Colin Edwin

Colin Edwin is an Australian musician. From 1993 to 2011 he was a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, where he played both fretted and fretless bass guitar, double bass and guimbri. Currently, Edwin is a member of Ex-Wise Heads, a long running collaboration with multi instrumentalist Geoff Leigh which mixes ethnic, ambient, and post-modern influences. He is also a member of a metal-influenced project, Random Noise Generator, and the band Metallic Taste of Blood.[1]

Colin Edwin
Colin Edwin performing with Porcupine Tree in Falls Church, Virginia, October 2007.
Background information
Born (1970-07-02) 2 July 1970
Melbourne, Australia
GenresProgressive rock, neo-psychedelia, art rock
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsBass, guimbri
Years active1993–present
Associated acts
  • Porcupine Tree
  • Henry Fool
  • Ex-Wise Heads
  • Metallic Taste of Blood
  • Random Noise Generator
  • Astarta/Edwin
  • Twinscapes
  • Obake
  • O.R.k.
  • Endless Tapes

Biography

Colin Edwin was born in Melbourne, Australia on 2 July 1970. In December 1993 he joined the British progressive rock band, Porcupine Tree. He plays bass guitar, double bass and guimbri.

In 2001 Edwin played double bass on Returning Jesus by the British duo No-Man, which is Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson's side project.

Edwin is a jazz fan, and incorporates an atypical jazz-inspired style into his playing for a rock band. His main bass was a 1994 Wal Mark I four-string fretless bass for 10 years of live and studio use until giving it "a break" and semi-retiring it from the rigours of live touring in 2004. He used a Music Man StingRay and after a Music Man Bongo for the Deadwing Tour, which can be viewed on Porcupine Tree's DVD release Arriving Somewhere.... During that time period Edwin was introduced to Spector basses and purchased a EuroLX 4-string model in Natural Oil. The company then gave him a gift one of their extended scale-length models (35" as opposed to the "standard" 34" scale for 4-string basses), a Euro 4LX-35[2] in transparent black. This proved to be useful as over half of their 2007 album, Fear of a Blank Planet was downtuned C/F/Bb/Eb to which the 35" scale length give better definition to the lower notes as well as the general rigours of touring – "The Euro 4LX-35 has a graphite-reinforced neck, which means it can come out of a freezing-cold trailer into a hot gig every night for a month without going out of tune or having any truss-rod problems".[3] For the second leg of the Fear of a Blank Planet Tour starting in October 2007 a ReBop Deluxe FM[4] unlined fretless bass in Natural Oil was used for the song "A Smart Kid" among others, and well as using his Music Man Bongo bass guitar as his spare or encore bass.

However, as of late September 2009 Edwin was back to using his fretted and fretless Wal Mark I 4-string basses for the majority of the tour supporting the Porcupine Tree release of The Incident which was played in full on this leg and which he plays approximately 85% of The Incident song-cycle on his Wal basses. His black Spector Euro 4LX-35 is used for the other 15% "heavy parts" that are downtuned to C Standard the liner notes for The Incident Edwin still endorses the Spector and Basslab basses as well as EBS amplifiers, speaker cabinets, and effects pedals. He endorses Ernie Ball Bass Strings for use on his Wal fretless bass[5] and Spector Medium Stainless Steel Bass Strings on his fretted Spector basses.[3]

As well as recording six albums with Ex-Wise Heads since 2000, Edwin has released two solo albums - Third Vessel in 2009 and PVZ in 2012,[6] both available through Burning Shed.[7]

In 2011 Edwin formed the band "Metallic Taste of Blood" with Italian musician Eraldo Bernocchi, Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and Keyboard player Jamie Saft, releasing an album on RareNoiseRecords.[1] With a new line-up consisting of former Prong drummer Ted Parsons and keyboard player Roy Powell, Metallic Taste of Blood released a second album "Doctoring the Dead" in May 2015, also on RareNoise.[8]

Colin has continued working with Eraldo Bernocchi in the newest line-up of the band Obake, alongside vocalist Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari with their second album entitled Mutations, which was released in October 2014 on RareNoise.[9]

Also in 2011, Edwin worked with American guitarist Jon Durant on the album Dance of the Shadow Planets[10] and the two collaborated further on the album Burnt Belief[11] released on the Alchemy Records label in 2012.[12] Their third collaboration, Etymology, was released in October 2014.[13]

Colin has also collaborated with Italian bassist Lorenzo Feliciati, resulting in the album Twinscapes, released on RareNoise in 2014.[14] The Twinscapes album also features contributions from Nils Petter Molvær, David Jackson, Roberto Gualdi and Andi Pupato, and was mixed by bassist and producer Bill Laswell[15] Colin is known to have an interest in photography and also took the cover image for the album.[16]

In mid 2014 it was announced that Colin would be joining experimental jazz rock band Henry Fool[17] as well as participating in recording new material for a future album.

In 2015 Colin joined Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, guitarist Carmelo Pipitone and drummer Pat Mastelotto in a new band "O.R.k." releasing the albums Inflamed Rides.[18], Soul of an Octopus.,[19] and Ramagehead,.[20]

Colin recorded the bass lines for the instrumental rock musical collective Armonite, releasing the albums The Sun is New each Day in 2015[21] and And the Stars above in 2018, the latter published by Cleopatra Records.[22]

Colin has also collaborated with Ukrainian female vocal duo Astarta, playing concerts in London and Ukraine [23] and releasing a full-length album in April 2016.[24]

Discography (Outside of Porcupine Tree)
Solo Albums
YearTitleLabel
2009Third VesselHard World
2012P.V.Z.Hard World
2015Mesh E.P.Hard World
With Ex-Wise Heads
YearTitleLabel
2002No Grey MatterHard World
2003Time and Emotion StudyHard World
2006Holding Up the SkyHard World
2007Liquid AssetsHard World
2010Celestial DisclosureTonefloat
2011SchemataHard World
With Lorenzo Feliciati as Twinscapes
YearTitleLabel
2014TwinscapesRareNoise
With Metallic Taste of Blood
YearTitleLabel
2012Metallic Taste of BloodRareNoise
2015Doctoring the DeadRareNoise
With Obake
YearTitleLabel
2014MutationsRareNoise
2016DraugrRareNoise
With Jon Durant
YearTitleLabel
2011Dance of the Shadow PlanetsAlchemy
2012Burnt BeliefAlchemy
2014EtymologyAlchemy
2016EmergentAlchemy
With O.R.k.
YearTitleLabel
2015Inflamed RidesHard World
2017Soul of An OctopusRareNoise
2019RamageheadKscope

with Tim Bowness

YearTitleLabel
2014Abandoned Dance Hall DreamsInside Out
2015Stupid Things That Mean The WorldInside Out
2017Lost In The Ghost LightInside Out
With Astarta as Astarta/Edwin
YearTitleLabel
2016Astarta/EdwinCompMusic
With Endless Tapes
YearTitleLabel
2013Endless Tapes EPHard World
2016Brilliant WavesHard World
With Gaudi (musician)
YearTitleLabel
2017MagneticRarenoise

Current equipment
  • 2012 Spector USA Series Bolt-On NS-4H2-MM Black Cherry High Gloss Custom Shop 4-string fretless bass (Unlined Ebony fingerboard) with EMG MM-TW pick-ups, Aguilar OBP-3 preamp & Hipshot hardware[25]
  • 2006 Spector Euro 4LX-35 4-string bass downtuned to "C Standard" (C/F/Bb/Eb) in Transparent Black.[26] strung with Spector Medium Stainless Steel strings.[3]
  • BassLab Soul-IV in Black (used mainly as a studio bass and also as a backup/encore bass on the "Fear of a Blank Planet" tour[27]) strung with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky strings.[3]
  • BassLab Soul-IV in Metallic Orange (prototype bass borrowed from Heiko Hoepfinger used as a studio/recording bass[28]
  • EBS TD 650 amplifier and two 4x10" Proline neodymium cabs.[3]
  • EBS ValveDrive tube preamp/overdrive pedal, EBS MultiDrive distortion, EBS OctaBass octave, EBS MultiComp compressor, EBS UniChorus Chours, EBS Bass IQ Envelope Filter, EBS Tremolo, Boss HR-2 Harmonist, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner.[3]

Previously used equipment
  • 2007 Spector ReBop Deluxe FM unlined fretless bass in Natural Oil.
  • 2004 Music Man Stingray fretted 4-string bass (Natural ash finish, Rosewood fretboard [29]) with a Hipshot Bass Extender installed for downtuning the E-string to D.
  • 2005 Music Man Bongo 4-string bass in "Stealth (flat) Black" (used for the majority of the "Deadwing" tour as seen on the band's Arriving Somewhere... Live DVD and as a backup/encore bass on the 2007–08 "Fear of a Blank Planet" tour).
  • Trace Elliott AH350 amplifier and speaker cabinets
  • Tech 21 LM300 amplifier and two 4x10" speaker cabinets ("trashed on a European tour by some slack local crew"[30])

References
  1. "Metallic Taste Of Blood | This is the website of Metallic Taste of Blood". metallictasteofblood.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  2. "Spector Bass – Europe Series 4LX-35". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  3. "Colin Edwin on Riding A Sonic Storm". Bass Player Magazine. September 2007. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  4. "Spector Bass – Europe Series ReBopDLX Bolt-On". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  5. "Ernie Ball – News". Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  6. "Colin Edwin, Bass Musician Magazine Q&A". bassmusicianmagazine.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  7. "Debut solo album from Porcupine Tree bass player Colin Edwin". Third Vessel. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  8. http://echoesanddust.com/2015/05/metallic-taste-of-blood-doctoring-the-dead2/
  9. "RareNoiseRecords - obake-store". rarenoiserecords.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  10. "Untitled Page". jondurant.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  11. "Unsung Melody - Trees and Beliefs. An interview with Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree". unsungmelody.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  12. "Burnt Belief". Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  13. "Burnt Belief - "Etymology" due out October 21 on Alchemy Records - The Prog Report". progreport.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  14. "Through the looking glass: a peek at RareNoiseRecords releases for 2014 « Dense[Signals]". densesignals.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  15. "THE Bill Laswell Pages". silent-watcher.net. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  16. "The Fisheye Snaps New Album Cover from Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree · Lomography". lomography.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  17. "Colin Edwin joins Henry Fool - Prog". prog.teamrock.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  18. http://www.themusicalmeltingpot.com/2015/05/31/o-r-k-inflamed-rides-review/
  19. http://www.angrymetalguy.com/o-r-k-soul-octopus-review/
  20. https://kscopemusic.com/artists/ork/
  21. "Armonite - Music". Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  22. "Armonite - And the Stars above". Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  23. http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2017/06/colin-edwin-musical-chemistry-following-instincts-bass-musician-magazine-june-2017-issue/
  24. http://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2016/04/01/tpa-news-april-2016/
  25. "Builder Profile: Spector Custom Shop - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  26. "Image: ColinEdwin4_lrg.jpg". spectorbass.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  27. "Image: colin_edwin3.jpg, (397 × 549 px)". basslab.de. 29 December 2006. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  28. "Image: coln_edwin1.jpg, (1550 × 2372 px)". basslab.de. 21 May 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  29. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  30. "Some of you know Porcupine tree???". Ernieball.com. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
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