- the band's connections to Robert Calvert's and Hawkwind's work are manifold - apart from the deep musical influence - documented by Tommy Grenas himself on this site, the whole band is actively involved in keeping Calvert's music alive - in many ways...

Pressurehed was founded in 1988 by Tommy Grenas and Len Del Rio - who were both influenced by such 70's bands like - Hawkwind, of course - and particularly by some of the so-called Krautrock-bands like Neu, Can, Faust...

But Pressurehed was not after indulging in pure nostalgia - the band aimed to put new life into these radical concepts - and merge them with their own contemporary driving electronic sounds - backed by a heavy industrial-ish rhythm structure.

Del Rio and Grenas were joined by bassist Marc Collignon in 1990. This line-up released their debut Wired For Sound and in 1992 the Infadrone CD.

At the end of 1992 Collignon left the band - which was then joined by Doran Shelley (of the local cult band Death Ride 69) on guitar and Paul Fox. This line-up recorded the band's next CD release Sudden Vertigo. The album contains also a tribute to Robert Calvert - a cover version of the Calvert-classic The Right Stuff - taken from from Calvert's first solo album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters.

This track is a good example of the band's driving force - melting today's electronic and digital wizardry with a harsh machine-like rhythm and the analog magic of the 70's.

1993 saw the band - escpecially Grenas and Del Rio - get into even closer contact with the Calvert- and Hawkwind family-ranks...

Nik Turner, co-founder of Hawkwind, long-time friend and collaborater of Robert Calvert, asked them to record his new-version of his first solo album Xitintoday under the new name / title Sphynx
For these recordings they were joined by the former Chrome guitarist Helios Creed who also joined them on an extensive tour in 1994 - delievering some of his own powerful tracks as well.
These new version of the original Xitintoday shaped its tracks into a minimalist / industrial form - quite a unique blend of psychedelia and new electronicks.

And the collaboration between Nik Turner and the band members kept on going...
Since then, Nik Turner is doing regular solo-tours through the States - and the backbone of his band is by now the complete Pressurehed line-up - plus various former Hawkwind members.

These concerts also offer the very welcome chances for the band to perform some of their 'dearest' Calvert and Hawkwind tracks - with Tommy Grenas also taking over the lead-vocals at some Calvert tracks, like High Rise - featured on the latest Nik Turner live release Past or Future from 1996.

So, Pressurehed is certainly one of the most important bands in keeping the music of Robert Calvert alive.

Pressurehed's latest release under the band's own name came out in early 1997:
Explaining the Unexplained

But Pressurehed and the activities in Nik Turner's band are by far not the only musical undertakings of the various members of the band....
- have a look below and also at another page of the Calvert Collab-O-Relator frames - the one on Far Flung page - and simply scroll down to learn more about another project involving the members of Pressurehed

>   ANUBIAN LIGHTS

Anubian Lights is another collaborative project, featuring the musicians of Pressurehed, Nik Turner, former Hawkwind members Del Dettmar and Simon House and Brandon La Belle

Their 1st record The Eternal Sky was released in 1995 - various other outtakes and remixes followed.
A L has - in the meantime - turned from another sideproject of Pressurehed, into one of the most successful "branches" of the work by Tommy Grenas and Len del Rio.
The sound, however, is completely different from Pressurehed - a free flowing glide through etherical, arabian-influenced ambient soundscapes. Atmospheric and intense.

The distinctive oriental patterns, accentuated by some brilliant percussive structures and the flute-playing and sparse vocals of Nik Turner lend these recordings a truly timeless atmosphere - imagine some ancient egyptian musicians - thrown into a time-warp and ending up in a fully equipped digital studio....and they really dig what to do with this stuff...

In fact, as the album title is hinting at, the whole album is musically and conceptually soaked with the old egyptian mythology - and in this way also refering back to Nik Turner's former works, who already worked around these mythologies on his first solo-album Xitintoday - recorded in 1976.
So, it's quite a familiar thing going on between these musicians -
- the latest news are that a new Anubian Lights album is currently in the making....

...and in the meantime quite a lot has happened on the Anubian Lights front. By now the project is more or less solely in the hands of Tommy Grenas and Len del Rio. A.L. has enjoyed quite a success on some electro-club-circles - and lately they started quite an interesting collaboration with one of the true pioneering queens of the No-Wave, Mrs. Lydia Lunch. They recorded an album with her and also did some extensive touring - incl. some European gigs.

• read a text of Tommy Grenas on Robert Calvert's influence on his own work.

• switch to the Collab-O-Relators pages on FAR FLUNG and Nik Turner to get more on the other activities of the Pressurehed / Anubian Lights members.

• Cleopatra Rec. - their page on Sudden Vertigo - incl. their Calvert tribute:
  THE RIGHT STUFF

• the official Pressurehed site - hosted by Paul Fox
  

• the official Anubian Lights website
  

• the official FarFlung website
  
  
• read an interview w. Tommy Grenas (april 03)