Interview with Pressure 4-5

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Burning up the Scene: Pressure 4-5

by Alicia Downs - September 2001

    Pressure 4-5 blossomed from the Santa Barbara, California rock scene. Formed in 1998, Pressure 4-5 released an independent album "Antechnology" the following year. News of the band began to generate around the local scene and shortly nationwide as the Internet became a primary source of relentless self-promotion. (Editor's note: They even applied for a Fresh Blood spot here at RoughEdge.com). The promotion paid off landing Pressure 4-5 a deal with Dreamworks Records and a record recorded and produced by Jay Bumgardner in March of 2001.

    Still the Pressure 4-5 machine was not yet ready to slow down as the band shot a video in July for the first single "Beat the World" from their debut album "Burning the Process." Immediately after shooting, they headed out to finish up the second half of the Ozzfest tour. But even Ozzfest was not enough, as the band secured a spot opening up for Taproot during the off dates.

    Just like everyone else, Pressure 4-5 looked at Ozzfest as an opportunity, explained front man Adam Rich. "Being on Ozzfest has been a great way for us to break out and show metal fans that we have a heavy side. It is also a chance for us to go out and get to know all of these bands that we have been fans of for so long. It was actually that [with Ozzfest] we had two goals: one to get out and play for as many people as we possibly could and two we wanted to go out and kick ass and have the other bands going out and talking about us. We wanted to leave this tour with people thinking that they can't wait [to get the album]."

As for the album, the newest of the ever-changing release dates is now set in stone at October 2 and the title that also saw some rotation is established at "Burning the Process." But the album that Pressure 4-5 hopes will be classified as straight up "rock" has seen some evolution in sound and songwriting since their earlier days.

Rich noted that, "[With] Antechnology we did not know what we wanted to do. We knew that we wanted to play heavy music but I hadn't gotten into melody and things like that. I really didn't think about song writing. We had a goal just to write as many songs as we possibly could and come up with as much new material as possible. [But] that is how you evolve as a band, to keep writing and playing - and those [Antechnology] were just the songs that came out of it."

Bassist Lyle McKeany agreed with Rich's explanation of their evolution throwing in that, "We sort of started with a little less direction. We just wrote some songs and recorded them and whatever and then after that ..."

Guitarist Mark Barry adds, "Well, the biggest thing was trying to get away from the rap thing ..."

"Yeah," Lyle picks up, "incorporating more melody into it."

Barry explained that while burning the tracks for "Burning the Process," "We learned a lot in terms of how to make music and really write and make things sound [a certain way]. We learned more about writing things that were more appealing to listen to as opposed to just the shock value of being out there."

With an album about ready to drop, Pressure 4-5 ensured that they are going to continue promoting out on the road. The month of September sees the boys touring their home state of California with Dredge. After that, rumors are circulating about the possibility of a tour with Alien Ant Farm.

Barry stated that the AAF tour is unconfirmed but conceded that they were "... trying to work that out. We don't know about a confirmed tour but we are definitely going to be out on the road promoting - anybody who missed us on Ozzfest I hope they come and hang out with us."

Everything that is Pressure 4-5 can be found at none other than their official web site: http://www.pressure4-5.com.

Pressure 4-5 is Adam Rich (V), Lyle McKeany (B), Mark Barry (G), and Joe Schmidt (G).

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