It was clear from the rabid response that greeted I Mother Earth's last sweaty gig here at Porter Hall in October that the band's days of playing small venues would soon be over.

The Toronto foursome's full-tilt brand of space-age prog-rock psychedelia has always lathered crowds up, but something in the fervent way the audience joined lead vocalist Edwin in belting out the lyrics to Another Sunday suggested this was a band destined for arena shows.

Sure enough, 1997 finds I Mother Earth co-headlining the Ottawa Civic Centre with Vancouver's Moist -- with up-and-coming act Mudgirl -- at the end of a successful cross-Canada swing in support of an album (last year's Scenery And Fish) that's fast approaching double platinum.

"It's been going amazing," enthuses drummer and lyricist Christian Tanna from Montreal. "The crowd response has been phenomenal ...

"Everything, from the way the album has really picked up and taken off ... There's kind of like a heightened awareness."

I Mother Earth can credit a good chunk of its current success to a willingness to slog it out on the road. The band toured virtually non-stop -- back and forth across North America and in Europe -- for nearly two years after the release of its first album, Dig, in 1993.

"I always felt like we were kind of spinning our wheels as far as the tour thing went," says Tanna, "but we really gained a solid base of people to play for."

Nevertheless, he adds, "the days of the two-year tours are over."

In all likelihood, the band will instead start writing its next record -- which, he ventures, could be "a little more off-centre" than Scenery And Fish (not exactly straightforward pop itself) -- soon after this road swing wraps up.

Speaking of the road, any inter-band rivalries between Moist and I Mother Earth after all this time playing to each other's crowds?

"Not really openly," is Tanna's cautious answer. "But it's always like everyone really wants to put on the show ...

"We had to take some shots at them, sure."