Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree started out as a solo project for Steven Wilson, but he pretended it was a real band, making up an elaborate backstory that he included in a booklet that came with the first Porcupine Tree release, a cassette called Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, distributed in 1989. Fake band members included Sir Tarquin Underspoon and Timothy Tadpole-Jones. In 1993, Wilson started using other musicians on his albums and touring as a group.

While he was making music as Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson was also in a duo called No-Man with his friend Tim Bowness. In 1992, they signed with One Little Indian Records, which is when Wilson quit his day job working in information technology. He kept No-Man going even after Porcupine Tree took off.

Porcupine Tree is often classified as progressive rock, as they're musically adventurous and have some very long songs. Steven Wilson is OK being labeled "progressive" because he thinks the group is always evolving. "What's the point of adding to the discography unless you're going to do something different with each record?" he said in a Songfacts interview.