By late 1993, however, he wanted to work in a band environment, bringing on frequent collaborators Richard Barbieri as keyboardist, Colin Edwin as bassist, and Chris Maitland as drummer to form the first permanent lineup.

As soon as he had put aside enough money to buy his own studio equipment, Wilson obliged this creation with several hours of music to provide "evidence"[citation needed] of its existence.

At this point, Porcupine Tree was little more than a joke and a private amusement, as Wilson was concentrating on his other project, No-Man, an endeavour with UK based singer and songwriter Tim Bowness.

Two hundred copies of each cassette were sold through Freakbeat's mail order, The Freak Emporium, and soon Porcupine Tree became known as a mysterious new act amongst the then UK underground psychedelic music scene.

[12] On the Sunday of Life was originally meant to be a quadruple (LP)/double (CD) album compiling both cassettes in full, but changed to the best (according to Wilson) songs from the tapes.

All of the Delirium releases were published by Hit & Run, whose executive Dave Massey had signed No-Man and continued to be closely involved in the Porcupine Tree project.

Thus, in December 1993, Porcupine Tree became a live unit featuring Wilson on lead vocals/guitar, Colin Edwin on bass, Chris Maitland on drums, and Richard Barbieri on keyboards.

The new line-up's first live album, Spiral Circus, contained recordings from their first three performances, including a BBC Radio One session for Mark Radcliffe, an early champion of the group.

Released in 1995, the band's third studio album, The Sky Moves Sideways became a success among progressive rock fans and Porcupine Tree were hailed as the Pink Floyd of the 1990s.

It's true that during the period of The Sky Moves Sideways, I had done a little too much of it in the sense of satisfying, in a way, the fans of Pink Floyd who were listening to us because that group doesn't make albums any more.

[17] Wilson expressed satisfaction in the direction of the album, stating "tracks like 'Every Home Is Wired' and 'Dark Matter' totally transcend both genre and comparison.

Wilson acknowledged this time he was "much more interested in songwriting as an art form, as opposed to soundscape development" and commented he took influence from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Todd Rundgren, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and "anything with really good ensemble singing".

The three singles taken from the album: "Piano Lessons", "Stranger by the Minute", and "Pure Narcotic", all achieved mainstream exposure in the US and in Europe, and placed well in the UK independent charts and on radio-station playlists.

Completed for February 2000, with string arrangements provided by Dave Gregory of XTC, Porcupine Tree's sixth studio album, Lightbulb Sun, built on the mix of songwriting, soundscaping, and rock dynamics of Stupid Dream.

[20] In June, the band played a short US tour, starting with an appearance in NEARfest of Pennsylvania, and culminating in a sold-out show at The Bottom Line in New York City.

The album benefited from guest appearances by Adrian Belew from King Crimson and Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt, and was a commercial success, due in part to "Shallow" receiving airplay, peaking at number 26 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Wilson notes that whilst race relationship was the main issue among young people when Public Enemy's album was released, it was replaced in the 21st century by a general superficiality, boredom, and introversion.

Wilson: "My fear is that the current generation of kids who're being born into this information revolution, growing up with the Internet, cell phones, iPods, this download culture, 'American Idol,' reality TV, prescription drugs, PlayStations—all of these things kind of distract people from what's important about life, which is to develop a sense of curiosity about what's out there.

[42] A new EP called Nil Recurring was released on 17 September 2007, featuring four unreleased tracks from the Fear of a Blank Planet sessions and including another contribution from Robert Fripp.

[44] A recording from a 4 October 2007 in-store, mostly acoustic, performance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Florida, was released on 18 February 2008 on CD under the name of We Lost The Skyline.

The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December – Flicker, Bonnie The Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP-length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle.

In February 2016, in an interview with Prog Magazine, he stated that there was a "strong possibility" of Porcupine Tree re-forming for another studio album at an undisclosed time in the future.

[65] However, in response to a question in August 2016 regarding a hypothetical Porcupine Tree performance, Wilson claimed, "you'd be waiting for a long time, that band doesn't exist anymore.

[71] On 27 October 2021, Porcupine Tree, Wilson, and Harrison all shared a teaser video and mailing list link across their social media accounts, along with a stylised "P/T C/C" image.

[74] Wilson explained Edwin's absence with the two losing contact when the project went on hiatus[75] and stylistic differences, though Barbieri was adamant to say "I don't want any of this to negatively impact Colin or imply this was somehow his fault.

The tour's second leg, starting in October 2022 and carrying through until November 2022, was composed of select cities in Europe and a single performance in the UK at London's Wembley Arena.

[86] The influence of electronic music and krautrock is present, with Wilson namechecking bands such as Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream,[87] Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin[21] and artists such as Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler, among others.

[15][88][89] Wilson has also cited English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), along with other potentially "surprising" influences such as ABBA, The Carpenters, Electric Light Orchestra, and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album (1977), largely written and performed by the Bee Gees.

The band's work is noted for its atmospheric nature, largely due to Barbieri's keyboard style and sound-processing abilities, and Wilson's cinematic scope, as a declared fan of American filmmaker David Lynch, whose films are renowned for their sonic content.

[97] Anders Nyström of the Swedish group Katatonia has cited the work of Porcupine Tree as a large influence for the band in their post-death metal eras.