Mahogany Frog
w/ The Summerlad. Apr 25 (8pm). Velvet Underground (10030-102 St). Tickets: $10.

Progressive rock has been hibernating for the better part of 30 years: ever since The Clash and The Sex Pistols made 30-minute guitar solos, extravagant stage setups, and complex, classically inspired time changes seem like the provenance of dinosaurs, bands have avoided of labeling themselves anything close to proggy.

Saskatchewan’s Mahogany Frog, however, are resurrecting the prog genre. Born in Saskatoon (a city not exactly known for its thriving prog scene), their live setup includes a keyboard rack big enough to make Uriah Heep and Yes sweat with jealousy, a drummer capable of handling even the most algebraic time signatures, and a sound that’s thick, cerebral, and psychedelic, while steering clear of pretension.

“Prog has been a dirty word with the indie scenesters for a while now,” says Mahogany Frog keyboardist/guitarist Graham Epp. “I don’t really see that there is a modern sense of the word and that’s why the kids sort of shy away from it. Until quite recently I had no idea that there even was a current prog scene. We tapped into the U.S. prog community on this tour and realized there are a lot of folks who are dedicated to anything that falls under the prog umbrella. It’s mostly an older group, but one that is very supportive of the bands. I don’t think that the indie kids would ever flock to a band like these crazies.” 

And that relentless touring has helped the band develop a tight live act that bounces from one time signature and texture to the next with a minimum of effort—at least onstage. “We’re currently on a five-week tour,” Epp says, “so there’s been months of preparation for this. Moving from Saskatoon to Winnipeg [five years ago] enabled us to find a solid and permanent bass player. The sound of Mahogany Frog has had more to do with a solid lineup of musicians than a change of location....

“The sound has definitely evolved. We were a two-guitar, bass, and drums ensemble until we added a keyboardist on our Living Sounds record. Then as we moved to Winnipeg we picked up an old Farfisa organ and an ARP synth and started to get into the keys.”

It took years for Mahogany Frog to reach this point of perfect progginess. But we sure are glad they took their time.