PORCUPINE TREE

Guy Tkach hails the highly-collectable ‘unknown’ superstars of New Prog

It’s been over 10 years since Chris Williams’ original article on Porcupine Tree appeared in the pages of Record Collector (issue 207). In the intervening years, despite having been nominated for several Grammys in the United States and won numerous music awards in the UK, when the name Porcupine Tree is mentioned, the majority of people respond “who the hell are they?”. Finally, though, having played sold-out gigs around the world and sold hundreds of thousands of albums, music fans (and, importantly, the music press) the world over are finally beginning to give one of the country’s finest heavy prog bands the credit they deserve.

So who are Porcupine Tree? Steven Wilson, lead singer, guitarist and the main creative force, started the band as a joke with friend Malcolm Stocks back in 1987. Together the two of them created a fictitious 70s band with everything from absurd band members like Sir Tarquin Underspoon on keyboards and The Expanding Flan on drums, right through to a fictional discography. Although it was only a joke, Steven had recorded several hours of music which he felt was of a high enough quality to release as a cassette, which he titled Tarquin’s Seaweed Farm. Over the next couple of years, Steven produced a further two cassette releases, Love, Death & …

by Guy Tkach
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