Prog Rock Hardens Up - Mike Portnoy, Anathema, Haken & More Provide Relief For Jaded Ears

Key changes, complex structures, songs that can span the length of an entire album; prog rock was once seen as a haven for music completist nerds and musicians seeking solace inside the warm caverns of their own anal canal (anal tract?). But something changed around the turn of the century when the progsters of the '70s stopped trying to have AOR hits and got back to business, whilst a new breed of musos inspired by classic prog found a new edge, backing away from long twiddling boring solos and focusing on the craft of complex song construction. Prog is one again on the rise, with a new era for music savants and fans of intelligently created rock music on the horizon.

Prog will have a different meaning to any two people; one man’s side long classic is another man’s meaningless nonsense, but since the dawn of the genre in the late '60s, a few loose rules have emerged, the main one seemingly being to ditch them. Or, as Yes’ Rick Wakeman puts, it, “it’s about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place.”

For a solid decade, prog appeared to be untouchable. With pioneers such as King Crimson, Yes, Genesis (whose scintillatingly proficient guitarist Steve Hackett visits these shores next week), and Pink Floyd (are they/aren’t they? Answers on the back of a piece of Holst sheet music of no less than thesis length should be submitted by posting to any Roger Dean architecturally designed house anywhere in the cosmos), an immeasurable amount of talent was funnelled into pieces of art rock that were lapped up by rock fans looking for something more - the spirit of musical groundbreaking set into motion by none other than The Beatles, The Who and other musicians forever with an eye on the horizon. Rife with elements from pop to jazz, from baroque to rock, to symphonic expositions the world was limited only by the side of a vinyl album.

However, by the late '70s, prog hit a snag. Jamming a knife into the organ might all be well and good as far as stagecraft goes but many rock music fans yearned for something simpler, something that didn’t require adherence to buddhism and a doctorate in music composition to be able to follow… something you could hum. The rise of punk took the wind out of the sails of the burgeoning movement. What didn’t help was the fact the genre existed almost completely segregated from other music communities. Eventually, those who did stumble across it inevitably lost interest, as did the artists. Derek Shulman of Gentle Giant commented, “The old bands are tired, go see the new ones.”

But what goes around… Punk led to new wave and post punk, with musicians drawing on the pre-prog glam of Roxy Music and keeping their sonic explorations within a reasonable song length. How else to explain PiL without knowing that Johnny Rotten was a Van Der Graaf generator fan and where in hell did the sounds of Wire or The Residents come from? Breaking new ground will always be a musician’s quest. 

Even without the wind and wuthering in its sails, prog never really went away, often peeking out from the work of musicians working in different genres with similar tenets - Smashing Pumpkins and Tool are just a couple who dipped the occasional toe into the waters of progressive leanings. It may have been a long time coming but the ' 90s saw the new generation of fully formed prog finally arrive. Re-animated originals such as King Crimson found new structures to work within and new bands such as Spocks Beard built on the original '70s ideas to create critically acclaimed new works. And prog took a decidedly heavier turn with artists such as Dream Theater meshing prog ideals with blistering metal.

It’s almost impossible to ignore the rising interest in neo-prog both worldwide and in Australia. The Australian metal scene is seeing international success for bands such as Ne-Obliviscaris, Caligula’s Horse and sleepmakeswaves who have all landed international deals. On the touring fron, we’ve seen ex-Porcupine Tree genius Steven Wilson tour twice and Opeth sell out the Sydney Opera House in ten minutes. The rest of 2017 is a veritable smorgasbord of Prog for music fans. Mike Portney’s Shattered Fortress will be here in November performing a slew Dream Theater classics, At The Drive-In will be here in September, one of the UK’s most amazing new bands, Haken, will also be here in September and UK post-rock outfit Anathema will be marking their return to Australian shores with their brand new album The Optimist, with fans already in a mild frenzy for the shows.

And it’s not just the music itself. If you’re going to play 20 minute long pieces of music, you can’t just turn up play three songs and take a bow. Prog artists are intent on putting on an amazing show. Steven Wilson and Opeth shows typically run for up to three hours. Anathema plan to perform two full sets on their upcoming Australian shows. Anticipate at least a couple of hours of Mike Portnoy and Steve Hackett is not only planning a full 150 minutes of music but in Melbourne will turn up at 170 Russell the night after his Palais concert to perform an almost entirely different set.

In a world where mainstream radio suffers a vacuum of substance, where TV news is ever-reliant on YouTube clips and celebrity obsession, where auto-tune and faltering multinational record companies foist mindless auto-tuned soft-core pap bereft of melody upon us, it’s no surprise at all that music fans push back and demand music with more substance. Prog rock may occasionally take things to extremes but provides an obvious vehicle for both musicians seeking to master their instruments and delve deeper into understanding the intricacies of how music works (seriously - what do you think King Gizzard were up to with Flying Microtonal Banana?).

The neo-prog heroes such as Steven Wilson, Mike Portnoy, Anthema, Haken, Steve Hackett and Opeth are just a few of a burgeoning new crop of artists providing intelligent rock music for those fans questing for something more.

It’s not like disco is coming back to save us.

Buy tickets for Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress here.

Buy tickets for Haken here.

Buy tickets for Steve Hackett here.

Buy tickets for Anathema here.