down as one of the greats.
You can stream Limitless: Live Better Now on Disney Plus now, and get your Park Waves tickets HERE.
Park Waves Festival Tour Dates:
Saturday 14 February 2026 – Langley Park, Perth, WA 16+
Friday 20 February 2026 – Adelaide Showground, SA 16+
Sunday 22 February 2026 – Geelong Showground, VIC 16+
Saturday 28 February 2026 – Caribbean Gardens, Scoresby, VIC 16+
Sunday 1 March 2026 – Bendigo Jockey Club, VIC 16+
Thursday 5 March 2026 – Thomas Dalton Park, Wollongong, NSW 16+
Saturday 7 March 2026 – Sydney Dragway, Eastern Creek, NSW 16+
Sunday 8 March 2026 – Maitland Showground, NSW 16+
Thursday 12 March 2026 – Queens Park, Toowoomba, QLD 16+
Saturday 14 March 2026 – Cavanbah Centre, Byron Bay, NSW* 16+
Sunday 15 March 2026 – Sandstone Point Hotel, QLD 16+
Photo credit: Disney+
