In Absentia Prog As Steven Wilson looks out over the floor of the Middle East Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from the stage, he can’t help feeling a little depressed. Thirty pairs of eyes stare back at him. This is the sum total of people who’ve turned up to see him and his band Porcupine Tree play the hip East Coast club.
It’s Monday, July 22, 2002, and this is supposed to be a tipping point for the group. Over the last decade, the British oddballs have existed on the fringes, becoming a rallying point for anyone with an interest in shape-shifting, vaguely psychedelic sounds without ever quite extending beyond cultdom. But recently, things have changed.
In a fairly astonishing turn of events, Porcupine Tree have been signed by Lava Records, a subsidiary of music industry powerhouse Atlantic. They have suddenly found themselves on the same label as rap-metal superstar and platinum-dusted MOR-grungers Matchbox Twenty. The dream Porcupine Tree have been sold is that their new album, , will push them to the next level.
If it succeeds, Wilson and his bandmates will be sipping cocktails around guitar-shaped swimming pools in newly purchased Beverley Hills homes. But all that looks to be a long way away on this Monday night. “You suddenly realise you’re facing an uphill battle trying to convince a lot of people who don’t know you to start caring about you,” says Wilson today.
“That’s not just the fans – it’s partly the industry too.” would be released two.
