Porcupine Tree is a British progressive rock and metal band from Hemel Hempstead, England. Initially a solo experiment of guitarist, singer and composer Steven Wilson, the group was composed during its last years of existence, four musicians. The best-selling album is Deadwing , published in 2005>.
Their music is a mix of psychedelic rock, ambient, pop rock and more recently progressive metal. Having evolved strongly since its creation, it reflects the multiple influences of its creator. The group has been off since 2010.
Porcupine Tree is formed in 1987 from the collaboration between Steven Wilson and his friend Malcom Stocks. Inspired by the great musicians who were in the spotlight during their youth, like Pink Floyd, they decided to create a whimsical and imaginary group to this image, named Porcupine Tree. Wilson works on many compositions in order to "prove" the existence of the band and give it a musical past. Together they developed the group's crazy history, imagining the names of the members and albums. They went so far as to invent the events in which the group would have participated, such as a grand concert at a 1970s rock festival and a chaotic past.
Although Porcupine Tree was originally formed as a farce and Wilson was involved in his other No-Man project in 1989, he began to consider some music as marketable. He then made an 80-minute tape titled Tarquin's Seaweed Farm , under the name of the Porcupine Tree group>. Continuing in the spirit of his project, he included an eight-page booklet containing information on the obscure past members of the group Sir Tarquin Underspoon and Timothy Tadpole-Jones.