Australian metalcore group Parkway Drive have publicly criticized the behavior of a former merchandise staff member after he admitted guilt in connection with a historical child sexual offence in a New South Wales court last week.
Jed Daniel Gordon, 44, appeared before Byron Bay Local Court where he admitted to a charge of sexual intercourse with a 15 year old girl. The offence dated back to a period between November 2002 and July 2003, when Gordon was in his early twenties.
According to ABC, Gordon, who is the brother of Parkway Drive drummer Ben Gordon, attended the hearings alone when the case was mentioned on March 9 and March 16. His sentencing is scheduled for May 19, when the court is also expected to hear a victim impact statement.
Parkway Drive later responded to the situation in a statement posted to social media on Sunday March 22. “This is appalling and we condemn it,” they wrote. “We’re gutted and we support the victim.”
The band also noted that although the incident happened before Parkway Drive officially formed, they still felt a level of accountability for having worked with Gordon in later years.
“This happened before we were a band, however we bear moral responsibility for contracting him from 2003, on and off over the years,” the statement read.
“While he hasn’t toured with us since 2017, more recently he’s been part of our Australian online merch team. When the band heard about this, we terminated his contract immediately. He’s no longer involved with Parkway Drive in any capacity. This is heartbreaking on a very human scale.”
The situation comes during what has already been a challenging period for the group. Parkway Drive had been announced as one of the headline acts for Bluesfest 2026, which would have been a significant hometown performance for the Byron Bay band, before the event entered liquidation on March 13.
The festival cancellation added to a series of setbacks for the group, who were also forced to cancel their own Park Waves festival toward the end of last year. “Another festival being crushed by the rising costs across our entertainment industry,” the band said following the Bluesfest situation. “It hurts to be another casualty in this chapter of the Australian music scene.”
Parkway Drive originally came together in Byron Bay in 2003, taking their name from the street where they first practiced at the Gordon family home in Ewingsdale. Over the past twenty years, they have become one of Australia’s most successful heavy music acts, performing at major festivals around the world and selling out large venues internationally.
Across their career, the band have released seven studio records through Epitaph Records. Their most recent three albums Ire from 2015, Reverence from 2018 and Darker Still from 2022 all debuted at Number 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Darker Still also earned the 2023 ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock Heavy Metal Album.
