Parkway Drive's Ben Gordon Leads Petition to Axe Byron Baes Netflix Series
Parkway Drive are making headlines again, but this time it's not for their gutturals screams and heavy as fuck breakdowns! The band's drummer Ben Gordon has taken the lead against a Netflix docu-soap series titled Byron Baes, which is set to feature drama-filled Instagram Influencers living their best lives, creating the best drama content... No, I'm serious, that's the tagline for this show as seen in promotional material floating around the web!
Ben has come to the defence of his iconic town (where he also owns and operates a coffee shop when he's not touring the world) labelling the show as "quite offensive" and urging local council members and businesses to oppose the production of the series and not allow producers to film in their shops/locations. As stated in an interview with ABC North Coast:
"They will tout that it's going to be seen by millions of people and that it's free marketing but it's not good marketing and you don't want to be involved with that."
In a lengthy post on his own Instagram page, Ben revealed:
Some of you may have heard about the new Netflix show they are trying to make in Byron called “Byron Baes”. The concept is the most tacky and cheap thing you’ve ever seen. Read the press release in my second photo. This is how our town will be seen by the 200,000,000 Netflix subscribers.
Byron has a rich history of community, sustainability, creativity, progressive thinking, music and art, we have so much depth as a community and yet Netflix want to focus their series on manufactured gossip and drama between “influencers”, most of which aren’t from the town.
They didn’t ask the community if we wanted the show, they didn’t give us a chance to have an input, they simply have forced themselves into our town and are using our name and image for their own profit, leaving us with nothing but a shattered reputation.
The entire community are starting to come together to oppose this show and are calling on Netflix to stop production immediately.
There is some big action coming, but in the meantime if anyone wanted to sign the petition it would be much appreciated!
As I write this, an online petition has been set up with over 5920 signatures which locals hope will gather attention from visitors who don't want to see Byron turned into a joke and labelled as something it isn't. The main focus they're pushing for is:
No permit = no location filming. No location filming featuring our exploited paradise = no series.
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Those who know the band will know Parkway Drive got their name from an infamous street (a short drive outside the town's centre) which has become a sightseeing location for many metalcore fans to visit from all over the world. Parkway have more of an impact and say in the town they've always called home and I would back their calls more so than any influencer who wanted to use Byron Bay as a background for their self-indulgent fake life photos and feeds.
If you want to jump in and help Ben and Byron Bay's cause, sign the petition here
Words by Paul 'Browny' Brown @brownypaul
