Deadwing is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in Japan on 24 March 2005, in Europe on 28 March, and in the US on 26 April. It quickly became the band's best selling album, although it was later surpassed by Fear of a Blank Planet. The album is based on a screenplay written by Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion, and is a ghost story. Wilson has stated that the songs "Deadwing", "Lazarus", "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here", "Open Car", and "Mellotron Scratch" were originally intended for the film soundtrack, but when the project failed to find funding they were instead recorded for the next Porcupine Tree album. The album versions of "Lazarus" and "Open Car" essentially remain Wilson solo tracks onto which Gavin Harrison overdubbed drums.
Cover art by Carl Glover
The members of Porcupine Tree during a meet-and-greet at AKA Records on Second Street in Philadelphia on 21 May 2005.
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became an influence for new artists. The group carved out a career at a certain distance away from mainstream music, being described by publications such as Classic Rock and PopMatters as "the most important band you'd never heard of".
Porcupine Tree in Madrid, 2008; Richard Barbieri (left), Steven Wilson, Gavin Harrison (on drums) and Colin Edwin.
Steven Wilson at the Strawberry Fair, Cambridge, 1997
Touring guitarist and backing vocalist John Wesley performing with the band in Poland, 2007
Richard Barbieri during a Porcupine Tree performance in Kraków, Poland, in 2007