Photo by Stephen Smith
What began as a jam session at a rehearsal space in Austin has become an international collection of gifted musicians whose captivating live performances and studio releases have garnered acclaim from fans and publications around the world. Progger is held together by a passion for music that balances sophisticated harmony and melody with visceral beats and riffs. Through four critically-acclaimed releases and live tours supporting acts like Parliament/Funkadelic, Snarky Puppy, and the Funky Knuckles, Progger has developed an international following of devoted fans.
During the staggering Austin summer heat of 2011, bassist Nick Clark and composers Brian Donohoe and Matthew Muehling began playing weekly sessions with drummer Daniel Watson, guitarist Carter Arrington, and trombonist Paul Deemer in Austin. Despite the city’s deep music community, Muehling, a guitarist, and Donohoe, a saxophonist and keyboardist, had found relatively little of the progressive jazz-funk-rock fusion that they loved, so they brought some friends together to make their own. A year-long residency at the legendary One-2-One Bar allowed Progger to develop the music that would become their first two independently-released albums, “Beatmaker” and “Populace.”
There were huge life changes in the following years: some band members moved across the country or to another continent, others started families. Still, the band was determined to continue developing the unique sound it had started in Texas. Progger’s core began collaborating with musicians in New York and Los Angeles and caught the attention of Ropeadope Records, who facilitated the release of the band’s third and fourth albums, “Scattering” and “Dystopia.”
Despite the inevitable cancellations caused by the world-changing Covid-19 pandemic, Progger’s constituent members began working with a staggering variety of prominent artists across numerous genres. The likes of Bruno Mars, Jon Batiste, Janelle Monáe, the Black Pumas, Kool and the Gang, and the Kill Tony Show have been keeping various Progger people quite busy. Nonetheless, the band will be rehearsing and performing its piles of new music throughout late 2024 in eager anticipation of producing its fifth album.
Brooklyn’s Crash Chords podcast describes Progger as “gripping… tight as hell… it will lift your heart in a very special way.” The UK’s Soul and Jazz radio show and webcast calls them “amazing,” while Germany’s Daily Prog blog calls them “vibrant and renewing.” The Boulder Weekly summarizes the Progger sound well: “Smooth chords over dirty funk beats with just a hint of the building, swirling psychedelic sounds of prog rock.”