March 15 will be a singular night for fans of progressive metal and prog rock as Chicago’s District 97 will make a rare appearance in Fort Wayne. 

Insanely tight and disciplined yet brimming with passion from the powerful vocals of frontwoman and 2007 American Idol finalist Leslie Hunt, District 97 have been carrying a torch since 2008, bridging the classic British prog of the early ’70s to today’s progressive metal. 

District 97 have cultivated an international following, and yet they aren’t known outside the prog rock community. 

About every three years the band releases a new album, then selectively tours the U.S., England, and Europe. Their March 15 concert at Sweetwater Performance Theatre will be only their second in Fort Wayne. Their first was November 2021 when theaters were only beginning to book acts again toward the end of the pandemic. I was there, but I’ll bet you weren’t.

Going Live

On the strength of their fifth studio album, 2023’s Stay for the Ending, District 97 just released the live album Live for the Ending.

“It features all of Stay for the Ending performed live, plus a version of ‘Matte Kudasai’ by King Crimson and one other of our older songs, and that was compiled from shows in the Netherlands and London and Chicago,” said Jonathan Schang, band leader and drummer. 

“There’s definitely a metal element to our sound that pops up to varying degrees,” he said. “But I think that our M.O. is pretty similar to that of the initial prog rock movement in that we’re taking elements from a lot of different influences and synthesizing them together. Not usually in a very self-conscious way, but I think all the members of the band have absorbed a lot of different styles of music, so it just naturally kind of makes itself known.”

Cohesive unit

The musicians of District 97 are full-time professionals but earn their living in other projects, from classical to jazz. Schang is a percussion accompanist for ballet and dance groups, while Hunt owns a community music school.

“I’d say I bring the most of the classic prog influence to it,” Schang said. “I’m the one who has every Yes album, and King Crimson, and Genesis, Gentle Giant, all that stuff.

“Leslie Hunt is our vocalist, and she’s coming out of more of an indie and pop background.

“Our guitarist is Jim Tashjian, and he brings, I think, a metal edge to things, and more of a grunge type of sensibility. He loved The Smashing Pumpkins when he was a kid.

“On bass we have Tim Seisser. Jazz fusion was a big thing for him, like Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report. So you hear some of that in his playing. And you mentioned Animals As Leaders. I know Tim likes them a lot, and Meshuggah is huge for him.

“And then lastly, we have Andrew Lawrence on keyboards. He’s a great straight-ahead jazz pianist, but he’s got a very broad stylistic range. So, he can do anything from straight jazz to what we do, but he also brings a lot of fusion influence as well. And classical too.

“It’s a pretty interesting mix between all five of us.”

Building their brand

Schang has carefully built the band’s career.

Beginning in 2008, he got their first album distributed by Laser’s Edge in New Jersey and won fans around the world on the Progressive Ears discussion forum. Over the years, they’ve been reviewed in Prog magazine out of London, distributed in bookstores in the U.S. Finding a patron in England, the band crossed the pond for a few appearances.

District 97 came to the attention of the godfather of progressive rock drummers, Bill Bruford of Yes and King Crimson, who championed them and has become a mentor and friend to Schang.

In 2013, the band did a number of dates across Europe and the U.S. as the backing band for John Wetton, the famed singer and bass player of King Crimson, U.K., and Asia. Wetton passed away in early 2017.

Then the band got to perform on the prog world’s most important festival, the semi-annual Cruise to the Edge, starting in 2017. 

Sailing the Caribbean on a ship filled with thousands of rapt fans, they performed alongside their heroes from Yes, Genesis, Kansas, Dream Theater, King’s X, and others — including younger-generation prog metal bands such as Haken out of England and Klone of France. This led to touring the U.S. and Canada opening for Swedish band Pain of Salvation. 

To date, District 97 have appeared on four Cruise to the Edge festivals.

an album for all tastes

Stay for the Ending is the best-sounding District 97 album so far, thanks to Chicago producer Noam Wallenberg. It’s also their most musically diverse. 

In metal mode, the band spin out unbelievably tight unison riffs with a satisfying crunch. Schang’s prog rock polyrhythms can go their own way for a bit, but the band always lands back on the one. Hunt sings the most challenging material the band has written for her, soaring across an impressive range.

Across the album’s 10 tracks, there are unexpected sections of alternative rock, ballads, and even dreamy ’80s-style synth-pop. Most songs start out simple then move through increasingly complex sections, crescendoing to an arena-rock conclusion.

The band’s lyrics, though dark, are nonetheless pretty down-to-earth, especially in the delightful romp “Deck Is Stacked,” a glorious classic-rock riffer which is an exploration of the travails of a touring rock band. It culminates in an extended drum solo from Schang that would make Phil Collins or Carl Palmer proud.

All in all, there’s enough to satisfy the prog hounds and metal-heads, while also appealing to those with an indie, alternative rock taste, and that’s new.

We’ve got an opportunity to see this exponent of contemporary prog, here in town. 

“It’s kind of sporadic in terms of when we get out of Chicago,” Schang said. “So it’s good for people to see us when they get the chance. We may not necessarily be back within the next year.”