129-503: Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became an influence for new artists. The group carved out a career at a certain distance away from mainstream music, being described by publications such as Classic Rock and PopMatters as "the most important band you'd never heard of". The band began as
258-438: A career spanning more than 30 years, Wilson has made music prolifically and earned critical acclaim. His honours include six nominations for Grammy Awards : twice with Porcupine Tree, once with his collaborative band Storm Corrosion and three times as a solo artist. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph described him as "a resolutely independent artist" and "probably the most successful British artist you've never heard of". Wilson
387-540: A completely original and 1990s form of music, but which still has its root in progressive music." The musicians received writing credits for some tracks, most notably for "Intermediate Jesus", which evolved from a jam session later released as Metanoia at the end of 1998. A large amount of major European media interest accompanied the album's release. In March 1997, they played three nights in Rome to an audience that surpassed 5,000 people. All three dates were recorded for use in
516-479: A conceptual work entitled The Harmony Codex that is planned for release in mid-2023. Wilson also revealed an autobiography, Limited Edition of One , which was published by Little, Brown and Company on 7 April 2022. In his 2023 new year's message, Wilson stated that The Harmony Codex is to be released on the Virgin Music label and will be 65 minutes long. The album was released on 29 September 2023. Wilson
645-509: A cover version and an original song - or, in one case, a Wilson arrangement of a traditional song. It featured songs by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette , Swedish pop group ABBA , English rock band the Cure , Scottish songwriter Momus , American musician Prince , and Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan . Separate from the Cover Versions series, Wilson has also contributed a cover version of
774-431: A detailed back-story including information on alleged band members and album titles, as well as a "colourful" history which purportedly included events such as a meeting at a 1970s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison. As soon as he had put aside enough money to buy his own studio equipment, Wilson obliged this creation with several hours of music to provide "evidence" of its existence. Although Stocks provided
903-722: A dub-loop style anticipating trip hop - won the Single of the Week award in Melody Maker and gained the band a recording contract with the high-profile independent label One Little Indian (at the time, famous for the Shamen and Björk ). Their debut One Little Indian single, "Days in the Trees", won the same Single of the Week award the following year. The single also briefly charted and, although sales were not outstanding, Wilson had now gained credibility in
1032-466: A few passages of treated vocals and experimental guitar playing, his role in the project was mostly offering occasional ideas, with the bulk of the material being written, recorded, played, and sung by Wilson. At this point, Porcupine Tree was little more than a joke and a private amusement, as Wilson was concentrating on his other project, No-Man , an endeavour with UK based singer and songwriter Tim Bowness . However, by 1989, he began to consider some of
1161-503: A full-on pastiche of psychedelic rock (inspired by the similar Dukes of Stratosphear project by XTC ) carried out for the mutual entertainment of Wilson and his childhood friend Malcolm Stocks. Over the next three years, the projects would evolve in parallel. Of his two efforts, No Man Is An Island (Except The Isle of Man) was the first to release a commercial single (1989's "The Girl From Missouri", on Plastic Head Records), while Porcupine Tree built an increasing underground reputation via
1290-531: A general superficiality, boredom, and introversion. The album features contributions from Rush 's Alex Lifeson and King Crimson 's Robert Fripp . Wilson: "My fear is that the current generation of kids who're being born into this information revolution, growing up with the Internet, cell phones, iPods, this download culture, 'American Idol,' reality TV, prescription drugs, PlayStations—all of these things kind of distract people from what's important about life, which
1419-467: A live album was announced via his official Instagram account under the name Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall , and it was released on 2 November 2018. On 26 May 2019, Wilson confirmed on his Instagram account that the writing and recording process on his sixth studio album was underway. It was expected to be released in 2020. The album was produced by David Kosten, who
SECTION 10
#17330848946521548-550: A live recording of The Incident in its entirety, from material recorded at 2010 concerts at the Riviera Theater, Chicago, and the Royal Albert Hall . In May 2013, Wilson reiterated his stance on the band's status, stating that it's "...not to say the band has broken up or anything like that. It's always conceivable that we could get back together in a year or five years, or 10 years. I really can't say – there are no plans at
1677-490: A mysterious new act amongst the then UK underground psychedelic music scene. Shortly thereafter, Delerium invited Wilson to sign as one of the label's founder artists. The first release after this, a double vinyl album and single CD compiling the best material from his two cassettes, was released in mid-1992 as On the Sunday of Life , a title chosen from a long list of possible nonsense titles compiled by Richard Allen. The rest of
1806-431: A new album either. While he said that he still "want(s) to get Porcupine Tree back together at some point", he said that he was not sure what direction he wants to take the band, only that he is "tired of metal music", and that one member of the band does not like jazz , so it won't go into the direction of his solo project either. In June 2012, Wilson re-emphasised his continued focus on his solo career, with his answer to
1935-560: A record since 2008. I feel less need now to be creatively involved in something other than my solo work. My solo work fulfills the musical needs I have now." In a March 2018 interview when asked about the chances of further activity from Porcupine Tree he responded; "Honestly, I would say zero, because I'm just not that kind of person. I don't go backwards. I'm not interested in going backwards; I want to move forwards, I want to do different things, I want to work with different people, I want to explore different kinds of music. That would seem like
2064-406: A release that reflected the band's move towards a more song-oriented writing. Wilson acknowledged this time he was "much more interested in songwriting as an art form, as opposed to soundscape development" and commented he took influence from The Beach Boys ' Pet Sounds , Todd Rundgren , Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young , and "anything with really good ensemble singing". He also indicated that he
2193-507: A reputation for his work remixing classic pop and rock records into new stereo , 5.1 and Dolby Atmos versions. Wilson is currently working on his forthcoming eighth studio album, The Overview, scheduled for release in early 2025. Born in Kingston upon Thames , London, Wilson was raised from age six in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire , where he discovered his interest in music around
2322-449: A second leg of touring in support of Grace for Drowning in the first half of 2012, recording a third solo album in the second half of the year with his touring band, releasing it in early 2013, and then touring in support of the third solo album for "much of the year" – throughout 2013. Wilson still maintained that the band "haven't split up" and that there are "no intentions of splitting up", but he also said there were no specific plans for
2451-490: A series of CD singles under his own name. Having established himself as a producer, Wilson was invited to produce other artists, notably the Norwegian artist Anja Garbarek and Swedish progressive-metal band Opeth . Though he claims to enjoy production more than anything else, with the demands of his own projects, he has mostly restricted himself to mixing for other artists in the last few years. Wilson has written reviews for
2580-635: A short European tour in October 2008 to shoot their second live-concert film, Anesthetize , preceded by three concerts in Australia in April. The filming took place on 15 and 16 October in the Netherlands at the 013 Tilburg venue. 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 live-concert film on DVD and Blu-ray
2709-513: A short US tour, starting with an appearance in NEARfest of Pennsylvania , and culminating in a sold-out show at The Bottom Line in New York City. Shortly afterwards, the band announced that they had signed a new international record deal with Lava / Atlantic Records . In February 2002, Porcupine Tree's first line-up change occurred when drummer Chris Maitland was dismissed after eight years with
SECTION 20
#17330848946522838-554: A single record. "Voyage 34" was actually going to take up the second disc, but it was last decided to be released alone as a single. The album was highly praised, Melody Maker describing it as "a psychedelic masterpiece... one of the albums of the year." The album continued the fusion of electronic music and rock and also featured guest appearances from two future Porcupine Tree members, Richard Barbieri , of 1970s-80s art rock band Japan , and Colin Edwin . In November 1993, Voyage 34
2967-418: A solo project for Wilson, who initially created all of the band's music himself. By late 1993, however, he wanted to work in a band environment, bringing on frequent collaborators Richard Barbieri as keyboardist, Colin Edwin as bassist, and Chris Maitland as drummer to form the first permanent lineup. With Wilson as lead vocalist and guitarist, this remained the lineup until February 2002, when Maitland left
3096-505: A teaser clip of himself and Ninet Tayeb recording a new song titled "Pariah". In April 2017, Wilson announced that he had switched record labels for the release, with the album to be released on Caroline International . Wilson also mentioned that harmonica player Mark Feltham is going to be playing on the next record and released a clip of him contributing to a song titled "To the Bone". Slovak musician David Kollar featured on three songs of
3225-497: A teaser video and mailing list link across their social media accounts, along with a stylised "P/T C/C" image. On 1 November the band announced their eleventh album, Closure/Continuation , to be released in June 2022 on Music For Nations , along with their first single in over 12 years, "Harridan". The lineup of the band now features just Wilson, Harrison, and Barbieri, with guitarist Randy McStine and bassist Nate Navarro being added to
3354-491: A terribly backward step to me. I'm proud of the catalogue; it's there, it exists, but it's kind of closed, it's finished." These statements caused an increased tension between him and Barbieri, who was waiting for Wilson to return to Porcupine Tree. However, in February 2021, Wilson suggested that a re-formation was still possible someday, when it was least expected. On 27 October 2021, Porcupine Tree, Wilson, and Harrison all shared
3483-486: A thirty-minute long piece that could be described as a mixture of ambient , trance and psychedelia . This was done partly as an attempt to produce the longest single yet released, which it was until it was later exceeded by The Orb's "Blue Room." With non-existent radio play "Voyage 34" still managed to enter the NME indie chart for six weeks and became an underground chill-out classic. The second full-length album, Up
3612-458: A track to the double LP A Psychedelic Psauna that was being put together to launch the new Delerium label. Allen would also become the band's manager, press agent, and promoter until 2004, his role in marketing the band's image decreasing after The Sky Moves Sideways album. In the meantime, Wilson had continued to work on new material. In 1990, he released the Love, Death & Mussolini EP, issued in
3741-405: A very limited run of 10 copies. The EP remains an extremely rare, collectible piece. It was composed of nine at-the-time-unreleased tracks, as a preview for the upcoming second album. In 1991, Wilson released a second full-length Porcupine Tree cassette called The Nostalgia Factory , which further expanded Porcupine Tree's underground fanbase, although at this point, the band was still carrying on
3870-536: A video for "King Ghost", the third single to be taken from The Future Bites . This was directed by Wilson's longtime video collaborator Jess Cope. On 24 November 2020, Wilson released "12 Things I Forgot", the fourth single from The Future Bites . The release of "12 Things I Forgot" was accompanied with an announcement that a completely unique, one of one limited edition of The Future Bites would be sold on 27 November 2020 for £10,000, with all proceeds going to Music Venue Trust to help save UK music venues affected by
3999-649: Is a self-taught composer, producer, audio engineer, guitar and keyboard player, and plays other instruments as needed, including bass guitar , autoharp , hammered dulcimer and flute . His influences and work have encompassed a diverse range of genres including pop , psychedelia , progressive rock and electronic , among others, shifting his musical direction through his albums. His concerts incorporate quadraphonic sound and elaborate visuals. He has worked with artists such as Elton John , Guns N' Roses , XTC , Opeth , Pendulum , Yes , King Crimson , Fish , Marillion , Black Sabbath , and Anathema , and has built
Porcupine Tree - Misplaced Pages Continue
4128-486: Is also featured on a Fovea Hex EP Allure (Part 3 of the "Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent" trilogy of EP's) on bass guitar. This EP was released in April 2007 through Die-Stadt Musik. Wilson has also worked with a range of other artists, including OSI , JBK , Orphaned Land , Paatos , Theo Travis , Yoko Ono , Fish , Cipher and Anja Garbarek , by performing songwriting duties as well as performing musically. Wilson
4257-531: Is also known as Faultline , making the upcoming album Wilson's second to not be produced by him alone. On 21 October 2019, Wilson announced 'The Future Bites Tour', his largest and most ambitious show to date. The Future Bites Tour was planned to be performed in large arenas in the UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Poland in September 2020. On 24 December 2019, Wilson announced that his as yet untitled sixth studio album
4386-509: Is currently working on his forthcoming eighth studio album called The Overview , tentatively scheduled for release in early 2025. When asked when the new album might be released, Wilson stated, Beginning of 2025. I work very quickly and I'm still excited by making music. This is just two 20-minute long tracks. So it's a very conceptual, and I think that'll be finished and ready to come out early next year. On 24 June 2024, Wilson announced The Overview Tour with dates scheduled for May–June 2025 in
4515-460: Is featured on the Pendulum album Immersion , with his vocals featuring on "The Fountain". He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater 's 2007 album, Systematic Chaos on the song " Repentance ", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past. Wilson did an interview with German musician and composer Klaus Schulze . Schulze
4644-526: Is to develop a sense of curiosity about what's out there." On 5 November 2007, Fear of a Blank Planet won the Album of the Year award for the 2007 Classic Rock magazine awards. In December 2007, it was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Surround Sound Album" though Love by The Beatles won the award. A new EP called Nil Recurring was released on 17 September 2007, featuring four unreleased tracks from
4773-662: The NME indie chart for six weeks. No-Man also toured England with a six-piece band including three ex-members of the art-pop band Japan – Mick Karn , Steve Jansen and (most significantly) keyboardist Richard Barbieri . 1993 saw Wilson consolidating his initial success with albums from both Porcupine Tree ( Up the Downstair ) and No-Man ( Loveblows And Lovecries – A Confession ). Porcupine Tree, meanwhile, toured frequently and passed through various overt phases of different musical stylings (including psychedelia, progressive rock, modern guitar rock and heavy metal) while retaining
4902-452: The COVID-19 pandemic . This edition of the album sold immediately after going on sale. On 22 March 2021, Wilson announced that due to uncertainty surrounding live performances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic , The Future Bites Tour (scheduled to begin in September 2021) would be cancelled. Wilson stated that he will now concentrate on upcoming music projects, including his seventh studio album,
5031-559: The Cardiacs song " Stoneage Dinosaurs ". The song was featured on Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute to Tim Smith, Songbook 1 , which is a fundraising compilation album released in December 2010 to benefit the hospitalised Cardiacs leader Tim Smith , whom Wilson has cited as a major inspiration spiritually, if not necessarily in style. The complete collection of the cover version songs
5160-639: 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 at number eight. The EP was reissued on 18 February 2008 through Peaceville Records . A recording from a 4 October 2007 in-store, mostly acoustic, performance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Florida ,
5289-600: The Jethro Tull and King Crimson back catalogues, as well as Marillion 's 1985 album Misplaced Childhood . The Anathema album We're Here Because We're Here was mixed by Wilson and he is thanked in the album liner notes, and he mixed two songs on their subsequent album Distant Satellites . He also did the remix for In the Land of Grey and Pink by Canterbury scene band Caravan . The first three new editions were issued in October 2009, with more emerging in batches over
Porcupine Tree - Misplaced Pages Continue
5418-619: The Lightbulb Sun album was issued in Israel and Germany. In May, the band released a compilation B-side album called Recordings , which featured nine tracks from the Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun sessions that had been left off both albums. In May 2001, Porcupine Tree did three consecutive dates as a support band to Marillion , in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In June, the band played
5547-624: The Up the Downstair , The Sky Moves Sideways , and Signify albums, and the reissue of Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun , both consisting of a CD with a new stereo mix of the album plus a DVD-Audio with a 5.1 surround mix. In early 2004, the band embarked on the recording sessions for their next record, Deadwing , their second for Lava/Atlantic. The album takes its inspiration from a film script written by Wilson with his filmmaker friend Mike Bennion. The album sessions completed in November 2004, and Deadwing
5676-711: The Voodoo Experience in New Orleans, the German twin-festivals, Hurricane and Southside , and the Download Festival of Donington Park . The band performed their first ever shows in Australia in 2008. The lyrics of the album deal with some common behaviour tendencies concerning society, especially youth, in the beginning of the 21st century, such as bipolar disorder , attention deficit disorder , drug abuse , alienation, and deprivation caused by mass media. The concept of
5805-524: The 1997 live album Coma Divine – Recorded Live in Rome that was released as a goodbye to Delerium Records, which felt it could no longer offer the kind of resources the band needed to continue to build its profile worldwide. In late 1997 Porcupine Tree's first three albums were remastered and reissued. Signify also was released in the US on Miles Copeland 's Ark 21 label. Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin, and Maitland spent all of 1998 recording their fifth studio album,
5934-506: 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 21 September, as a double CD. The centrepiece 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
6063-407: The 60s and 70s music that my parents were listening to. And I began to discover this wonderful era, what you'd call the great album era, from 1967 to 1977, from Sgt Pepper through to punk . One of Wilson's earliest musical projects was the psychedelic duo Altamont (featuring a 15-year-old Wilson working with synth/electronics player Simon Vockings). Their one and only cassette album, Prayer for
6192-452: The Big Chair and The Seeds of Love , Van Morrison 's Moondance , Sister Sledge 's We Are Family , Nile Rodgers & Chic 's first five studio albums, Ultravox 's Vienna , Suede 's self-titled debut album , and Roxy Music 's self-titled debut album . Between 2003 and 2010, Wilson released a series of six two-track CD singles under his own name. Each single featured
6321-595: The British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 can be classified as freakbeat. The English Freakbeat series is a group of five compilation albums , released in the late 1980s, that were issued by AIP Records . The LPs featured recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by English rock bands in R&;B and beat genres. The series served as a follow-up to the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP, itself subtitled The Roots of Mod , which
6450-408: The Downstair (though Wilson considers it the first 'proper' PT album since it was made as such and not simply compiled), was released in 1993 and had a very good reception, praised by Melody Maker as "a psychedelic masterpiece... one of the albums of the year". This was the first album to include ex- Japan member, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Australian -born bassist Colin Edwin . About
6579-611: The German singles Top 100 at number 91. The song "Shallow" was also featured in the soundtrack for the film Four Brothers . The album won the Surround Music Awards for "Best Made-For-Surround Title" the same year of its release and was voted number-two album of 2005 in Sound & Vision , the most widely distributed US magazine in the field of home electronics and entertainment. Porcupine Tree released Deadwing in Japan on 22 March 2006,
SECTION 50
#17330848946526708-540: The Mexican edition of the Rolling Stone magazine. They are all translated into Spanish. Two reviews have been published so far: one for Radiohead 's In Rainbows and another for Murcof 's 2007 work, Cosmos . He has also contributed to US magazine Electronic Musician . Wilson wrote the foreword for 2010 book Mean Deviation . Wilson produced and contributed backing vocals , guitar and keyboards for Opeth on
6837-619: The Minute ", and " Pure Narcotic ", all achieved mainstream exposure in the US and in Europe, and placed well in the UK independent charts and on radio-station playlists. Although the album was a departure from their earlier sound, it brought the band new-found popularity and went on to become the band's best-selling and most acclaimed release up to that time. Completed for February 2000, with string arrangements provided by Dave Gregory of XTC , Porcupine Tree's sixth studio album, Lightbulb Sun , built on
6966-475: The New Wave/AOR band Pride of Passion as keyboard player, replacing former Marillion keyboard player Brian Jelliman (another former Marillion member, Diz Minnitt, also played in the band). Pride of Passion would later change their name to Blazing Apostles and alter their lineup and approach, finally coming to an end in 1987. In 1986, Wilson launched the two projects that would make his name. The first of these
7095-558: The Porcupine Tree music as potentially marketable. Wilson created an 80-minute-long cassette titled Tarquin's Seaweed Farm under the name of Porcupine Tree. Still showing the spirit of his joke, Wilson included an eight-page inlay which further revealed the hoaxed Porcupine Tree backstory, including references to fictitious band members such as Sir Tarquin Underspoon and Timothy Tadpole-Jones. Wilson sent out copies of Tarquin's Seaweed Farm to several people he felt would be interested in
7224-608: The Soul , featured lyrics by English psychedelic scenester Alan Duffy, whose work Wilson would later use on the first two Porcupine Tree albums. Around the same time that Wilson was part of Altamont, he was also in a progressive rock band called Karma, which played live around Hertfordshire and recorded two cassette albums, The Joke's on You (1983) and The Last Man To Laugh (1985). These contained early versions of "Small Fish", "Nine Cats" and "The Joke's on You", which were subsequently resurrected as Porcupine Tree songs. Wilson went on to join
7353-409: The Sunday of Life... had accumulated sales of more than 20,000 copies. On the Sunday of Life was originally meant to be a quadruple (LP)/double (CD) album compiling both cassettes in full, but changed to the best (according to Wilson) songs from the tapes. In 2004, Wilson remixed and remastered all three tapes, releasing them as a three-CD box set called Footprints: Cassette Music 1988-1992 . This box
7482-531: The Transmission label was a studio session recorded for XM Radio in Washington, DC, followed in 2004 by a recording from Polish radio in 2001. The band used the label to issue supplemental content, such as EPs, demos, and live recordings. Additionally, a reissue/remaster campaign also began in 2003, with many of the early albums expanded to double CDs. These reissues included re-recorded/remixed double-CD versions of
7611-506: The UK National chart and attracting airplay all over Europe, Signify was released in September 1996. The album was a mixture of instrumental tracks and more song-oriented tunes, blending numerous rock and avant-garde styles, such as krautrock . Wilson expressed satisfaction in the direction of the album, stating "tracks like 'Every Home Is Wired' and 'Dark Matter' totally transcend both genre and comparison. Finally, I think we are making
7740-522: The UK album charts and also reaching the US Billboard Top 25. The band also released another live album, Atlanta , in June 2010. The performance was actually recorded during the tour of Fear of a Blank Planet at the Roxy theatre, Atlanta, on 29 October 2007. It was released via online distribution only, with all the sale proceeds donated to Mick Karn for his treatment against cancer. After finishing
7869-546: The UK and Europe. It is his first solo tour since the To the Bone Tour in 2018–2019. Porcupine Tree started out as a duo of Wilson and his school friend Malcolm Stocks (with Wilson providing the majority of the instrumentation and Stocks contributing mostly ideas, additional vocals and experimental guitar sounds). Wilson began experimenting by recording music in his home until he had the hunch it could become someway marketable. The material
SECTION 60
#17330848946527998-594: The United States. The band announced the next album's title would be Fear of a Blank Planet in January 2007 and the album was released on 16 April 2007. The album charted in almost all European countries, and peaked at number 59 on the Billboard 200 . A 92-date tour for 2007 took the band to countries where they had never performed, such as Finland and Mexico. The tour included appearances in multiple music festivals such as
8127-506: The age of eight. According to Wilson, his life was changed one Christmas when his parents bought presents for each other in the form of LPs . His father and mother received Pink Floyd 's The Dark Side of the Moon and Donna Summer 's Love to Love You Baby , respectively. It was Wilson's affinity for these albums that helped craft his guitar and songwriting abilities. He said, "In retrospect I can see how they are almost entirely responsible for
8256-409: The album as #2 on their top prog albums of the last 25 years. Wilson's fourth solo album, Hand. Cannot. Erase. , was released on 27 February 2015. It was inspired by a documentary about Joyce Carol Vincent , a young British woman who lay dead in her apartment for nearly three years before being discovered. Hand. Cannot. Erase. received critical acclaim from music critics. The Guardian rated
8385-407: The album five stars and called it "a smart, soulful and immersive work of art". Eclipsed magazine described the album as "one more shining jewel in the discography of Steven Wilson" and Metal Hammer awarded Hand. Cannot. Erase. 6/7 and described it as "another masterpiece". US website FDRMX rated the album 4.8/5 and stated " Hand. Cannot. Erase. grabs your full attention from the beginning to
8514-415: The album was inspired by Bret Easton Ellis novel Lunar Park and the title alludes to Public Enemy '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 whilst race relationship was the main issue among young people when Public Enemy's album was released, it was replaced in the 21st century by
8643-496: The album, "Personal Shopper" (featuring a spoken word appearance by Elton John ), was released the same day. On 22 April 2020, Wilson announced that the release date of The Future Bites would be pushed back to 29 January 2021, due to logistical/creative challenges facing the music industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic . In May 2020, Wilson launched "The Album Years", an audio-only podcast with his partner in No-Man , Tim Bowness . It
8772-415: The album, the band undertook four tours of Europe and North America, including one with acclaimed Swedish metal band Opeth . On tour, the new line-up of the band was further augmented by additional touring vocalist/guitarist John Wesley . During these tours, the visual element of the band's performance was taken to new heights with the involvement of filmmaker and photographer Lasse Hoile , who had created
8901-453: The albums Blackwater Park , Deliverance , and Damnation , also contributing lyrics for one song ( Death Whispered a Lullaby ) in Damnation . In addition to this, he has collaborated on many projects with Belgian experimental musician Dirk Serries of Vidna Obmana and Fear Falls Burning , most notably on their collaboration project Continuum which has so far produced two albums. Wilson
9030-456: The band and Gavin Harrison was recruited to replace him. Porcupine Tree's early sound evoked various styles of psychedelic rock , space rock and experimental rock , later moving towards a more progressive /space rock direction comparable to that of Pink Floyd . Upon signing with Kscope record label in the late 1990s, the band began to approach a more mainstream alternative rock sound. By
9159-523: The band and half recorded after. Most of the album was taken up with the 35-minute title track, which at one point Wilson had intended to be long enough to occupy the whole album. An alternate version of the track, containing some of the excised music, was included on the 2004 remastered version of the album. It also entered the NME , Melody Maker , and Music Week charts. Together with the Moonloop EP, this album
9288-425: The band had signed with Roadrunner Records UK . Prior to their first release on Roadrunner, the band released their first live concert DVD, Arriving Somewhere... , on 10 October 2006. It was accompanied by a brief tour in which the group performed 50 minutes of new material from the forthcoming studio album for the first half of the shows. Supporting acts included Swedish band Paatos in Europe and ProjeKct Six in
9417-478: The band's future, stating that he was unsure whether this would be the final project by the band or if the reunion would continue past the album. He then stated it was most likely their last album, as he hoped to end the band on a strong note. In a late June 2022 interview with Under the Radar, however, Wilson expressed his interest in making another Porcupine Tree record that would be more keyboard dominant. The band began
9546-588: The band. The band welcomed drummer and longtime acquaintance Gavin Harrison as his replacement. In March 2002, a box set of the band's early work was released, Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997 , and the band commenced recording their first major label album, drawing from a pool of thirty new songs written by Wilson in the previous two years. Recording sessions took place at Avatar Studios in New York and London, with veteran audio engineer Paul Northfield and string arranger Dave Gregory also playing major roles in
9675-598: The charade of being 1970s rock legends. By this point, Porcupine Tree was entirely a solo project, with Stocks having amicably moved on to other activities. Along with the A Psychedelic Psauna compilation, which featured the Porcupine Tree track "Linton Samuel Dawson", the newly formed Delerium label, formed by Freakbeat editors Richard Allen and Ivor Trueman, offered to reissue the cassettes Tarquin's Seaweed Farm and The Nostalgia Factory . Two hundred copies of each cassette were sold through Freakbeat's mail order, The Freak Emporium, and soon Porcupine Tree became known as
9804-718: The coming years. Wilson is responsible for the 5.1 and new stereo mixes of the 1992 XTC album Nonsuch in 2013, as well as the Gentle Giant albums The Power and the Glory and Octopus in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2018, he released Yes : The Steven Wilson Remixes , consisting of the albums The Yes Album (1971), Fragile (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), the double album Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973), and Relayer (1974). Wilson's other remixes include The Who 's Who's Next , Tears for Fears ' Songs from
9933-402: The core of Wilson's sonic imagination and songwriting. By the mid-2000s Porcupine Tree had become a well known rock band with albums on major labels such as Atlantic and Roadrunner. During the late 1990s, Wilson's love of experimental, drone and ambient music led to a series of new projects, notably Bass Communion and Incredible Expanding Mindfuck (also known as IEM). He also began to release
10062-470: The course of the following decade, leading to the release of their album Closure/Continuation on 24 June 2022. Porcupine Tree originated in 1987 as a collaborative hoax project by Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks. Partially inspired by the psychedelic / progressive bands of the 1970s, such as Pink Floyd, that had dominated the music scene during their youth, the two decided to form a fictional legendary rock band named The Porcupine Tree. The two fabricated
10191-403: The cover art for In Absentia and now went on to create a dark and surreal visual to Porcupine Tree's music. The long promotional campaign for In Absentia ended on 30 November 2003, as the band played a homecoming show to a sold-out London Astoria . During 2003, Porcupine Tree set up their own label, Transmission, with an online store hosted by Burning Shed record label. The first release on
10320-421: The departure of most of the members of his solo band from the prior two albums, Wilson handled most of the guitar on the album, with Craig Blundell and Jeremy Stacey both contributing drums. Ninet Tayeb was featured on additional vocals and had a bigger role than she did on Hand. Cannot. Erase. Andy Partridge of XTC revealed that he co-wrote two songs for the album. On 5 January 2017, Wilson posted
10449-467: The direction that my music has taken ever since." His interest in Pink Floyd led him towards experimental / psychedelic conceptual progressive rock (as exemplified by Porcupine Tree and Blackfield ), and Donna Summer's trance -inflected grooves inspired the initial musical approach of No-Man (Wilson's long-running collaboration with fellow musician and vocalist Tim Bowness ). As a child, Wilson
10578-469: The early 2000s, the band had signed to a major record label and shifted their sound again, this time in a more progressive metal direction. In 2010, after the tour in support of their 2009 studio album The Incident , the band became publicly inactive as Wilson committed himself to his solo work and other members began working on their own separate projects. However, Wilson, Barbieri and Harrison continued to intermittently work on material in secrecy over
10707-490: The end of the year, Porcupine Tree became a full band for the first time with the inclusion of Chris Maitland on drums . Wilson continued exploring the ambient and trance grounds and issued The Sky Moves Sideways . It also entered the NME , Melody Maker , and Music Week charts and many fans started hailing them as the Pink Floyd of the nineties, something Wilson would reject: "I can't help that. It's true that during
10836-710: The film based on the recording of the album was premiered at the CPH:DOX international film festival in Copenhagen in November 2009. The film was also screened at film festivals in Canada, Germany, Mexico, Sweden and United States. The film is described as part documentary, part surreal road movie . Hoile also directed a video for the song " Harmony Korine " from the album. The video was a homage to European art house films , and has been nominated for "Best Cinematography Award" and "Best Music Video Award" at Camerimage . A remix mini album
10965-473: The first album by the band to be released in that country. The tour to promote the album commenced in the UK at the end of March, and continued throughout the year. Mike Bennion created a Myspace page dedicated to the prospective Deadwing film, in which he posted the first 15 pages of the script and included a trailer . However, whilst the scripts are finished, the project is still on hiatus due to lack of budget. In August 2006, Porcupine Tree announced that
11094-633: The first leg of the Closure/Continuation tour in September 2022, with shows in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Chile. The tour's second leg, starting in October 2022 and carrying through until November 2022, was composed of select cities in Europe and a single performance in the UK at London's Wembley Arena. Wilson later noted that the band's few 2023 live performances would likely be their last, though he stated that they would like to record again. The show at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on 7 November 2022
11223-468: The future. However, in response to a question in August 2016 regarding a hypothetical Porcupine Tree performance, Wilson claimed, "you'd be waiting for a long time, that band doesn't exist anymore." In August 2017, Wilson explained: "It's no coincidence that since my solo project has taken off, other collaborations have receded to the background. Porcupine Tree hasn't made a record since 2009 and No-Man hasn't made
11352-426: The group had worked with Wilson on various projects over the preceding years, especially Barbieri and Maitland, who had been part of No-Man's touring band. The new line-up's first live album, Spiral Circus , contained recordings from their first three performances, including a BBC Radio One session for Mark Radcliffe , an early champion of the group. Porcupine Tree's next album did not emerge until early 1995, but
11481-544: The making of the record. The album was mixed in Los Angeles in May with Tim Palmer . The resulting album, In Absentia , was released by Lava Records in September 2002. The band also released a 5.1 surround-sound version of the album, mixed by Grammy Award -winning producer Elliot Scheiner . The surround-sound version of the album won the award for best 5.1 mix at the 2004 Surround Sound Music awards in Los Angeles. To promote
11610-605: The mid-to late 1960s. The genre bridges British Invasion R&B , beat and psychedelia . The term was coined by English music journalist Phil Smee when he was compiling the Rubble series of compilations in the 1980s. AllMusic writes that "freakbeat" is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the British Invasion era. Much of the material collected on Rhino Records 's 2001 box-set compilation Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from
11739-593: The mix of songwriting, soundscaping, and rock dynamics of Stupid Dream . The album was released in May 2000, preceded by the single " Four Chords That Made a Million ". A sold-out show at the Scala in London began a short run of UK shows, that were followed later in the year by European festival dates and a major tour supporting Dream Theater . The band continued touring through the end of 2000 and start of 2001, including their first major tour of Germany. A special double CD edition of
11868-527: The moment." Edwin's stance mirrored this. After Wilson released his third solo album, The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) in February 2013, and toured in support of it for the remainder of the year, its success led Wilson to commit to writing and recording a fourth solo album Hand. Cannot. Erase. over the course of 2014 and releasing it in 2015, pushing hypothetical work with Porcupine Tree into at least 2016. In March 2015, Wilson commented, "if Porcupine Tree [were] to get back together—and, by
11997-538: The music from the initial tapes was released on the limited edition compilation album Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape . In 1992, Delerium released On the Sunday of Life as an edition of 1,000 copies, complete with a deluxe gatefold sleeve. The album sold very well, particularly in Italy, and it was briefly repressed on vinyl and has remained in print on CD ever since its release. The album featured future concert favourite and frequent encore song "Radioactive Toy". By 2000, On
12126-471: The new record. On 9 May 2017, the album was officially unveiled as To the Bone and released on 18 August 2017. Wilson embarked on major tours of the UK, Europe and North America in 2018 and 2019 to promote the album. For the tour, Alex Hutchings was introduced to replace Dave Kilminster as the guitarist of the live band, as the latter would go on to work in Roger Waters ' band. On 12 September 2018,
12255-454: The opportunity to leave his regular job and devote his time solely to music. All of the Delirium releases were published by Hit & Run, whose executive Dave Massey had signed No-Man and continued to be closely involved in the Porcupine Tree project. In May 1993, the second Porcupine Tree album, Up the Downstair , was released, another prospective double album that was finally slimmed down to
12384-415: The period of The Sky Moves Sideways , I had done a little too much of it in the sense of satisfying, in a way, the fans of Pink Floyd who were listening to us because that group doesn't make albums any more. Moreover, I regret it". The Sky Moves Sideways was an "expansive soundscape of melody and ambient rock experimentation", but proved to be a transitional work, with half recorded before the formation of
12513-467: The period of The Sky Moves Sideways , I had done a little too much of it in the sense of satisfying, in a way, the fans of Pink Floyd who were listening to us because that group doesn't make albums anymore. Moreover, I regret it." Freakbeat Freakbeat is a loosely defined subgenre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups during the Swinging London period of
12642-437: The question "...is (there) a danger that Porcupine Tree might fall by the wayside?" being, "The honest answer is I don't know. The solo career for me now is probably the most important. I think about it more than anything else, I'm more focused on it than anything else, I enjoy it more than anything else..." A two-disc live album titled Octane Twisted was released that following November by their record label, Kscope, containing
12771-507: The record industry (as well as enough finance to fit out his home studio with the equipment he would need to advance his music). By this time, Wilson had also released the official Porcupine Tree debut album, On the Sunday of Life ... (which compiled the best material from the underground tapes). No-Man's debut full-length release – a compilation of EP tracks called Lovesighs – An Entertainment – followed in 1992, as did Porcupine Tree's infamous LSD-themed maxi-single " Voyage 34 " which made
12900-465: The recordings. Nick Saloman, the cult UK guitarist better known as The Bevis Frond , had suggested that he send one to Richard Allen, a writer for the UK counter-cultural magazine Encyclopaedia Psychedelica and co-editor of the UK psychedelic garage rock magazine Freakbeat . Allen reviewed the tape in both magazines. Whilst he disliked some of the material, he gave much of it a positive review. Several months later, Allen invited Wilson to contribute
13029-469: The release of a series of cassette-only releases via The Freak Emporium (the mail-order wing of British psychedelic label Delerium Records ). By 1990, No Man Is An Island (Except The Isle of Man) had fully evolved into No-Man and was a voice/violin/multi-instrument trio which had incorporated dance beats into its art-pop sound. The second No-Man single – a crooned cover of the Donovan song "Colours" arranged in
13158-426: 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." The album was the band's biggest commercial success to date, reaching number 23 in
13287-449: The task of recording the first proper band record. Wilson admitted he was always "in love with the idea of the rock band" because "bands have a kind of glamour, and appeal, and a romance about them the solo projects just don't have." The band worked sporadically over the next year on developing a tighter and more ambitious rock sound. After the release of the first real Porcupine Tree single, " Waiting ", which entered all UK indie charts and
13416-474: The tour from October–November 2013 covered Australia and Europe, and included a sold-out show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The song "The Raven That Refused to Sing" was featured in the trailer for the 2014 film Pompeii . The album finished top of several critics and readers polls, including UK Prog magazine and German magazine Eclipsed . The album was voted album of the year at the 2013 Progressive Music Awards. On 13 July 2015 The Prog Report ranked
13545-552: The touring band for Grace for Drowning was released on 25 February 2013. Alan Parsons engineered the sessions in Los Angeles. The album reached the top 30 in the UK, and number 3 in the German album charts. In October 2012, Wilson announced the first leg of the supporting tour, consisting of 18 shows across Europe and 17 shows across North America between March–May 2013. For these shows, Chad Wackerman (best known for his work with Frank Zappa ) replaced Marco Minnemann on drums due to conflicting schedules. The second leg of
13674-551: The touring cycle for The Incident in 2010, Wilson spent the rest of the year, and 2011, recording and releasing his second solo album, Grace for Drowning , and Blackfield's third album, Welcome to my DNA . Initially, the band had mentioned the possibility of working on new music in 2012, with Wilson mentioning "early 2012", and Harrison guessing they would start work in 2012 and release music in 2013. However, this soon changed, with Wilson announcing that he would continue to focus his future on his solo career. This new focus included
13803-442: The touring lineup. The album was recorded over 11 years in complete secrecy. Wilson explained Edwin's absence with the two losing contact when the project went on hiatus and stylistic differences, though Barbieri was adamant to say "I don't want any of this to negatively impact Colin or imply this was somehow his fault." Closure/Continuation was released on 24 June 2022. In a March 2022 interview with The Guardian , Wilson addressed
13932-721: The very final note, and that's the sign of a great album". The supporting tour spanned from March to June 2015 and consisted of 31 shows in Europe and a total of 34 shows in North and South America. In September, two special shows took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Due to the Aristocrats ' tour, for the American shows Guthrie Govan and Marco Minnemann were replaced by Dave Kilminster and Craig Blundell , respectively. On 12 December 2016, Wilson began recording his fifth solo studio album with engineer Paul Stacey in London. With
14061-417: The way, I have never ruled that out—it will be a side project. There should be no question in anyone's mind that this is now my main musical path, my solo work." Moving into 2016, Wilson's views on a re-formation were conflicting. In February 2016, in an interview with Prog Magazine , he stated that there was a "strong possibility" of Porcupine Tree re-forming for another studio album at an undisclosed time in
14190-547: Was "interested in the idea of the pop song as a kind of experimental symphony". The band recorded the album without a label, but signed with Snapper / Kscope before releasing Stupid Dream , in March 1999. The album was supported by a tour of the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Poland, and the United States. The three singles taken from the album: " Piano Lessons ", " Stranger by
14319-406: Was a bit of fun. But of course like anything that starts as a joke, people started to take it all seriously!". When Wilson signed to Delerium label, he selected what he considered the best tracks from these early tapes. All those songs were mastered and made up Porcupine Tree's first official studio album, On the Sunday of Life ... . Quickly after, Wilson would release the single " Voyage 34 ",
14448-527: Was an electronic engineer , built him his first multi-track tape machine and a vocoder so he could begin experimenting with the possibilities of studio recording. Wilson said his taste in music diverged from his peers in the 1980s: I grew up in the 80s, and it was a pretty bad decade for music. There were some interesting things developing, but everyone I knew wanted to be in Level 42 , Simple Minds or U2 . I wasn't interested in any of that, so I found solace in
14577-592: Was an important figure of the Krautrock movement. This interview is featured as bonus material in Schulze's Live DVD, Rheingold . Wilson has become known for his 5.1 surround sound mixes, with the 2007 Porcupine Tree album Fear of a Blank Planet nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Mix For Surround Sound" category. It was also voted #3 album of the year by Sound And Vision . Wilson has worked on several other surround sound projects, which have included remixing
14706-501: Was close to completion and promised further news in early 2020. On 5 March 2020, Wilson began a teaser campaign across his online channels, centering on modern themes of consumerism , product branding and manipulative social media. A few days later, artwork for "Personal Shopper" was unveiled with a release date of 12 March 2020 at 9am GMT. On 12 March 2020, Wilson announced that his sixth solo album The Future Bites would be released on 12 June 2020. The first single to be taken from
14835-496: Was filmed and recorded and was released on 8 December 2023 as Closure/Continuation.Live . Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree , as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield , Storm Corrosion and No-Man . He is also a solo artist, having released seven solo albums since his solo debut Insurgentes in 2008. In
14964-482: Was forced to learn the guitar, but he did not enjoy it; his parents eventually stopped paying for lessons. When he was eleven, he found a nylon string classical guitar from his attic and started to experiment with it; in his own words, "scraping microphones across the strings, feeding the resulting sound into overloaded reel to reel tape recorders and producing a primitive form of multi-track recording by bouncing between two cassette machines". A year later, his father, who
15093-400: Was initially called "No Man Is An Island (Except The Isle of Man)", although it would later be renamed " No-Man ." This began life as a solo Wilson instrumental project blending progressive rock with synth pop, subsequently moving towards art-pop when singer/lyricist Tim Bowness joined the project the following year. The second project was " Porcupine Tree ", which was originally intended to be
15222-410: Was only distributed to family and friends. In the midst of Porcupine Tree's rising success, Wilson's other band, No-Man, had been getting excellent UK press, which led to the band being signed to leading UK independent music publisher, Hit & Run Music Publishing, in 1991, which resulted in recording agreements with One Little Indian Records , and Epic 440/Sony in the US. No-Man's success gave Wilson
15351-466: Was preceded by the Moonloop EP, the last two tracks of which were recorded during the album sessions and were the first to feature the new band. Released in 1995, the band's third studio album, The Sky Moves Sideways became a success among progressive rock fans and Porcupine Tree were hailed as the Pink Floyd of the 1990s. Wilson later lamented this, stating, "I can't help that. It's true that during
15480-521: Was reissued alongside an additional 12-inch remix by Astralasia. The album managed to enter the NME indie chart for six weeks and became an underground chill-out classic, even without radio play. The profile of Porcupine Tree had now grown to the extent that Wilson wanted to expand into live performances. Thus, in December 1993, Porcupine Tree became a live unit featuring Wilson on lead vocals/guitar, Colin Edwin on bass, Chris Maitland on drums, and Richard Barbieri on keyboards. All three new members of
15609-458: Was released as an album titled Cover Version in 2014. In November 2008, Wilson released his first official solo album, Insurgentes , recorded between January–August 2008. The album was first released as two limited edition versions, both with hardback book featuring the images of longtime collaborator Danish photographer Lasse Hoile . A standard retail version was released on 9 March 2009. Lasse Hoile's full-length feature version of
15738-484: Was released in Europe and the US during the spring of 2005 as both a stereo and 5.1 surround-sound album, preceded by the release of two singles, " Shallow " in the US and " Lazarus " in Europe. The album benefited from guest appearances by Adrian Belew from King Crimson and Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt , and was a commercial success, due in part to "Shallow" receiving airplay, peaking at number 26 on Billboard 's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks . Additionally, "Lazarus" entered
15867-790: Was released in June 2009, featuring remixes of material from Insurgentes by David A. Sitek , Dälek , Engineers , Pat Mastelotto and Fear Falls Burning . Wilson's second solo album, Grace for Drowning , was released in September 2011 in CD, vinyl and Blu-ray formats. It is a double album, with the individual parts named Deform to Form a Star and Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye . Wilson also announced his first solo tour in Europe and North America to promote his solo albums. The tour took place in October and November 2011 and contained songs from both Insurgentes and Grace for Drowning . A live video performance recorded in Mexico titled Get All You Deserve
15996-413: 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) ", which was the opening song on the live set. The album was released on vinyl of 21 March 2008. While intended to be a full-band show, the lack of space in the store only allowed the two guitarists, Wilson and John Wesley, to play. The band played
16125-494: Was released on 20 May 2010. The band started recording their tenth studio album, The Incident , in February 2009. This was confirmed by the band, stating, "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..." Months later, Wilson commented
16254-477: Was released on 25 September 2012. On 16 December 2011, Wilson announced new European tour dates for the second leg of his Grace for Drowning tour, running in April and May 2012. South American dates were later added and announced on 21 February 2012. He also won the "Guiding Light" title at the Progressive Music Awards in 2012. Wilson's third solo studio album, recorded with most of the members of
16383-585: Was subsequently compiled into three demo tapes ( Tarquin's Seaweed Farm , Love, Death & Mussolini and The Nostalgia Factory ). For the first tape, he even wrote an inlay introduction to an obscure (imaginary) band called "The Porcupine Tree", suggesting the band met in the early '70s at a rock festival, and they had been in and out of prison many times. The booklet also contained information about band's obscure members like Sir Tarquin Underspoon and Timothy Tadpole-Jones, and crew members like Linton Samuel Dawson (if put into initials forming LSD ). Wilson: "It
16512-501: Was the first Porcupine Tree music issued in America in the autumn of 1995, and attracted favourable press on both sides of the Atlantic. The band supported the album with numerous concerts throughout the year at major music venues in the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece. Partly unsatisfied with the half band/half solo nature of The Sky Moves Sideways , Porcupine Tree promptly got down to
16641-420: Was very successful upon release, charting highly all around the world on Apple Podcasts. Starting in March 2024 new video episodes of the podcast were recorded and released. On 22 September 2020, Wilson relaunched The Future Bites with a revised album tracklist and the release of a new single, "Eminent Sleaze", along with the release of a video produced by Crystal Spotlight. On 29 October 2020, Wilson released
#651348