Porcupine
Biography Porcupine
Porcupine
was born in 2006 in La Crosse, Wis., where singer/guitarist Casey Virock had previously launched another indie rock trio, Space Bike. Now based in Minneapolis, the band has evolved to full maturity, a potent force propelled by drummer Keith Larsen and the most recent additions to the band, guitarist/vocalist Nick Roesler and bassist Chad Haugejorden.
In naming the band, Virock saluted one of his favorite bands, Echo and the Bunnymen. His songcraft and musical sensibilities swirl the Bunnymen and other New Wavers along with 1960s British psychedelica purveyors (especially Syd Barrett) and 1970s classic rockers. The result is muscular and edgy, infused with melodicism and angular guitar work that puts the band in a class with Queens of the Stone Age and Swervedriver.
The band has released two full-length albums (2009’s The Trouble With You and 2012’s The Sensation of Being Somebody) along with multiple singles and two EPs, one of which (Carrier Wave) was recorded with the iconic Steve Albini. In 2024 they’ll be releasing their new album ‘Our Chemistry is a Tightrope’.
Virock’s songs have been heard in television shows including The Real World, Best Ink, and The Challenge, and the band has opened for the Meat Puppets, Mission of Burma, The Flaming Lips and Built to Spill. As absorbing and compelling as Porcupine’s recordings are, they are a must-see live band.
"...pure indie rock is truly what they embody into their vocal, instrumental aesthetic. The veteran rocker's latest music video for the melancholic single "The Way Down" captures the four-piece band using experimental lighting an color grading as they perform" - The Current (Friday Five Feature)
“A knotty little rocker that burrows inward on its verses and that furls outward on its choruses, equally memorable in both instances and spiked by adroit guitar noises and brawny drumming.” - Racket
“A disciple of the 1980s and ’90s-era Amer-indie underground, Virock is an unsung hero who, over a string of EP’s, singles and two long-players, unapologetically channels those glory years with an ear-candied brand of riff-fueled rock that recalls the harder-edged side of R.E.M., Big Dipper, Soul Asylum and solo Bob Mould." - Rock and Roll Globe
