Australian hardcore band Parkway Drive have condemned the actions of a former merchandise manager after he pleaded guilty to a historical child sex offence in a New South Wales court last week.
Jed Daniel Gordon, 44, appeared in Byron Bay Local Court and pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl — an offence that occurred between November 2002 and July 2003, when Gordon was in his early 20s.
Gordon, who is the brother of Parkway Drive drummer Ben Gordon as per ABC, sat alone in the courtroom on both occasions his matter was mentioned, on March 9 and March 16. He is due to be sentenced on May 19, when the court is expected to hear a victim impact statement from the victim.
Parkway Drive later addressed the matter in a social media statement on Sunday (March 22). “This is appalling and we condemn it,” they wrote. “We’re gutted and we support the victim.”
Parkway Drive acknowledged that while the offence predates the band’s own formation, they bore responsibility for employing Gordon in the years that followed.
“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 news arrives at an already difficult time for the band. Parkway Drive were among the headliners booked for Bluesfest 2026 — a rare hometown appearance for the Byron Bay outfit — before the festival collapsed into liquidation on March 13.
The cancellation was the latest blow for the band, who had also been forced to shut down their own festival, Park Waves, late last year. “Another festival being crushed by the rising costs across our entertainment industry,” the band said at the time of the Bluesfest collapse. “It hurts to be another casualty in this chapter of the Australian music scene.”
Parkway Drive formed in Byron Bay in 2003 — their name taken from the street where they first rehearsed, at the Gordon family home in Ewingsdale. Over two decades, the band have grown into one of Australia’s most prominent heavy music exports, headlining major international festivals and selling out arenas worldwide.
They have released seven studio albums on Epitaph Records, with their last three — Ire (2015), Reverence (2018), and Darker Still (2022) — each debuting at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Darker Still also won the 2023 ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album.
