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valravennz 
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: March 20 2005
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 2546
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 Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:34 |
Nice interview Maani - though SW did not seem all that forth coming - not an easy person to interview but all kudos for your great efforts.
and it is great to see you on-line and the quick not from Threefates - has made my day
Cheers 
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"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence"
- Robert Fripp
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beebs
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 04 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 136
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Posted: December 03 2005 at 19:50 |
Thanks alot for posting that interview, maani. I as a newling to Porcupine Tree thank you. I gleaned some very interesting insights into the man and his creative processes reading what he had to say.
Greatly appreciated your taking the time to post it!!
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"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of one's own mind" * Ralph Waldo Emerson
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moncholo
Forum Newbie
Joined: June 02 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 27
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Posted: December 22 2005 at 11:24 |
weird, i though that he was going to be involved in a project with Âkerfeldt and Portnoy.... but he doesn't seem to like DT THAT much...soooo........
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70sSoundquality
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 18 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 137
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Posted: December 23 2005 at 16:33 |
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Wow, what a boring interview. This Steve has nothing of real interest
to say. I have seen his band live and I must say, it was just as
predictable and yawn inducing as this interview.
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rudess
Forum Newbie
Joined: January 01 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 3
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Posted: January 01 2006 at 13:20 |
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I think that SW and PT have probably listened to quite a bit of Dream Theater since it was not so long ago(2000 I think) that PT were a support band for DT.
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cometoffire
Forum Newbie
Joined: January 02 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 1
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Posted: January 02 2006 at 17:17 |
Well, I must say that I've read a lot of interviews with SW, and this is isn't
one of the best (sorry Maani!) - he sounds kinda tired. Usually he's very
entertaining (Metal Hammer just voted SW one of their best interviewees
of 2005 for example). It seems
like this was done by email and those kind of interviews
can be a pretty cold and humourless read. But the only thing I can see
that could be interpreted
as arrogant is the fact that he tries to avoid being dragged into the "how
do you define progressive" and "what are your influences" questions. He
sounds a bit weary of this and I don't blame him. Plus I think he would be
the first to admit that Sky Moves Sideways was made at a time when PT
were considerably more derivative than now - I've seen him refer to it as
their "Pink Floyd blueprint" album!  Regarding Dream Theater, while
I've seen SW enthuse about bands like Meshuggah and Opeth, I've never
seen him mention DT or any of their albums so it's possible that he really
just isn't into them. Personally I can't hear any influence from them in the
music of PT. On the other hand I know he has worked with Jordan Rudess,
and Mike Portnoy is supposed to be involved in his collaboration with
Mikael Akefelt, so I don't know how that fits in.
Hey is it possible that you could do another interview with the man in
person next time? I'm sure you'd get a lot more out of him that way.
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threefates
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 30 2004
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4215
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Posted: January 05 2006 at 11:06 |
Actually last year Jordan also played with SW when he replaced the keyboardist for Blackfield at a NYC show... and then Jordan's side thing with drummer Rod Morgenstein, opened for Porcupine Tree on a few of their NE USA shows last year.
And yet SW still hasn't listened to any DT... oh well!
And to Maani: yep, too bad we didn't see each other at the show.. You could of met Jon! The next big shows we're planning are the two Dave Gilmour shows in NYC, two in Chicago and two at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Dave's gonna think we're a part of his road crew after this...
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THIS IS ELP
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filipensses
Forum Newbie
Joined: February 06 2006
Location: Brazil
Status: Offline
Points: 2
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Posted: February 06 2006 at 14:15 |
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Actually, SW didn't say he haven't heard DT, he said none of PT members have ever heard a DT record...it's subtle, but it's different.
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BookAboutSalad
Forum Newbie
Joined: April 10 2006
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 26
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Posted: April 10 2006 at 16:40 |
Standard review but I liked it, good job but nothing more
I agree with a lot of you ppl, he sounded very tired and boring, maybe even arrogant. Probably he's tired of doing interviews or something. I doubt that he is an arrogant person... but who knows? And does it care? There's a lot of idiots making wonderful music
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pentagram_man63
Forum Newbie
Joined: May 06 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 6
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Posted: May 06 2006 at 14:55 |
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Thanks for the interview with this genius!
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http://folklorelegend.dmusic.com
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cscrutinizer
Forum Newbie
Joined: June 13 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 14
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Posted: June 22 2006 at 18:06 |
SW: I really don't think it's relevant to talk about influences on the band at this stage in our career. For many years PT have striven to be Porcupine Tree, unlike anyone else. Also, inspiration comes from so many different sources - movies, books, life, experience....etc....and on top of this there are 4 very distinct personalities with the band. At least 2 of the 4 members wouldn't listen to any of the groups you mention, and never did, and I think I can say that none of us ever listened to a Dream Theater record!
Oh jeeze... this is such a bogus answer that many artists put forth to depict their originality. I really dig PT, but they are not the most original band in the world. The Pink Floyd influences are pretty obvious, and you can easily sing the lyrics of "Comfortably Numb" to the music of "The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase I)".
But I guess this makes for a better answer than a littany of bands (which would obviously include Pink Floyd).
I think sometimes listing bands as influences can impress the reader -- if they are bands that sound nothing like the influenced band... If he said Ethel Merman was a huge influence, I would be perplexed, amazed, and confused...
But it sounds cool and postmodern to dodge the influence issue... It reminds me of a lot of indie rock bands with progressive leanings, who claim the same thing, but are really just rehashing Crimson riffs... and in that case, most of the audience thinks what they are doing is original, since they are 17 years old...
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Guests
Forum Guest Group
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Posted: September 05 2006 at 20:48 |
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Miserable b*****d Wilson.
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OpethGuitarist
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 25 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1655
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Posted: September 05 2006 at 20:50 |
 swilson wrote:
Miserable b*****d Wilson.
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true that
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back from the dead, i will begin posting reviews again and musing through the forums
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ResidentAlien
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 17 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 441
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Posted: September 20 2006 at 01:14 |
swilson wrote:
Miserable b*****d Wilson.
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AHAHAHAH! That made my day, that seriously did. Well, you rule and can't wait to see you and PT in 2 weeks....
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tigerfan5
Forum Newbie
Joined: July 22 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 8
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 16:20 |
cscrutinizer wrote:
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" ="Msonormal"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>SW:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I really don't think it's relevant to talk about influences on the band at this stage in our career. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For many years PT have striven to be Porcupine Tree, unlike anyone else. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Also, inspiration comes from so many different sources - movies, books, life, experience....etc....and on top of this there are 4 very distinct personalities with the band. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At least 2 of the 4 members wouldn't listen to any of the groups you mention, and never did, and I think I can say that none of us ever listened to a Dream Theater record!
Oh jeeze... this is such a bogus answer that many artists put forth to depict their originality. I really dig PT, but they are not the most original band in the world. The Pink Floyd influences are pretty obvious, and you can easily sing the lyrics of "Comfortably Numb" to the music of "The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase I)".
But I guess this makes for a better answer than a littany of bands (which would obviously include Pink Floyd).
I think sometimes listing bands as influences can impress the reader -- if they are bands that sound nothing like the influenced band... If he said Ethel Merman was a huge influence, I would be perplexed, amazed, and confused...
But it sounds cool and postmodern to dodge the influence issue... It reminds me of a lot of indie rock bands with progressive leanings, who claim the same thing, but are really just rehashing Crimson riffs... and in that case, most of the audience thinks what they are doing is original, since they are 17 years old... |
The Sky Moves Sideways was over a decade ago. Also, Steven said mentioning influences is not relevant in THIS stage of their career. Once again, the album you mentioned is over a decade old. Also, it isn't even really a Floyd influence, it was other bands of that era that inspired the songs on that album. Sure Floyd had something to do with it, but I'm sure you're disounting Ash Ra and Camel (maybe even a bit of Magma).
He's not copping out of anything. He's been very forthcoming with his influences (which you would notice in other posts on this very same forum).
Hope that clarifies things.
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Boom boom shake da mofo room
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ailgun
Forum Groupie
Joined: November 03 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 61
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Posted: November 05 2006 at 04:15 |
Voyage 34's Phase 1 is pretty similar when we compare it with PF's Another BIW ph.1
First guitar riff is neary the same.
He might have ripped it off. Generaly every musician needs some times this kinda things I think. I am OK with it.
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pianoman
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 28 2007
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 793
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Posted: March 14 2007 at 19:02 |
He seems very open to questions and fan collaboration. Unlike Steve Howe. 
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endlessepic
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 22 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 354
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Posted: March 25 2007 at 13:01 |
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Thanks, excellant interview.
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activetopics
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 29 2007
Status: Offline
Points: 156
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Posted: September 17 2007 at 09:16 |
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hooray!
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King Crimson776
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 12 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2779
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Posted: November 22 2007 at 19:59 |
Porcupine Tree is a great band, but if Steven Wilson thinks they (or The Mars Volta and Sigur Ros for f**k's sake) are progressing music more than, for example, freaking Spock's Beard, he's a pretentious b*****d. It's all just a mix of influences at this point. When are we at the point where we can just do whatever and not have to constantly break boundaries, when are all the boundaries broken? He says progressing music isn't a big deal, but the bands he mentions are the ones who are worshiped because of their pretensions of being progressive.
Oh, and Donna Summers? That explains No-Man, I guess.
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