Most Popular Prog Bands by Country Currently?

tribalfusions wrote: I don't think any Japanese prog bands are doing much outside Japan but I'd love to hear the contrary.

Electric Asturias from Japan have been appearing regularly at festivals. I saw them on Cruise to the Edge 2014, and they've been on a few other cruises since then.  I think they also did Rosfest. But as the OP pointed out, a festival appearance is not a "tour".

Yep, forgot about them for some reason. I agree though. There's no link between the current lineup and the classic lineup at all. Forget about original members. There's not even one current TD member who was even there in the 90's. Time to call the band something else imo.

I think it's hard to say with any certainty for Australia - our "prog rock" scene is so fragmented across multiple states and dominated at moment by Djent/alt metal bands that nonetheless have the "prog rock" label slapped on them. That's the impression I have anyway, based on general visibility, tours and the lineups at the "ProgFests" (which have only been held in the Eastern states in recent years).

In terms of current profile and sales etc, I'd nominate: Karnivool, they have very effectively ridden the Triple J tiger for a long time (a national ABC radio network that is the main avenue for independent Aussie music but not known for it's friendliness toward prog).

In terms of general reputation over an extended time, Spectrum might get the gong? Based I think on Mike Rudd and co. doing the hard grind in the early '70's travelling the nation and performing their jammy/head music songs at rock festivals in various states. I've found a level of name recognition here in Adelaide with people in their late 50's onward that surprises me, considering that their presence on mainstream radio has for as long as I can remember been limited to 1 occasionally played song. Having a hit single very early on (the bluesy "I'll be gone") would help too, as perhaps would having had their first and second albums reissued beautifully by Aztec and so available again in recent years. Mike Rudd does still has an active lineup of Spectrum, mostly doing gigs around Melbourne (as it seems to me).

Some of the current crop of heavy Aussie bands have done overseas tours but not sure how many (if any) bands or artists would or could attempt a headline tour. The bands Unitopia (defunct) and Southern Empire (very much alive) would have a profile that I suspect would fit well into overseas rock festivals and (imho) deserve a place there too, based on the quality of their music and their live performance. The cohort of djenty/alt-metal oriented bands here in Oz would probably do equally well at overseas metal festivals too, at a guess...