Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree are a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorize, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance ^{trance music} , krautrock and ambient ^{Ambient music} due to Steven Wilson and Richard Barbieri's liking for the Kosmische Musik scene of the early '70s, led by bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu! and Can ^{Can (band)} . Since the early 2000s, their music has been leaning towards progressive metal.

The band are noted for their multimedia approach, with their live performances including screens displaying a different film projection to each song. This visual element was introduced during the tour for the In Absentia album, when the band started to work with Danish ^Denmark photographer and filmmaker Lasse Hoile, whose involvement has created a distinctive image for the band.

Despite being signed to both Roadrunner ^{Roadrunner Records} and Atlantic ^{Atlantic Records} labels, the band has their own record label, Transmission ^{Transmission (record label)} , which they use to launch some independent releases and special editions of their albums. Their 2007 album Fear of a Blank Planet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album ^{Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album} .

 
Origins (1987–1990)


Porcupine Tree originated in 1987 as something of a collaborative hoax between Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks. Partially inspired by psychedelic ^{psychedelic music} /progressive ^{Progressive rock} bands of the seventies, in the likes of Pink Floyd, that dominated the music scene during their youth, the two decided to form a fictional legendary rock band named The Porcupine Tree. The two fabricated details such as band members, album titles, and a back-story, that purportedly included events such as a meeting at a '70s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison. As soon as he put aside enough money to buy his own studio equipment, Wilson obliged the creation with several hours of music to provide "evidence" of its existence and depravation caused by mass media

The concept of the album was inspired mainly by Bret Easton Ellis novel Lunar Park and the title alludes to Public Enemy ^{Public Enemy (band)} 's album, Fear of a Black Planet, both sharing the particularity of reflecting notorious conflicts affecting society in the world at some time. Wilson notes that while race relationship ^racism was the main issue among young people when Public Enemy's album was released, in the 21st century it was replaced by a general superficiality, boredom, and introversion. The album features contributions from Rush ^{Rush (band)} 's Alex Lifeson and King Crimson's Robert Fripp.

A new EP ^{Extended Play} called Nil Recurring was released on 17 September 2007, featuring four unreleased tracks from the Fear of a Blank Planet sessions and including another contribution from Robert Fripp. The second leg of the tour started on 3 October 2007, now promoting new music from the EP. Nil Recurring entered the UK Top 30 Independent Label Albums ^{UK Indie Chart} at #8. The EP was later reissued in 18 February 2008 through Peaceville Records.

On 5 November 2007, Fear of a Blank Planet won the "Album of the Year" award for the 2007 Classic Rock ^{Classic Rock (magazine)} magazine awards. In December, 2007, it was nominated for a "Best Surround Sound Album ^{Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album} " Grammy ^{Grammy Awards} though Love ^{Love (The Beatles album)} by The Beatles won the award. The LP ^{grammophone record} version of Fear of a Blank Planet includes the Nil Recurring EP tracks.

A recording from an 4 October 2007 in-store, mostly acoustic, performance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando ^{Orlando, Florida} (Florida) was released on 18 February 2008 on CD under the name of We Lost The Skyline. The title is a reference to the lyrics of "The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase One) ^{The Sky Moves Sideways} ," which was the opening song on the live set. The album was released on vinyl ^{Gramophone Record} of 21 March 2008. It was originally intended to be a full-band show, but lack of space in the store determined that only the two guitarists, Steven Wilson and John Wesley, played.

According to Porcupine Tree's manager, Andy Leff, the band planned to release a live album in September, 2008. Wilson commented that the album will be issued through Roadrunner Records. However, the live record is currently put on hold without a known future. This was confirmed by Gavin Harrison on the Drummerworld forum's post #2540 of Gavin's thread. The band played a short European tour in October 2008 in order to shoot their second live DVD, titled Anesthetize ^{Anesthetize (DVD)} . The filming took place on 15 and 16 October 2008 in the Netherlands at the 013 Tilburg venue. In this leg of the tour the band played for the first time as headliners in Portugal.

During one of these shows, Wilson mentioned that Porcupine Tree had started work on material for their next album, with an eye toward a release in 2009.


The Incident (2009–present)


The band started recording their tenth studio album - The Incident ^{The Incident (album)} - in February 2009. This was confirmed by the band, posting this message on their official website: "Writing for the next PT studio record is well underway, with the band recently spending two weeks scheduled in the English countryside working on new tracks. Recording of these pieces and a new 35 minute SW song cycle were due to start in February..." A tour was announced on the band's website and MySpace, along with dates, following release of the new album. Around March and April, Wilson commented the 35 minute song kept evolving and now it has become a 55 minute song, occupying the entire disc.

On 12 June 2009, details were revealed on the Porcupine Tree website: "the record is set to be released via Roadrunner Records worldwide on 21st September, as a double CD. The centre-piece is the title track, which takes up the whole of the first disc. The 55-minute work is described as a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again.’ The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie The Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle."
Influences


As a teenager, Wilson was a fan of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. From this starting point, his interest in music progressed on a cyclic path. When he discovered Seventies ^{1970s in music} music and progressive rock, his interest in metal diminished in favour of experimental music. He later (in the 2000s) discovered bands like Gojira ^{Gojira (band)} , Mastodon ^{Mastodon (band)} , Neurosis ^{Neurosis (band)} and Meshuggah, which restored his faith in metal music. "For a long time I couldn't find where all these creative musicians were going…", said Wilson, "and I found them, they were working in extreme metal." Shortly thereafter he went to produce three consecutive albums by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth and this had a considerable influence in his further songwriting.

This shift in influence explains why the musical range of Porcupine Tree can be split into three phases, namely from long psychedelic ^{psychedelic rock} and space rock pieces in early works, to shorter pop rock songs in late nineties, and darker more metal-oriented songs in the beginning of the 21st century. There is also some noticeable influence from krautrock and electronic music since Wilson likes bands such as Can ^{Can (band)} , Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, and "an exorcism of those elements within", finding it "easier to write songs about the negative side of the world than it is about the happy side of the world.", whose films are renowned for their sonic content). "Very layered, very produced, very arranged and [with] complex arrangements" is the way Wilson describes the sound of the band. Apart from their regular edition, the albums Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet are available in DTS ^{Digital Theater System} (5.1 Surround Sound) mix; this mixing technique has become a tradition for the band in recent years.


Genre discord


Porcupine Tree are often categorised as a progressive rock band. Although many listeners familiar with the group label them as such, Steven Wilson has been noted in the past to express a certain dislike for the use of the term "progressive" to refer to them. However, in a more recent interview with Prog Archives.com, he made note that he has since become more relaxed towards the word considering it is becoming "a much broader term" as time passes. He has frequently stated that he dislikes the press comparing Porcupine Tree with neo prog bands or citing them as 'the New Pink Floyd.' "For me that is so insulting", commented Wilson in an interview with The Dutch Progressive Rock Page, "because it insinuates that you are living in the shadow of some other band. I particularly never wanted to be the new anybody, I just wanted to be the old Porcupine Tree, or the new Porcupine Tree."
Current members


* Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, piano, synthesizers and many more (1987–)
* Richard Barbieri – keyboards ^{Keyboard instrument} , synthesizers, piano and sound processing (1993–)
* Colin Edwin – bass guitar and double bass(1993–)
* Gavin Harrison – drums ^{Drum kit} and percussion (2002–)


Former members

* Chris Maitland – drums, backing vocals (1993–2002)


Live musicians

* John Wesley ^{Wes Dearth} – guitar, backing vocals (2002–)


Guest musicians

* Theo Travis – flute, saxophone (1995, 1999)
* Stuart Gordon – violin (2000)
* Nick Parry – cello (2000)
* Aviv Geffen – vocals (2002)
* Mikael Åkerfeldt – guitar, backing vocals (2005)
* Adrian Belew – guitar (2005)
* Alex Lifeson – guitar (2007)
* Robert Fripp – guitar, soundscapes (2007)
* John Wesley – vocals (2002, 2007), additional guitar (2002)
* Ben Coleman – violin (2007)
* Rick Edwards – percussion (1995)
* Suzanne Barbieri – vocals (1993, 1995)
Studio albums


* On the Sunday of Life... ^{On the Sunday of Life} (1991)
* Up the Downstair (1993)
* The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
* Signify (1996)
* Stupid Dream (1999)
* Lightbulb Sun (2000)
* In Absentia (2002)
* Deadwing (2005)
* Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
* The Incident ^{The Incident (album)} (2009)