How It All Began

The History of The Prog Notes Podcast

( Drew – Left, Destin – Right )

The Prog Notes Podcast is the product of a cross-country relocation, a desire for two childhood friends and bandmates to stay in contact, and a wild idea. Did they ever expect the opportunity to interview prog legends such as Tony Levin? Or to launch a second podcast, Prog Notes: Spotlight? Or to become an online media promoter for dozens of record labels? Definitely not. So how did all this happen? Well, it goes all the way back to 2010, when Destin and Drew met. Here is the story of the Prog Notes Podcast.

Destin and Drew have always been partners in their creative endeavors. Whether it was writing music, recording Vines in high school, producing videos on Drew or Destin’s YouTube channel, participating in 48-hour film festivals, or writing a YouTube series called The Archetypes (which you can hear an interview about here), the duo has always had a kinship and strong bond over the things they create together. This is the very thing that became the foundation of their podcast.

At age 14, Destin and Drew first met in a study hall, the one and only “class” they shared for the next four years of high school. Their mutual love for the prog-rock pioneers and immediate chemistry led the two to start the band Arcane Atlas, with Destin on drums, Drew on bass, and their mutual friend, Eric ‘The Bez’ Bezner (featured on Ep. 15 of Prog Notes) on guitar.

The young, spirited trio would then spend the next four years writing and performing music while discovering the 70’s prog giants that would forever shape their music taste for years to come. The three expressed their heartfelt love of the genre in their debut album, Constellation Plus, originally released in 2014 (re-visited and re-released in 2024). Eric then departed from the group in 2015. Destin and Drew sought out a new lineup, signed to Musea Records, and self-produced their sophomore album, Metris (which features a 26-minute, 6-part epic in total prog fashion) in 2016.

After not seeing much success with the efforts of Arcane Atlas and other projects, In August of 2018, Drew decided to take a job in Los Angeles and uproot from his hometown in Nashville. The two recorded one last Arcane Atlas single with the intention of keeping ties and writing more music in the future. But, after many efforts of file sharing, songwriting apps, and other tactics, the two could not find the same chemistry they once had while in the same room together.

Then one day, Destin phones Drew with an idea; an idea for the two to still explore their craving for creation while being distanced; a podcast — A podcast covering the topic the two have grown up discovering and nerding about together… Progressive rock. With minimal research and a simple commission for artwork (the same artwork still used today!), the first Prog Notes episode was released on September 30th, 2018, just a month after Drew moved to LA. Its topic was an important and nostalgic record for them: 2112 by Rush. It got a whopping 8 listens in the first month. Funny enough, Destin and Drew had never listened to a podcast before starting Prog Notes.

Over the next two years, the podcast would organically pick up steam, growing to about 300-500 listeners an episode. This led Destin to create social media pages for the show to engage with their listeners more, and after having several conversations with fans, a Discord server was created on May 9th, 2020. As episodes continued being released, soon the show became recognized in the progressive rock community, sharing lists with content creators like The Prog Report and Angry Metal Guy.

Now with the podcast increasingly growing and thousands of listeners tuning in every month for the newest Prog Notes episode, Destin and Drew started receiving requests to interview popular prog rock bands marketing their newest releases. This led to a five-episode stint of interviews in 2021. Recalling this time period, Destin is quoted as saying, “We did too many interviews. I think some of our audience thought we were turning into an interview show, which was not our intention at all. We got excited about the opportunities and didn’t want to turn anyone down. However, I soon was starting to miss the thing that really glued Prog Notes together and made it fun: me and Drew’s friendship.”

To remedy this, they employed Rogan McAndrews and Chelsea Finnigan, two friends from Calgary, Prog Notes listeners, and members of the Discord community. Just two weeks after the five-episode interview stint, they launched Prog Notes: Spotlight, a podcast dedicated to interviewing new and old progressive rock bands. They have gone on to interview greats such as Einar Solberg of Leprous, Tommy Karevik of Kamelot, KYROS, Wilderun, Evergrey, and more. Unfortunately, Chelsea passed away from a brain tumor on February 1st, 2022, leaving Rogan as the solo host of the show. You can donate to the Canadian Cancer Society here to support the efforts in battling this disease.

Since then, The Prog Notes team has over 100,000 listeners, 50+ episodes and interviews, has launched a Discord conducted blog, a Prog Notes Store, and multiple video covers of prog-rock songs recorded with Prog Notes Discord members. All in the name of progressive rock! We believe that progressive rock should stay alive and thrive, and your support would help us reach more people across the world with the albums and artists we all love so much. If you’d like to help the Prog Notes team continue to produce quality episodes, interviews, and content, consider financially supporting them on their Patreon page. Thank you for listening to the show!