Move Over Metalcore, Prog Rock Is The New 'Cool'

Caligula's Horse frontman Jim Grey is understandably exultant. Firstly, the Brisbane prog-rockers are set to road-test new material. Their next record remains in its embryonic stages, but attendees at upcoming headlining shows may just get an earful of a new opus; a four-part, 16-minute behemoth entitled Graves. Said shows will also introduce and assimilate new drummer Josh Griffin into the ranks. "He's definitely changed the way that Sam [Vallen, guitars] and I are approaching parts, because we know he's got a certain set of skills," Grey enthuses. 

However, the clincher may be landing the support slot that any self-respecting, forward-thinking act would pawn their Marillion LPs to secure: opening for Swedish maestros Opeth on their 2017 Australian run."We played with Opeth, I think last time they were out, but it was just the one show in Brisbane. We were all stoked, one of those bucket-list shows that you always hope you get to play," the singer laughs. "The fact that we now get to tour the country with them on Sorceress, which has done so well as an album, and go to New Zealand with them as well. It's our first shows in New Zealand too. Totally stoked, man."

"If you look back in the past, bands like Jethro Tull and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and stuff like that, those bands were massive. They were in the pop scene, just doing their thing… "

Opeth's broad following seemingly belies their boundary-free, non-conventional approach to songwriting, and they have perhaps instilled among wider audiences that it's permissible - almost trendy - to embrace progressive music nowadays. "Prog's been cool since forever, brah," Grey jokes. "If you look back in the past, bands like Jethro Tull and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and stuff like that, those bands were massive. They were in the pop scene, just doing their thing… But there are bands [today] that have crossed genres enough that there's crossover appeal between them. If you look at a band like Karnivool, they've got massive crossover appeal between fans that are into prog or alt-rock, or even pop-rock fans love Karnivool.

"I think Opeth is sort of doing that thing now, they've developed their sound and Mikael [Akerfeldt] is so confident in himself and what he wants for his project, and the way that he writes he doesn't cave to people's desires. So they've just got this unique sound that's coming out, and I think that's what people are attracted to. We don't keep the idea of what people want to hear in our head necessarily. There's definitely a core Caligula's Horse sound and we do that but, at the same time, we want to write the music that reflects us and that we're proud of."

The quintet possess other lofty ambitions; namely, a return to Europe mid-next year. The aforementioned Jethro Tull will even headline a festival they're playing in Barcelona, Be Prog! My Friend. "Hopefully that's the start of something for us. We're going to go over and play a bunch of shows. [That festival's] another one of those that's bucket-list stuff."