"Underground will live forever baby. We just like roaches. Never dying, always living.”

These words, as the Trancesetters track Roaches so succinctly samples, is an apt description of Melbourne progressive. Once a dominant force in our clubbing scene, its fall from grace was swift and, as so often happens, a direct reflection of the UK’s trends dictated by their dance music media. “I think part of the reason progressive declined was because of the constant caning it got in the dance press, with prog bashing becoming the thing to do,” comments James Young of Melbourne progressive monthly Ascend. “As with most popular music trends, progressive did have a shelf life so to speak, but the decline was helped along by bad press in the UK,” agrees Mark James, director of Future Entertainment. “Also, a lot of progressive productions and Djs just got too deep and underground for their own good and lost the dance floor friendliness along the way.”

In sharp succession, previously popular nights closed and the flood of internationals became a trickle as promoters were either unwilling or unable to support a genre that no longer brought in the big bucks. As Natalie Hale, part of the team that spearheads Dark Beat points out, “the progressive sound we heard in the big clubs two to three years ago was more accessible and lighter with melodic vocals and ‘bound for commercial radio’ written all over them. Sean Quinn and Kasey Taylor may have played them first, but six months later so would Kyle and Jacki-o. Progressive house’s sudden popularity steemed from the fact that it appealed to a trendier crowd. The prog scene just became too mainstream to be cool and that’s where it went wrong. Naturally, the sound got darker in an attempt to separate itself from just pop music for ravers, and this pretty much saw the end of the massive weekly prog nights.”

A different view is offered by full-time progressive know-it-all and part-time progressive DJ Stuart Bransbury. “The dance scene has always had its records played six months before radio, and that’s still the case today," he argues. "The only people who cared about the commercialism of the scene were the chin-strokers, not the punters that filled the clubs. Prog went deep as a backlash to trance and as such lost most of its commercial appeal. Now the sound has evolved again, it needs to become popular enough to get commercial airplay, but it won't become popular until it receives commercial airplay, creating a catch 22 situation. The demise of Kiss FM marked an end to progressive receiving airplay on Melbourne airwaves, a large contributing factor to its decline in popularity in the clubs. There are so many people who love the sound when they hear it, but are not exposed to it.”

While at the time the situation looked dire, and much premature grave-treading was done, in retrospect what occurred was more an inevitable culling than extinction. Taking matters into their own hands, fans of progressive set up their own nights, supported by their network of friends rather than expensive advertising campaigns.

Examples include previously mentioned monthly nights Ascend at Altitude and Dark Beat as well as the reincarnated Fathom and Private Function. Equally positive is the addition to Friday nights titled Sideways. Held at Tilt, Sideways has successfully filled a void, becoming the only weekly progressive night in Melbourne. Of course, an article on the Melbourne progressive scene would not be complete without mentioning highly successful monthly event Sunny, now in its seventh year and still as underground as any club in Melbourne. It is common to hear the throwaway line ‘prog is dead’ whenever a setback befalls the scene. However, those saying it lose much of their credibility when one considers that around eight hundred people consistently attend Sunny with the only advertising being word of mouth.

So what spells success for a scene? As a means of comparison, here are the recollections of one progressive punter: “It’s 11.30 pm, I’m cold and standing in a queue that's at least 60 deep, shivering and wondering if the club is at capacity yet. The queue is moving slowly and I’m getting my very best ‘bouncer nod and wink’ ready in the hope of being admitted. Eventually I make it to the front, get looked up and down and the rope is unclipped for me to make my way in. I pay the cover charge and emerge into a club that's already busy at the bar, on the dance floor and in the seats. The pulsating 4x4 sounds of progressive assault my senses, twitches my ears and loosens my shoulders in anticipation of the musical night ahead. I’m at any number of clubs with a progressive night in Melbourne. Its 2000
and progressive music is at its zenith.”

Fast forward to Friday the 27th of August, 2004. as I indulge my progressive senses in starkly different circumstances. The night included three venues featuring progressive, two of Melbourne’s, and the world’s, leading progressive producers and DJs in Luke Chable and Jono Fernandez, Habersham from the USA and fifteen other quality local progressive DJs. While no queues sprawled outside any of these venues, those in attendance weren’t there due to a flashy marketing campaign or because they’d read in DJMag that progressive was the in thing for the month of August. Surely the health, and long term health of a scene in particular, is best judged when the trend followers are weeded out, leaving those who are passionate about the music?

“If the music and djs are good, then the rest will follow,” comments Mark James. “These new nights are a classic example.” The Djs and productions are now working for the dance floor better than they ever have. Progressive has merged with breaks, house and electro and is sounding better than it ever has. I was speaking to John Digweed the other day and he is constantly asked in interviews ‘are you a progressive dj still and what do you play?’ His reply is ‘why don’t you have a listen to what I play and you make up your own mind?’ That’s what it’s about now. No labels, just good music and selection.”

This definition of progressive seems to have struck a chord with many of its promoters, Darius Bassiray and Daniel Banko (aka DJ Blanka) of Dark Beat offering an equally forward-thinking view to that of Mark James. “There will always be a market in Melbourne for progressive nights, as long as they reflect what progressive is all about in that it has to ‘progress’ and provide a crowd with music that has substance and longevity,” they state. “You can only provide that type of sound if you incorporate other elements of music, whether it be tribal, house or breakbeat. As long as people are entertained, they will want to go out to prog nights. If not, they will look to alternative styles of music and the progressive scene will stagnate.”

This is not to say that a blueprint exists for running successful progressive night in Melbourne as it is rare that everything goes according to plan. For every Sunny or Private Function there are a number of nights that fail to succeed. “I think a large factor attributed to their decline is an unwillingness by venue operators to give these nights the required time to grow and evolve,” cite Bassiray and Banko. “All too often, if a night does not show growth within the first few events they get shut down and another promising party goes to waste.”

“A challenge currently facing progressive promoters and DJs is the competition for a smaller, more loyal base of punters,” adds Hale. “There is so much talent in Melbourne, yet little unity between the many small parties trying to revive the scene. While all having similar aims, the lack of communication and support can only be seen as counterproductive when you have one night with three or four progressive events and the next night with none. However, while winter is always hard for parties, by summer I have feeling Melbourne will know that prog was just taking a nap.”

Fortunately, issues with venue owners and communication between promoters seem minor when compared to some of the problems facing progressive a couple of years ago. It will take much more than this to prevent the Melbourne scene from continuing its resurgence. Even in the darkest of times, it must be remembered that a main stadium at Melbourne’s largest event, Two Tribes, was by and large filled with progressive DJs, proving that it never totally dropped off the radar. Progressive’s time in the wilderness has enhanced the sound as it re-identified itself in the form of some emerging monthly nights that now can claim a loyal following and will continue to build. Progressive is back, and so are the supporters.