Porcupine Tree were an English progressive rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. The band began essentially as a solo project for Wilson, who created all of the band's music. 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 the band and Gavin Harrison was recruited to replace him.
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, most closely associated with the progressive rock genre. Currently a solo artist, he became known as the founder, lead guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands.
Richard Barbieri is an English musician and songwriter. Originally a member of new wave band Japan, more recently he is known as the keyboard player in the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, which he joined in 1993.
On the Sunday of Life... is the debut album of English progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 1992. It compiles tracks that Steven Wilson produced and recorded for two cassette-only releases, Tarquin's Seaweed Farm (1989) and The Nostalgia Factory (1991). The rest of the music from these tapes was released three years later in the compilation album Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape.
Signify is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. It was released in September 1996 and later re-released in 2003 with a second disc of demos, which had previously been released on the b-side cassette tape Insignificance, and a third time, on vinyl, on 9 May 2011. It was the first album that frontman Steven Wilson recorded with the band on board from the beginning; previous albums had been essentially solo efforts with occasional help from other musicians.
In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the first to move into a more heavy metal and progressive metal direction, contrary to past albums' psychedelic and pop rock sounds. Additionally, it was their first release on a major record label, Lava Records. It was very well received critically and commercially, with it often being considered the band's crowning achievement, and selling over triple what any of the band's prior albums had in the past.
Up the Downstair is the second studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in June 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album set including the song "Voyage 34", which was instead released as a single in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities EP (1994). It is the band's shortest studio album and the only one under 50 minutes in length. In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a new mix by Steven Wilson, along with recorded drums by Gavin Harrison that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Steven Wilson has stated that the title of the album came from a line in the song "Voyage 34." There is still a title track, however. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on 14 August 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms".
The Sky Moves Sideways is the third studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in January 1995.
Delerium Records was a British independent record label, that specialised in psychedelic music and which existed from 1991 to 2003, and was notable in promoting the careers of bands including Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, Kava Kava, Mandragora, Sons of Selina and Moom and for starting the Freak Emporium and Molten Records.
Coma Divine – Recorded Live in Rome or just Coma Divine, is a live album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in October, 1997. It was expanded to a double album in 2003, adding the three tracks from the promotional single Coma Divine II (1999), and one more previously unreleased outtake. The expanded edition was also released on vinyl containing 3 LPs, plus a bonus 7 inch single with two demo versions of the song "Disappear" . The album was finally revamped in digipack through Snapper label in 2004.
Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997 is a double album compilation by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in March 2002. The cover is the same one used for Moonloop EP.
Theo Travis is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is best known for being a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and for being a member of Gong from 1999 to 2010.
Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape is a compilation album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. It is a compilation of the band's initial three tapes, Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, Love, Death & Mussolini and The Nostalgia Factory. It consists of the rest of the music from the tapes that was not included in the band's first studio album On the Sunday of Life....
Released on the 3rd Stone label in February 2001, Returning Jesus is British art rock band No-Man's fourth album.
Staircase Infinities is a studio EP by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in December 1994 as a limited 2,000-copy 10" vinyl by Lazy Eye and reissued on CD by Blueprint in the UK in October 1995. It contains outtakes from the Up the Downstair sessions.
The following is a listing of officially released works by the English band Porcupine Tree. The band has released ten major studio albums, as well as many EPs, limited editions, and revamped material.
Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, subtitled "Words from a Hessian Sack", is the first album to be released by Steven Wilson under the name "Porcupine Tree". It was originally a compiled cassette of experimental music made by Steven Wilson for his joke band he formed with his friend Malcom Stocks. The cassette was only sent out to a few people, but was enough to give the band a bit of fame in the UK underground music scene of the time, being picked up by the underground magazine Freakbeat. It was later released under Delerium Records in 1991 in a limited edition of 300 copies. Eventually, the tracks from this and the later Porcupine Tree album The Nostalgia Factory were compiled into what are considered Porcupine Tree's first true studio albums, On the Sunday of Life and Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape.
Nil Recurring is an EP by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released on 17 September 2007 through the band's online store. The standard version of the mini-album is composed of four tracks written during the Fear of a Blank Planet recording sessions and was completed over the summer of 2007. The EP's title, which stems from the opening instrumental track on the EP, was actually derived from an unreleased demo written during the Fear of a Blank Planet recording sessions, called "Always Recurring". Although the band never formally released the song, lyrical and melodic elements of the track were reused in the closing piece of the EP, "What Happens Now?".
The Love, Death & Mussolini E.P. was a cassette released by Steven Wilson under the pseudonym of Porcupine Tree. It compiles a total of nine tracks of which seven were shortly after released in The Nostalgia Factory. The song "Out" was later included on the vinyl edition of the compilation album Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape and the 2013 CD remaster of the album. "It Will Rain for a Million Years" shares its name with a track in On the Sunday of Life... but is a totally different song and is elsewhere unavailable.
Spiral Circus is the name of the first live album by British psychedelic rock/progressive rock band Porcupine Tree from their first tour ever. The tracks were recorded directly from the mixing desk in three different locations of England during December, 1993. The first half of the album was taken from the shows in the BBC and Borderline, London, and the second half from The Nag's Head, High Wycombe.
