Porcupine Tree is a Grammy award-nominated progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is a combination of rock, ambient, psychedelia and metal.
During the nineties the band focused mainly on psychedelic music although they incorporated a wide range of styles of electronic music, from trance, krautrock and ambient 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 to more recently metal. For live shows, Porcupine Tree make use of a screen that displays a different projection for each song. This visual element was introduced during the tour for the In Absentia album, when the band started to work with Danish photographer and film-maker Lasse Hoile, whose works help to create a distinctive image for the band. Despite being signed to Roadrunner in Europe and Atlantic in the United States, the band have their own record label, Transmission, which they use to launch some independent releases and special limited editions of their albums. Porcupine Tree have an official online store on Burning Shed (also home for OSI, Chroma Key and Roger Eno among others), now the official online distributor to legendary label Peaceville Records, and to Kscope (both Snapper Music divisions).
Musical style
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 music and progressive rock, his interest in metal diminished in favour of experimental music. He later (in the 2000s) discovered bands like Gojira, Mastodon, Neurosis and Meshuggah, which restored his faith in metal music. "For a long time I couldn't find where all these creative musicians were going…", Wilson said, "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 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 sympathizes with bands such as Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and artists like Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler between others. Wilson has also mentioned on multiple occasions that he admires American musician Trent Reznor.
Band members
Current members
* Steven Wilson – vocals, guitar, piano (1987-)
* Richard Barbieri – keyboard, synthesizer (1993-)
* Colin Edwin – bass guitar (1993-)
* Gavin Harrison − drums (2002-)
Former members
* Chris Maitland − drums, backing vocals (1993-2002)
Live musicians
* John Wesley − 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)
* Ben Coleman − violin (2007)
* Rick Edwards − percussion (1995)
* Suzanne Barbieri − vocals (1993, 1995)
Discography
Studio albums
* 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)
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