On the eve of the release of their highly anticipated and courageous tenth album ‘The Incident’, Planet Loud caught up with Porcupine Tree’s electronic wizard Richard Barbieri for a chat about the new album, solo projects, and the changing state of the music industry these days.
Planet Loud – With the album being a song cycle, almost one complete piece, where was the genesis for the idea, and how did it alter the way you went about writing and recording it?
The Porcupine Tree – Usually with PT there’s two ways we approach each album; one is Steven goes off and writes on his own in a singer-songwriter style because he’s got a lyrical idea or concept so he can map out the way that scans; and then the other side is we all get together as a band and go off into the studio and we work for a week or two from scratch. We all bring in different ideas and jam; people bring in some ideas that are more complete than others and we all work on that. So they’re the two ways the music comes together. The song cycle idea was something Steven had in mind from a while ago and that was very much something he brought to the band almost complete. It was initially split up into five parts, and it was only the first part of the song cycle in the end that we weren’t really sure about, so he went back and rewrote that; but otherwise it’s pretty much in the same form. There are no rules as such for the song cycle, as sometimes it doesn’t really get into a song – there’s two minutes of what you think is a song and then it goes off somewhere else; but it’s got a flow to it, and it’s different from the last couple of albums.
Planet Loud – It changes mood and styles a lot quicker than for example ‘Fear Of A Blank Planet’.
The Porcupine Tree – I think it’s more demanding for the listener, and probably at first people don’t quite take it in and you’ve really got to listen to it a few times. And it’s going to be a challenge to play that live.
Planet Loud – Are you going to play all of it live as one piece, or pick bits out?
The Porcupine Tree – We’re definitely going to play it all, but there may have to be a few gaps in between. From a technical point of view there are guitar changes and tuning changes; and it’s so dramatic dynamically that it might be impossible to play it right the way through without any gaps; but we will play it in order as the first part of the set.
Planet Loud – You’re playing much bigger venues this time around, so is that going to change your approach to how you prepare for this tour?
The Porcupine Tree – We’ve tried to improve incrementally as the gigs have got bigger; but yeah, we’ll put more thought into the production. I know people don’t like seated venues, but for this album I think it might be a good thing as it’s the sort of album you want the audience concentrating more than just getting in a mosh pit. It’s going to be a lot of work, a lot of pre-production.
Planet Loud – Is Lasse Hoile [visual artist and long time PT collaborator] going to do all the visuals again?
The Porcupine Tree – Yeah, Lasse’s going to be doing all that again. The artwork has some aspects from another artist as well, an illustrator [Hajo Mueller] that we’ve worked with, which is different. There’ll be varying packages with the album, but it will be an extensive booklet.
Planet Loud – How much input do you have into the artwork and final packaging?
The Porcupine Tree – Initially it will come from the concept and the lyrics, there has to be that link; it has to be something that Steven feels is representative and has the right mood. As a band, we decide on each thing, so if there’s something we’re not happy with then it doesn’t happen. But to be honest, I like to give as much freedom as possible to the person who’s had a concept and a lyrical idea because it means something to them; just as when we listen to a piece of music we get our own impression of it. Likewise when I’m working on the tracks, I listen to Steven’s lyrics very closely and possibly my interpretation might be different to what he intended; but that’s how we all react to it, in our own way. As for the packaging, it’s always been important with us, and I think our audience quite likes to have a physical copy of the album, I don’t think we lose too many sales by people just downloading the album and not bothering to buy it. We just do things the way we want to hear it and the way we like things to be; as we would enjoy going to the record store and finding things and collecting stuff, finding these great amazing packages. It’s probably old-fashioned now, but there’s still a market out there for it.
Planet Loud – Between ‘Fear…’ and ‘The Incident’ Steven went off and did ‘Insurgentes’, his first solo album that has borne some resemblance to the style PT follow; did that then have any discernable bearing on this album?
The Porcupine Tree – I’m sure it had an effect on the way that he wrote some of this album; it’s the first time he’s made a solo album like that – he’s got lots of different solo projects but I think it’s good for him to go off and have that freedom, like it is for all of us, to just make music away from the band, and to work in a different way.
Planet Loud – I could hear elements and touches of ‘Insurgentes’ creeping through a little bit in places on the album…
The Porcupine Tree – And I think vice versa, people heard stuff on his solo album that was reminiscent of Porcupine Tree. There’s things we’d all like to do but probably wouldn’t imagine or wouldn’t ask the other members of the group to be involved in; there’s stuff on his solo album that we might not relate to in the right way and vice versa with our stuff. I really like the album, I think it’s a really good solo album; it’s quite sprawling, and you get this sense he’s having this musical freedom. With Porcupine Tree you’re obviously dealing with four different characters and it’s an area where we know the boundaries a little bit more. I mean, I’d still like Porcupine Tree to be much more experimental, personally; I think it could be, but I think we have to work in a slightly different way. I certainly think this is a stronger album than our previous two.
Planet Loud – So do have that sense of freedom when you’re doing your solo stuff?
The Porcupine Tree – Yes. I’ve got quite a similar taste to Steven to be honest, we have common ground in the things we like; we could really just get into a drone or a texture that lasts for ten minutes, whereas that would bore the hell out of Gavin [Harrison, PT drummer], he would just not relate to that music at all or understand it as to him there would be no events happening; but to us part of the event is the mood. We all have different approaches; I couldn’t ask some of them to get involved in some of the stuff I’m doing, but then I like quite repetitive music, hypnotic music.
Planet Loud – What was the reasoning behind switching to Roadrunner worldwide now for this album?
The Porcupine Tree – It just worked; as many bands have found when they’ve joined Roadrunner, it’s a very well-oiled machine. The people are very easy-going and you don’t get the feeling you’re dealing with record company executives, it’s a lot more social and communicative. But the main thing is they do a great job of promoting and marketing our music. We’re not like a lot of their other acts, but it doesn’t matter; we just saw our sales double since we went to Roadrunner, which obviously isn’t all down to them, it’s down to what we’re doing, but a lot of it is down to them as well as they’re reaching people and fans of a lot of the other bands they have possibly like aspects of what Porcupine Tree do too. We joined after we saw what they were doing with Opeth, and then Dream Theater joined after what they saw Roadrunner did with us and Opeth. But it’s been good for every band that has joined them, that’s why.
Planet Loud – What are the expectations then for ‘The Incident’?
The Porcupine Tree – We don’t know, as the whole industry has changed; what you’re finding now is that acts are selling half as many CDs as they did before yet in terms of live shows are more successful. So it’s quite possible we’ll sell fewer records than we did last time but it maybe that more people are listening to us, because there will be a certain amount of people who will just grab the music for free, get into the band, and come to the shows. So I suppose you could say that CD sales don’t really represent success anymore, it’s more in terms of how many people come and see your shows; the CDs are almost promotion for the shows, whereas it used to be the other way round. Likewise with chart positions, we’re quite hopeful we can get some good chart positions, but again we might sell fewer albums and get higher chart positions. I think the thing with Porcupine Tree is we are a very good live band and we’ve just kept at it over the years, and by word of mouth each subsequent tour people have brought two or three friends along and it’s just grown like that; I think people are rarely disappointed when they see us live, and at the moment that is so important. There’s something that’s working and the audience are picking up on; I mean, we’re not a particularly visual band, don’t have any gimmicks or have a particular demographic that we’re playing to, but there’s some kind of energy, something special that happens and people always bring back their friends.
Interview by Dom Hemy
