PROG rock, trance and experimental ambient music are the stock in trade of Steve Wilson, who last year began working on a remix of Nonsuch by Swindon’s XTC.

Alongside playing with his rock band, Porcupine Tree, various collaborations with other singers, and his work as a solo artist, Steve is also a producer, winning awards for his surround sound wizardry.

On the XTC classic he created new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes from the original multi-track tapes.

Steve will be heading for Bristol’s Colston Hall next month, to promote his latest album entitled 4 1/2, which is so named because it forms the bridge between his last album, Hand, Cannot, Erase, and his next studio project.

Once up on stage Steve always plays in bare feet. He said: “I always had a problem wearing shoes and I’ve always gone around with bare feet. I’ve stepped on nails, screws, drawing pins and stubbed my toe but to be honest, nothing’s going to stop me.’’

In the last few years Steve has toured the world, playing in some prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London. Last year his song, The Raven That Refused To Sing, was featured in the trailer for the 2014 feature film Pompeii.

Steve found himself in front of a film camera, a few years earlier, when he was recording his first official solo album called Insurgentes. The double CD was literally recorded all over the world with a DVD, a vinyl version and a hardback back book. Steve was collaborating on this project with the known photographer, Lass Hoile, who filmed the full-length feature based on the making of Insurgentes.

It was shown at various film festivals in Copenhagen, Sweden, Germany, Mexico, USA and Canada.

“The film was described as part documentary, part surreal road movie,’’ said Steve.

The young Steve was inspired to mix and manouvre music during one Christmas when his parents gave each other LPs, as gifts. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Donna Summer’s Love To Love You Baby played on a loop for most of the following year in the Wilson household, and this laid down the foundations of Steve’s musical career.

He said: “In retrospect I can see how they are almost entirely responsible for the direction that my music has taken ever since.’’ Tickets to see Steve at Colston Hall on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, from 7pm, are £24.19 to £34.94 include booking fee visit http://www.colstonhall.org/shows/steven-wilson-2/ - Flicky Harrison