Bassist Colin Edwin reveals that news of Porcupine Tree’s reunion came as a “surprise” to him: “Steve‘s lawyer gets in touch [and] I have had no real contact from anyone since.”
The ex-member says he was told that there was “no role” left for him when the band reunited last year.
Image: Guy Prives/Getty
Following news of a Porcupine Tree reunion last November, fans immediately began to question why longtime bassist Colin Edwin would no longer be part of the lineup. Now, the musician has broken his silence on the matter, saying that he was left in the dark about the band’s upcoming album.
In an interview with Under The Radar Mag, the bassist explains how he first discovered that the band, for which he was a member from 1993 until their hiatus in 2010, was reforming without him.
Admitting that the news came as a surprise to him, Edwin reveals that he was left unaware of the reunion until merely six months before it was announced to the public, being told that the bass for the album had already been tracked and there was “no role” left for him in the band.
“We hadn’t fallen out or anything, and [we] were in contact occasionally about various things – reissues mainly, or odd business things, but there had long been no indication or hint of any new band activity, writing sessions or any possibility of reactivation,” he explains. “My band O.R.k toured with Pineapple Thief in 2019, we all got on fine and there was no mention at all from [Porcupine Tree and Pineapple Thief drummer Gavin Harrison] about any possible new PT stuff… certainly nothing from anyone else.”
“So it was a surprise to me in March 2021, in lockdown, to get an email from Steve telling me there’s a new album and as he’s already played all the bass parts there’s ‘no role for me.’ Soon after that Steve’s lawyer gets in touch [and] I have had no real contact from anyone since.”
Edwin was previously a full-time member of Porcupine Tree from 1993 up until 2010 – when the members quietly shifted into their hiatus.
These statements come to rebuttal comments made by the band’s leading man Steven Wilson last month. Speaking as part of a discussion with the Super Deluxe Edition, the vocalist shared his take on why Edwin was left out of the reunion, claiming the decision was made as he and Edwin had very limited contact over the past decade.
“There isn’t really a big story. There are lots of little things that conspired to make it the way it was,” he states. “None of us heard from Colin for years on end. We all went our separate ways in 2010, and I would regularly hear from Richard and Gavin: ‘When are we going to do something new?,’ ‘Should we get together?,’ ‘Should we have dinner?,’ ‘Should we have a cup of tea?’ I didn’t hear from Colin, I still haven’t heard from him. So he wasn’t proactively pushing to be involved in anything new.”
Porcupine Tree’s reunion was announced last November with the surprise debut of a new track, Harridan. The band’s comeback album, entitled Closure/Continuation was released on June 24 via Music For Nations.