Parkway Drive’s Ben Gordon Reflects on Teaching Chris Hemsworth to Play Drums

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As actor Chris Hemsworth prepares to share his story of being a budding percussionist, drummer Ben Gordon has discussed Hemsworth’s latest role – astute music student.

Close to a year ago, Hemsworth made a surprise appearance at an Ed Sheeran concert in Bucharest, Romancia, playing drums alongside the British pop star despite having no prior experience.

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The unexpected cameo from the God of Thunder turned out to be part of Hemsworth’s Limitless series with National Geographic, which finds him pursuing ways to strengthen his mind and body through extreme measures.

In the lead up to the new season’s premiere on Aug. 15, Ben Gordon, the drummer of Australian metal outfit Parkway Drive, has opened up about the experience of teaching the Hollywood actor.

“It was good fun, actually,” Gordon told Australia’s Today Extra on Wednesday (Aug. 6).“I’ve been friends with Chris for about seven, eight years now. We met from a mutual friend when he moved to Byron [Bay], and we’ve been mates ever since.

“So when he got challenged by Ed Sheeran to learn the drums for Limitless, I guess I was the obvious choice to call because, I guess, I’m his only friend who’s a professional drummer. So he gave me a call and asked if I would help out.”

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According to Gordon, he had originally expected his involvement to be restricted to a behind-the-scenes role, though the teaching process was ultimately captured and utilized in the final cut.

When asked by hosts David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys as to whether Hemsworth is “any good” as a percussionist, Gordon was quick to answer in the negative.

“When he first came to me, he was really bad,” Gordon explains. “I have a lot of admiration for him because the whole premise of the episode was him finding something that he wasn’t gifted at, which was quite hard because he’s very talented in many areas, and diving into something that he finds uncomfortable.

“No one in the world is good at everything, even Chris Hemsworth, so he found something he’s not good at, which was the drums,” he added. “He was a complete novice. He had no idea about it. He had no rhythm. But that was kind of the challenge and that’s what makes the episode fun.”

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Parkway Drive first formed in the coastal New South Wales town of Byron Bay in 2003, issuing their debut album two years later. They received their first top ten album in Australia with 2007’s Horizons, which also hit No. 27 on the Top Heatseekers charts. 2010’s Deep Blue launched a four-record run which saw the group consecutively charting within the top 40 of the Billboard 200, with 2015’s Ire resulting in a peak of No. 29.

Alongside becoming their first release to top the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, Ire also was their first of three consecutive records to top the Australian charts. “Sacred” is Parkway Drive’s first release since their 2022 album Darker Still, which saw them receive their third ARIA Award for best hard rock or heavy metal album.

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