Steven Wilson New Interview: “Never planned for Porcupine Tree to be finish”

Steven Wilson just revealed about they never planned for Porcupine Tree to be over. Porcupine Tree’s upcoming album “Closure/Continuation” will release on June 24th, 2022. The band also released a clip for the new song titled “Herd Culling” 13 years later.

Porcupine Tree was active between 1987 and 2010 and is now back together and is preparing new tour dates and new albums. Steven Wilson also talking about their upcoming album:

“It was the final song written for the album. When the rest of the songs were assembled we felt there was still musically a hole for something dramatic in the middle of the album, so it became the only song written as a three-way collaboration between all of us. Beginning with Gavin coming up with an unusual rhythm in 11, it was then a case of myself and Richard finding the music and both of us working with sequenced electronics and sound design, alongside the quiet/loud guitar dynamics. The full 7-minute version is musical storytelling that features several other sections.

But I think the edit works quite well as a more conventionally structured piece too – a smaller bite of music. Lyrically it’s about a very specific event in history, but it also deals with the broader theme of paranoia in the modern age. Someone or something is coming up your driveway or in your front garden, and their/motives are unclear. The title obviously takes on extra resonance in our pandemic times.”

Closure/Continuation will also be available as a 7-track album on standard CD/vinyl, LPs, or limited cassette. Read the latest Steven Wilson interview here.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Steven Wilson talked about the upcoming album Porcupine Tree:

Question: What was the thought process behind putting the Porcupine Tree back together?

Answer: “But for lockdown, it probably wouldn’t have happened. These songs were written over the last ten or eleven years, and we always intended to finish them. My solo career and Gavin’s work with King Crimson sidelined that plan, but lockdown gave us the window of opportunity to knuckle down and do it.”

For answers album upcoming album:

Question: Can you give us a flavor of Closure/Continuation, the band’s first album in twelve years, which is due in June 2022?

Answer: “It’s very hard for me to step back and be objective, but it sounds like a quintessential Porcupine Tree record – albeit one that could only have been made in 2021. I know that’s vague, but it’s the best I can do.”

Question: The passing decades have brought you a parallel career in remixing classic albums across multiple genres in 5.1 sound. Could you pick out a favorite or two? 

Answer: “There are so many, but the ones I’m most proud of are the ones in which I made the biggest difference. Some records didn’t sonically match up to the artistry involved. I really felt I was able to lay the shine on Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, which was plagued by technical problems. I’m also proud of my work with XTC and Gentle Giant because both bands are so underrated.”

Question: What are your thoughts on the rise of the Deluxe Edition reissue/ remix – selling people stuff that they already own?

Answer: “It’s a bit of a knotty one. The whole culture of the Deluxe Edition is probably the last hurrah of records. People are now buying records for maybe the third or fourth time, only now it’s a 20-CD box with the demos, B-sides, and alternative versions. I can’t think of anything more boring. I’d rather hear new music.

We have become archeologists, but for those people that do want those products with which I’m involved, if it isn’t an oxymoron, I feel duty-bound to do the best job I can.”

And he also talked about the Porcupine Tree’s retirement: 

“One of the recurring themes in the book is not wanting to repeat myself and confronting the expectations of the fan base. The problem with having a professional brand is that it’s very easy to get locked into a pattern of giving people more of what they want. I say in the book that I never planned for it to be over for so long, or even permanently.

But I did know that for a while I needed to go on and do something different.”

You can listen to Porcupine Tree – ‘Arriving Somewhere But Not Here’ below!