Pressure Heaven is a band that started in the kitchen of Five Points Pizza. Grace Hall was a visual artist looking for a new creative outlet and Collin Thompson had been making beats inspired by his dad’s love of metal and mom’s influential New Wave fandom. When I walked into the door at Jay’s Place on Music Row, where Pressure Heaven made their Head Start – EP, Deftones were blasting through the speakers. They are the chief influence of Pressure Heaven along with Nine Inch Nails and Sleigh Bells. For two people who have grown up in Nashville their whole lives, Hall and Thompson are making music distinctly different than what the city is known for and their brand of industrial shoegaze has been finding it’s audience. The Nashville Scene recently named them Best New Band in the annual Best of Nashville edition and this week their EP is our Record of the Week.
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The influence of The Bible on the song “Knowing”
Collin Thompson: We pretty much made that whole song in that one night.
Grace Hall: I was going through a big change in my life and for the lyrics, I’m not really religious or anything, but I started looking into references and verses from the Bible that were specific to how I was feeling at the time. I looked up feeling and seeing the light within yourself when you’re feeling kind of closed off. So the song was really like inspired by that feeling of being kind of stuck but you know there is more out there.
Justin Barney: What did you find in The Bible?
GH: Myself? Truth. No, I did, though. I have never read The Bible but I found this verse. So the the bridge is, “glass half empty/eyes with white/lamp of body/wholly bright.” And I found this thing on the internet talking about feeling “wholly bright.” And it’s like w h o l l y, like feeling whole, feeling the light within yourself, even if you feel darkness. And that’s been like kind of a common theme within my art. I know there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.
So I made the lyrics in bridge in that form and the bridge sounds uplifting in a way. And then it’s it’s BAM, right back into the chorus and it’s just like this journey within.
JB: How do you know that you’re going to make something that’s going to work together with what she’s writing?
CT: I don’t. I just make it.
On the band name
GH: I was reading a book one night and it said “pressure forms.” It’s kind of funny, not to sound cheesy, but it was Rick Rubin’s book [The Creative Act] and he mentioned pressure forms. I was like, “That would be a cool band name.” We were just really hyper focused on trying to find a name at the time. So it was like pressure for us. Then we said “Pressure Angels.” And then I was like, “Nah.” Then Collin came up with Pressure Heaven.
CT: The real answer is it’s really dumb. It’s kind of play on words. It refers to sound pressure. Basically just means good music. It’s really dumb, but it sounds cool.
Getting recognized by The Nashville Scene and building a scene of their own
GH: Getting recognized by The Nashville Scene was cool. It was really cool to be recognized for our talents. Now we’re on the radio, like, which is crazy, and we’re just starting.
JB: I think that you all sound so different than a lot of the rest of the music scene. How do you feel about that?
CT: I like it sounding the way we do. We can kind of fit in on a bunch of different bills. So let’s just kind of play with whoever. We played hardcore shows, indie shows…
GH: I definitely want to play more shows outside even those genres. I want to play like rap shows and like electronic shows. I want people to have a good time when they’re listening to our songs. I want people to dance, you know? I want it to feel like a party.
And we try to incorporate our friends and their talents into the shows because I really love collaboration. It just makes my heart happy. You know, our friend Joe takes photos of us. Garner does video. It’s about giving them a platform to showcase their work, too.
We want to build this world for other artists, our friends and for ourselves. I want to build a different planet. I want Pressure Heaven to feel like a universe. When you go to our shows, I want it to feel like an aura that you just can’t escape.
Favorite memory from making Head Start
CT: The night we made “Knowing” because it just came together so quick. Those are the ones, the songs that you know are going to be good are the songs where it all comes out at once.
GH: I agree. I saw Collin the next day and I was like, “This is really good.” We found our niche a little bit, you know? So, yeah, I think that for sure. And just making music in general, it’s just been fun. Good vibes. Hanging out with friends. It’s fun.
Upcoming shows
CT: Our next show isn’t until February at the Blue Room with New Translations. We also might do a New Year’s Eve show. But, I’m kind of glad we have a little bit of a break right now so we can keep working on new music. But I’m really excited for it. I think it’s going to sound really cool.