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RARE PHOTOS: Richard barbieri - The Real Truth

“I’d get thrown out then brought back in. I just couldn’t play in a conventional way”: Japan’s Richard Barbieri on coloured hair, lipstick, a fingerless glove and the unusual reason he joined the band

Future Porcupine Tree member recalls being put off playing keyboards by Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, and feeling culturally homeless before the new romantic era

Louder

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! Rush have assumed control of the cover of the new issue of Prog, on sale now!

Plus Anthony Phillips, Richard Barbieri, Magenta, Spock's Beard, Steve Hillage, Einar Solberg, Green Carnation, Major Parkinson and more...

Louder

“Japan was part of the zeitgeist - we were on the BBC, in the tabloid newspapers and part of culture”: We speak to Japan and Porcupine Tree synth polymath Richard Barbieri

From glam rock novice to sonic architect, Richard Barbieri’s latest album, Hauntings, explores a memory-soaked sound world

MusicRadar

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"In pursuing my own fake band I stumbled upon something that had real potential." The miraculous rise of the modern prog superstars who started out as a joke

An archive interview with the band whose modern take on progressive rock brought the genre out of the past and gave it a future

Louder

“One room, six of us in bunks, sleeping with the light on or the cockroaches would come in… that was the lowest point – before we got in the recording studio”: Japan’s career was much more fun than it seemed

Attacking punks, getting stuck on a disco label, fighting the New Romantic tag: Steve Jansen recalls how the schoolmates’ natural sense of rebellion became unique music before egos got in the way, and the flukes that made them big in actual Japan

Louder

“In pursuing my own fake band, I stumbled upon something that had real potential”: How Porcupine Tree unexpectedly grew out of Steven Wilson’s “shameless pastiches”

He only wanted a harmless distraction from No-Man – but when the debut album sold 30 times its original pressing run, he had to take things more seriously

Louder

“I’d have been up for having Slash on the album – but I’d have insisted he played the xylophone!” Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri pushed each other hard on their first album Not the Weapon But The Hand

Marillion vocalist found himself singing over drum’n’bass music on 2012 release, while Porcupine Tree keyboardist had to allow lyrics in a piece he’d wanted to be instrumental – but the result of years of effort satisfied them both

Louder

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“We were called the ‘Pink Floyd of the 90s.’ But there’s always been more in my music”: The story of Porcupine Tree’s Stupid Dream, the cult classic that set up prog for the 21st century

Steven Wilson looks back on the making of Porcupine Tree’s breakthrough 1999 album, Stupid Dream

Louder

“You could argue we were the quintessential cult band. But I was thinking, ‘We can be more than this’”: In Absentia sold poorly, influenced greatly, and marked the beginning of the end for Porcupine Tree

They delivered a defining moment in progressive metal with their 2002 album, but it wasn’t easy to do it – and once they had, Steven Wilson didn’t want to do it again

Metal Hammer

“It felt like the right time to me. And I think Gavin and Richard acknowledged this too." How Porcupine Tree returned with Closure/Continuation

Never say never. After years of speculation and rumours, Steven Wilson reunited with his former Porcupine Tree bandmates Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison for one of the most unexpected musical reformations.

Louder

“Robert Fripp played the solo and we didn’t like it. He said, ‘You’re wrong.’ Steven Wilson said, ‘This is how wrong we are,’ and deleted it”: How No-Man prospered by refusing to ever fit in

Housekeeping box set illustrates that when Tim Bowness and Wilson refused to compromise, it was a strength rather than a weakness – even if one of them couldn’t listen to their early work for 20 years

Louder

"It sounded completely out of place in the chart it was in, and the year it was released": 5 Prophet-5-powered tracks by Radiohead, Gary Numan, Japan and more

We're in Prophet-5 mode, as we celebrate five decades of the first 'proper' polysynth with five – ok six – glorious tracks

MusicRadar

“I made a point of never listening to Jaco until I was forced to in 1995!” Mick Karn: an interview with Japan’s fallen bass hero

"I tend to look at the bass guitar in much the same way as a vocalist might a lead vocal": Words of wisdom from the avant-garde fretless icon who would have been 65 this year

Guitar World

Castlefield Bowl Sounds of the City 2023 - set times, support acts, getting there and everything else you need to know

Last year’s series took place in June and July and saw performances from acclaimed UK acts including Lewis Capaldi, Sam Fender, Foals, The Libertines, James, and Primal Scream alongside interactional groups Pixies and Crowded House

Manchester Evening News

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Louder

Porcupine Tree live guitarist Randy McStine hits back at fan complaints

Porcupine Tree fans complain after bassist Nate Navarro returns home for family reasons

Louder

New Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri EP to be released

Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri will release their new Waiting To Be Born EP this week

The Guardian - UK

Porcupine Tree: Closure/ Continuation review – reunited prog-rockers remain emotionally detached

After a 12-year hiatus, the trio return with an inquisitive, unpredictable set that finds their experimental side intact

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