Blackfield
Encyclopedia
Blackfield is a collaboratory musical group between Porcupine Tree
founder and lead singer Steven Wilson
and Israel
i rock
singer Aviv Geffen
.
album, "The Sound of Muzak" and "Prodigal". Geffen, interested in growing a fanbase outside of Israel, approached Wilson about starting their own project, which would become Blackfield. Originally planned as an EP for a 2001 release, it eventually evolved into a 2004 self-titled full-length recording
.
Outside of Israel, the band has received constant comparison to Porcupine Tree, Wilson's most popular project. In response, Wilson has explained:
In early 2004 the band debuted live on a couple of promotional TV performances in Israel. This line-up featured drummer
Chris Maitland
(drummer of Porcupine Tree from 1993 to 2002), who was replaced by Tomer Z
idkyahu, for a European tour that followed in the Autumn of 2004.
Their first self-titled album was released in Israel and Europe in 2004, and the United States in 2005.
, was created in one short burst of activity. Wilson and Geffen worked on their respective projects throughout the end of 2005, but in early 2006 Wilson moved to Israel for six months to work on the album. The album was released in February 2007 in Europe and March 2007 in the United States. In the same year, keyboardist
Daniel Salomon
left the band to continue his successful solo career. Salomon was replaced by Eran Mitelman, former keyboardist for popular Israel
i hard rock
band HaYehudim
.
In a 2008 interview Steven Wilson discussed Blackfield's future:
In January 2009, to promote his first English-language European release, Geffen went on a small tour of Europe with the Blackfield live band, including Wilson being billed as a special guest. Half of the set consisted of songs from the then yet to be released first English language solo album by Geffen
while the rest was a selection of Blackfield songs. Wilson would also appear on three tracks from the album.
was released on the 28th of March 2011 and supported by a European and North American tour following a kickoff concert in Israel. However, several concert dates were cancelled due to the death of Wilson's father in May 2011.
, but was released on Blackfield II instead.
In regards to live performances, Blackfield has performed Porcupine Tree's "Waiting" and "Feel So Low", with Geffen singing the first verse in Hebrew on the latter. (Geffen had already covered it at his own shows prior to forming Blackfield), as well as covering Alanis Morissette
's "Thank U
," which Wilson had previously recorded solo for his own Cover Versions series.
January, 2004
Blackfield
February, 2007
Blackfield II
March, 2011
Welcome to My DNA
(UK chart peak: #139)
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
founder and lead singer Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer Aviv Geffen
Aviv Geffen
Aviv Geffen is an Israeli rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, keyboardist and guitarist. He is the son of writer and poet Yehonatan Geffen and Nurit Makover, brother of actress Shira Geffen, and an alumnus of Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.Geffen was and is extremely popular...
.
Formation, self-titled debut (2000–2005)
Geffen, a fan of Porcupine Tree and Wilson, invited the band to play shows in Israel in 2000. He struck up a friendship with Wilson, leading to the two musicians recording together. Geffen performed backing vocals on two tracks on Porcupine Tree's In AbsentiaIn Absentia
In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. It was their first release on a major record label, Lava Records. It is Metal Storm's number 3 of the Top 20 albums of 2002 and number 49 on the Top 100 albums of all time...
album, "The Sound of Muzak" and "Prodigal". Geffen, interested in growing a fanbase outside of Israel, approached Wilson about starting their own project, which would become Blackfield. Originally planned as an EP for a 2001 release, it eventually evolved into a 2004 self-titled full-length recording
Blackfield (album)
- Bonus disc :There is also a 2-LP version with "Perfect World" and another, LP-exclusive track, "Feel So Low"; the latter is a cover of a Porcupine Tree song from Lightbulb Sun with the first verse sung in Hebrew.- Personnel :Blackfield...
.
Outside of Israel, the band has received constant comparison to Porcupine Tree, Wilson's most popular project. In response, Wilson has explained:
...Porcupine Tree would never be so focused on the art of a 3 minute pop song, which I believe. Blackfield is all about the art of a great tradition pop song of verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Porcupine Tree has never been about that, although we have fraternized a little bit with the art of pop music. Porcupine Tree has always been more about horizontally complex long pieces and the album is an overall piece rather than lots of little pieces... Aviv is not a big fan of heavy music and he is not a big fan of long pieces so immediately the meeting point had to be somewhere where we were both focused on short melancholic songs.
In early 2004 the band debuted live on a couple of promotional TV performances in Israel. This line-up featured drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Chris Maitland
Chris Maitland
Chris Maitland is an English drummer.After being the drummer for No-Man on their Autumn 1993 tour , Maitland was asked by the band's Steven Wilson to join his other main project, the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
(drummer of Porcupine Tree from 1993 to 2002), who was replaced by Tomer Z
Tomer Z
Tomer Zidkyahu is the drummer for the band Blackfield. He joined the band in 2004 after departure of the previous drummer Chris Maitland and is currently still an active member. He also plays in the band Ephrat. He is the brother of Nir Zidkyahu.-References:...
idkyahu, for a European tour that followed in the Autumn of 2004.
Their first self-titled album was released in Israel and Europe in 2004, and the United States in 2005.
Blackfield II (2006–2009)
While the band's first album was created over a relatively long period of time, the follow-up album, Blackfield IIBlackfield II
-Reception:Q: "... an album of mournful, one-paced rock, Geffen's infatuation with Radiohead very evident in the melancholy synth-string washes...
, was created in one short burst of activity. Wilson and Geffen worked on their respective projects throughout the end of 2005, but in early 2006 Wilson moved to Israel for six months to work on the album. The album was released in February 2007 in Europe and March 2007 in the United States. In the same year, keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Daniel Salomon
Daniel Salomon
Daniel Salomon is an Israeli pop rock singer and musician. He was born and raised in Haifa. Salomon has been playing the piano since the age of six and began writing music at age 12. He studied composition and orchestral arrangements with Prof...
left the band to continue his successful solo career. Salomon was replaced by Eran Mitelman, former keyboardist for popular Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band HaYehudim
HaYehudim
HaYehudim is an Israeli hard rock band, formed in 1992 by married couple Tom Petrover and Orit Shachaf, who share guitar playing and vocal duties. The band has achieved tremendous success in Israel despite commercial disregard in its first years, and has sold over 200,000 albums in Israel.The band...
.
In a 2008 interview Steven Wilson discussed Blackfield's future:
"I think we’re going to tentatively start working on some new songs and that’s as far as we’ve got regarding planning. I think there almost certainly will be another record. As with No-Man and my other projects, there’s no reason to stop doing them as long as the music keeps flowing."
In January 2009, to promote his first English-language European release, Geffen went on a small tour of Europe with the Blackfield live band, including Wilson being billed as a special guest. Half of the set consisted of songs from the then yet to be released first English language solo album by Geffen
Aviv Geffen (album)
Aviv Geffen is the debut, English-language studio album by Israeli post-punk singer-songwriter Aviv Geffen, released on October 19, 2009 in the UK...
while the rest was a selection of Blackfield songs. Wilson would also appear on three tracks from the album.
Welcome to my DNA (2010–present)
In April 2010, Geffen and Wilson got into studio to begin writing the follow-up to Blackfield II. Welcome to my DNAWelcome to My DNA
-Personnel:Band* Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, keyboards* Aviv Geffen – vocals, guitars, keyboards* Eran Mitelman – piano, keyboards* Seffy Efrat – bass* Tomer Z – drumsVocals* lead vocals: 1, 4, 5, 8, 10 – Wilson* lead vocals: 2, 9 – Geffen...
was released on the 28th of March 2011 and supported by a European and North American tour following a kickoff concert in Israel. However, several concert dates were cancelled due to the death of Wilson's father in May 2011.
Cross-overs
There has been some overlap between Blackfield and Geffen and Wilson's other projects. The songs "Scars," "Cloudy Now," "Glow," "1,000 People," "Epidemic," "End of the World" and "Zigota" had originally been written by Geffen in Hebrew before being translated into English and adapted by Blackfield, even if they hadn't all been released on his recordings yet. On the other hand, The song "Christenings" was originally conceived during Wilson's writing sessions for Porcupine Tree's 2005 release DeadwingDeadwing
American edition10. "Shesmovedon " – 4:59DVD-A edition10. "Revenant" – 3:04 11. "Mother and Child Divided" – 4:59 12. "Half-Light" – 6:20 13. "Shesmovedon " - 4:59 LP edition...
, but was released on Blackfield II instead.
In regards to live performances, Blackfield has performed Porcupine Tree's "Waiting" and "Feel So Low", with Geffen singing the first verse in Hebrew on the latter. (Geffen had already covered it at his own shows prior to forming Blackfield), as well as covering Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
's "Thank U
Thank U
"Thank U" is a song by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her fourth studio album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie . The song was written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, who produced her previous album...
," which Wilson had previously recorded solo for his own Cover Versions series.
Lineup
- Steven WilsonSteven WilsonSteven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
– lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, additional keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2001–present) - Aviv GeffenAviv GeffenAviv Geffen is an Israeli rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, keyboardist and guitarist. He is the son of writer and poet Yehonatan Geffen and Nurit Makover, brother of actress Shira Geffen, and an alumnus of Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.Geffen was and is extremely popular...
– lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2001–present) - Seffy EfratiSeffy EfratiSeffy Efrati is an Israeli musician known for being the bassist for Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen. Before then, he joined the Israeli-British art rock band Blackfield with Geffen and Porcupine Tree leader Steven Wilson...
– backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(2004–present) - Tomer ZTomer ZTomer Zidkyahu is the drummer for the band Blackfield. He joined the band in 2004 after departure of the previous drummer Chris Maitland and is currently still an active member. He also plays in the band Ephrat. He is the brother of Nir Zidkyahu.-References:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
(2004–present) - Eran Mitelman – backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2007–present)
Former members
- Chris MaitlandChris MaitlandChris Maitland is an English drummer.After being the drummer for No-Man on their Autumn 1993 tour , Maitland was asked by the band's Steven Wilson to join his other main project, the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
(2001–2004) - Daniel SalomonDaniel SalomonDaniel Salomon is an Israeli pop rock singer and musician. He was born and raised in Haifa. Salomon has been playing the piano since the age of six and began writing music at age 12. He studied composition and orchestral arrangements with Prof...
– backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2004–2007)
Discography
Studio albums
>Blackfield (album)
- Bonus disc :There is also a 2-LP version with "Perfect World" and another, LP-exclusive track, "Feel So Low"; the latter is a cover of a Porcupine Tree song from Lightbulb Sun with the first verse sung in Hebrew.- Personnel :Blackfield...
Blackfield II
-Reception:Q: "... an album of mournful, one-paced rock, Geffen's infatuation with Radiohead very evident in the melancholy synth-string washes...
Welcome to My DNA
-Personnel:Band* Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, keyboards* Aviv Geffen – vocals, guitars, keyboards* Eran Mitelman – piano, keyboards* Seffy Efrat – bass* Tomer Z – drumsVocals* lead vocals: 1, 4, 5, 8, 10 – Wilson* lead vocals: 2, 9 – Geffen...
(UK chart peak: #139)
DVDs
| October, 2007 | Live in New York City |
Singles
| November 2003 | "Hello" |
| December 2003 | "Pain" |
| March 2004 | "Blackfield" |
| May 2004 | "Cloudy Now" |
| January 2007 | "Once" |
| March 2007 | "Miss U" |
| March 2007 | "My Gift of Silence" |
| March 2011 | "Waving" |