Steven Wilson: "There's always been a resistance towards having my songs on the radio"

The Daily Telegraph once dubbed Steven Wilson “the most successful British artist you’ve never heard of”. It’s one of the fascinating aspects of his career spanning decades; he’s sold out the Royal Albert Hall three times and has released more albums than some legacy acts combined. Besides his extensive solo work, he’s the founder of the beloved band Porcupine Tree. We discuss his ability to reinvent himself with each new record, the new, eleventh Porcupine Tree album, Closure/Continuation, and the beautiful deep-listening events for the album that took place at L-Acoustics’ HQs in London and Los Angeles.

So, while Wilson is by no means a celebrity, his name does resound loudly in the world of alternative music. Particularly as he is almost unquestionably one of the greatest musical chameleons living today. 

Besides the music he releases under his own name and Porcupine Tree, he has been and continues to be a member of many groups of varying genres, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosion and No-Man. None of whom are ever likely to be heard on a mainstream station like BBC Radio 1.

Wilson’s early steps in music, as he grew up in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, do bestow the impression that he was never likely to have a brief moment in the A-list spotlight — as opposed to the healthy, sustained career which began with his breakthrough taking place towards the end of the ‘80s.

“I remember when I was about 16, we played a singles night at the local Berkhamsted Town Hall,” he says. “And we were so inappropriate that they asked us to leave after two songs. I think that's called paying your dues.”

While you might assume a musician as alternative or even avant-garde as Wilson might wear all of this as a badge of honour, it’s not quite the case. He feels a “slight frustration that there's always been a resistance towards having my songs on the radio. 

"I've never been on TV in my own country in 30 years. I challenge you to find another band or artist that has had consistently top 10 albums, but has never been on British TV. I’ve never been booked on Later… with Jools Holland, you know, which has had 30 seasons or something crazy like that.”

It’s actually been running for 58 seasons, just to reaffirm the valid point that Wilson makes. While his music is several country miles away from a radio-friendly artist like Ed Sheeran, there have been plenty of avant-garde artists whose music finds its way onto the right radio stations, or even on Jools Holland. Radiohead and PJ Harvey are no strangers to the programme, and they couldn’t be less mainstream if they tried.

One thing you’d never hear Wilson utter a complaint about is how large and loyal his fanbase is, many of whom have followed him through the decades. And a very enduring part of his popularity are Porcupine Tree. There’s even a shared belief that the band played a key part in the resurgence of rock music in the ‘90s. 

Completed by long-term members Richard Barbieri on keyboards and Gavin Harrison on drums, their new album puts their discography up to 11 records. And it perhaps could have been more, as Closure/Continuation is their first album together since 2009, a period which has seen Wilson busy releasing five solo LPs.

“This album very literally has been 10 years in the making,” Wilson says. “We’d started jamming together again in 2012. There was a number of reasons why it took so long — my interest in restarting the band waned a bit over the years. But when lockdown happened, I realised what a great opportunity that was to finish this material.”

Wilson reveals this could be the final Porcupine Tree album, saying “I thought at the time, let's just do this one last record and make it a very satisfying closure to the history of the band. And I think that's still the intention here. But I would definitely never say never again, because what's the point of closing the door completely? 

"But at the same time, I do suspect that my interest beyond this will revert back to being able to be very indulgent, and do what I do under my own name. In fact, I've already written my next solo record."

With this in mind, and knowing that both Wilson and each of Porcupine Tree’s members have been on their own musical journeys in this ensuing decade, it’s fascinating to consider the number of tonal, thematic and sonic shifts Closure/Continuation has gone through.

“I’ve made four records in the interim,” Wilson recalls. “And the shifts in style in those are huge, and that’s reflected in this Porcupine Tree album. Back in 2012, I was in the midst of making a very traditional, progressive rock album called The Raven Refused To Sing. And my last solo album (The Future Bites, released last year) is essentially a very contemporary electronic pop record.

“For example, one of the first songs we wrote for this album, Chimera’s Wreck, is a big progressive track that’s 10 minutes long and goes through all these different phases. But then the last song we wrote together, Walk The Plank, is this very electronic song which actually doesn’t have any guitars on it at all. So it’s like this album is a microcosm of my changing interests.”

Indeed, if you take those two songs, which appear one after the other on the LP, they not only prove what Wilson is saying, they are also evidence of why Porcupine Tree are a band that are held so dear by so many. 

Chimera’s Wreck is a rock odyssey of a song with symphonic levels of band instrumentation, while Walk The Plank wouldn’t sound out of place on a record like Kid A with its lo-fi beats and haunting pianos, before Harrison’s remarkable drumming makes a grand entrance.

It’s no wonder that it’s such a perfect record for a listening party. And if you’re left befuddled by what a listening party is, it’s essentially when a group of music-lovers get together and listen to music, usually an album in its entirety. 

And while this has obviously existed, in essence, throughout the history of music, listening parties have relatively recently become public ticketed events, often premiering a new album with the artist there in person.

The listening party of Closure/Continuation was a particularly special one, as the band teamed up with L-Acoustics to give super-fans the opportunity to hear the album in the company’s mind-blowing L-ISA Studio software platform to expand the mix to the ultra-high resolution 18.1.12 systems in the Highgate and L.A facilities. 

Wilson is a huge advocate of Dolby Atmos mixing and so was delighted to visit L-Acoustics in Highgate, North London to be involved in the preparation for the events.

“I love these events, but how do you persuade someone to travel somewhere else to listen to an album they can listen to at home on their own stereo? And the answer is, of course, spatial audio, Dolby Atmos. Because most people are unable to listen to music in Dolby Atmos through an incredible spatial immersive audio system in true, discrete surround sound. 

"Most people have probably never had the opportunity. And the beauty is when everyone switches off their phones, the lights are dimmed right down and you just listen with no distractions. That’s how I used to listen to albums when I was younger.”

In terms of getting hands-on with L-Acoustics, Wilson “brought the files and we calibrated the mix to work as well as it could through their particular system. It sounded really special. I think the fact that Atmos is out there and surround mixes are gaining traction now in the world of music listening is an absolutely fantastic thing.”

You might be reading this thinking that Wilson needs a well-deserved breather, but as mentioned, he’s straight on to his next solo album release. Goodness knows which genres, instruments, production techniques and the rest this sound wizard will be toying with this time when it comes out in the near future. His incredible music may not have earned him celebrity status, but Steven Wilson is a deeply respected name and his ardent fan base are no less than he deserves.