Pylon (band)

Pylon was formed in 1979.{{cite web|last=Gotrich|first=Lars|title=The Long Tail Of Pylon, According To Pylon|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/08/26/905526385/the-long-tail-of-pylon-according-to-pylon|work=NPR|date=August 26, 2020|access-date=May 18, 2021}} The four members of Pylon were art students at the University of Georgia in Athens.{{Cite book |title=The Great Indie Discography |last=Strong |first=Martin Charles |year=2003 |publisher=Canongate |location=Edinburgh UK |isbn=1-84195-335-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJfGtREyuSAC&dq=pylon%20discography%20-wiki&pg=RA12-PT253 |access-date=2011-01-10 }} Guitarist Randall Bewley and bass guitarist Michael Lachowski began playing music and attempting to form a band in 1978. Neither had any musical experience: as Lachowski later recalled, "A lot of us in the art school were trying out different media with a punk rock message, which is just go in there and do it. You don’t need training, or authority or legitimacy. Just figure it out". They originally formed the band with the intention of securing live appearances in New York City, along with press attention, before splitting up.{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/07/pylon-band-athens-georgia-history-video-cool-town.html |title=The Birth and Death of Pylon, America's Best Rock Band |last=Hale |first=Grace Elizabeth |date=8 July 2020 |website=Slate |access-date=8 July 2020}}

They practiced in a studio in downtown Athens that Lachowski rented from Curtis Crowe, upstairs from the later location of the Grill on College Avenue. The room was lit by a single 40-watt light bulb, so the band referred to it as the "40 Watt Club". Crowe, who lived above the studio, recalled hearing Lachowski and Bewley's early rehearsals through the floor: "a never-ending series of hooks—no bridges or chorus, just hooks". He soon joined the band as a drummer, stating that he "had every song memorized" before he approached them to join. Bewley then approached Vanessa Briscoe (now Vanessa Briscoe Hay) about joining the band on vocals, on the basis that the band were fans of her art work: although she was initially reluctant as she also lacked musical experience, she auditioned for the band on February 14, 1979 and joined the lineup.

Contrary to some accounts, Pylon did not name themselves after William Faulkner's 1935 novel of the same name. As Hay later explained to Nashville Scene writer Edd Hurt, the band was unaware of the Faulkner novel when they began playing, and instead were inspired by traffic cones.{{Cite web |last=Hurt |first=Edd |url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/features/article/20994031/pylon-reenactment-society-carries-the-flame-for-athens-postpunk-legends |title=Pylon Reenactment Society Carries the Flame for Athens Post-Punk Legends |website=Nashville Scene |date=1 March 2018 |access-date=2 October 2020}} According to Lachowski, "we chose Pylon because it is severe, industrial, monolithic, functional". Their musical influences included Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide, the No New York compilation and the soundtrack to Eraserhead.

File:A-vanessa.jpg

Pylon played their first live show at a party on March 9, 1979.{{cite web|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/pylon.html|title=Pylon: Biography|publisher=Perfect Sound Forever|access-date=July 17, 2013}} Despite receiving a relatively cool reception at their first two concerts, members of the B-52's attended Pylon's third show, where "they started dancing and running around like crazy and everybody else did too", according to Briscoe Hay. Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of the B-52's were particularly supportive and helped promote Pylon's music in New York City, getting them a gig at Hurrah.{{Cite book |title=Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-303672-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno/page/264 264] |url=https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno |url-access=registration |quote=Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. |access-date=2011-01-10 }} After Schneider passed Hurrah's manager Jim Fouratt a Pylon demo tape, Fouratt called the band and offered their choice of opening slots for a number of upcoming headlining bands: they chose to support the Gang of Four. Their performance was well-received by the audience and was the subject of a positive review by Glenn O'Brien in Interview.

Pylon's debut single, "Cool", backed by "Dub",{{cite magazine|last=Dolan|first=Jon|title='Pylon Box' is a Perfect History of the Greatest Arty Party Band of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/pylon-box-1087530/|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=November 9, 2020|access-date=May 18, 2021}} was released on DB Records in 1979, and received many positive critical reviews.{{cite book |last=Hale |first=Grace Elizabeth |year=2020 |title=Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture |page=77 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1-469-65488-1}} It was followed by their first full-length album, Gyrate, in 1980.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Gyrate/release/1007392|title=Pylon (4) – Gyrate|website=Discogs.com|date=18 November 1980 }} That year they also opened for the B-52s at Central Park.

The !! 10" EP, released in 1980 on the UK label Armageddon Records, included both sides of the debut single plus "Driving School" and "Danger!!" from the album.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-/release/631519|title=Pylon (4) – !!|website=Discogs|date=1980 }} Two further singles followed, "Crazy" (1981),{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Crazy-M-Train/release/992617|title=Pylon (4) – Crazy / M-Train|website=Discogs|date=1981 }} which charted at No. 61 for club play in Billboard,Billboard May 15, 1982 Dance/Disco Top 80 and "Beep" (1982).{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Beep-Altitude/release/2030169|title=Pylon (4) – Beep / Altitude|website=Discogs|date=1982 }}

From 1980 to 1983, Pylon toured parts of the U.S., Canada and the U.K., playing with groups such as the B-52's, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, Love Tractor, R.E.M., Talking Heads and U2.

Chomp, their second album, was released in 1983.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Chomp/release/1638701|title=Pylon (4) – Chomp|website=Discogs|date=1983 }} By that time, the members of Pylon were beginning to feel that playing together was becoming less fun and more like a business, and after being poorly received by audiences when opening for U2 on the U.S. leg of their War Tour, they decided to break up the band in late 1983,{{cite web |last=Cohan |first=Brad |url=http://observer.com/2016/07/americas-other-best-band-pylons-brilliant-punk-minimalism-lives-on/ |title=America's (Other) Best Band: Pylon's Brilliant Punk Minimalism Lives On |date=25 July 2016 |website=Observer}} their final show being at Athens' Mad Hatter club on December 1. Hay later said, "For whatever reason it was our decision. We were like, 'Let's just quit while we're having fun.' That was kind of the idea in the first place. We were just going to perform as long as it was fun. So we broke up and it was a decision we all made together". Lachowski explained: "we accomplished what we set out to do...It’s not that we are miserable, it’s just that we’ve seen all we’re going to see and don’t want to put any more time into it".

With some help from the members of R.E.M., Pylon's reputation as one of the great underground bands of the new wave era was solidified in 1987. Numerous musicians from the Athens rock scene publicly attested to their deep reverence for Pylon in the film Athens, GA: Inside/Out, released in February 1987.{{Cite news |title='Athens, GA.,' On Rock Bands |first=Janet |last=Maslin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/29/movies/athens-ga-on-rock-bands.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=29 May 1987 |access-date=2011-01-09 }} In April, R.E.M. released the compilation album Dead Letter Office, which opened with a cover version of Pylon's "Crazy", previously issued as the B-side of their 1985 single "Driver 8".

When Rolling Stone named R.E.M. "America's Best Band" in December 1987, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry said "We're not the best rock 'n' roll band in America", declaring that Pylon was instead the best.{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2016/08/pylon-live-deerhunter-sleater-kinney-rem/|title=Taking Fun Seriously: Pylon's Last Hurrah|date=2 August 2016|website=Spin.com}} "That was (R.E.M.) just being gracious and honoring the scene that they came out of and the scene that they obviously contributed to," said Lachowski in a 2016 interview in New York Observer. "R.E.M. became so successful and successful in a different way. They were true musicians and had all kinds of historical knowledge about musical forms and different kinds of music. They were just very adept and confident and had so much more range. We were truly just art students assembling things with sound and instruments".

After a six-year hiatus punctuated with a smattering of reunion shows, Pylon officially reformed in 1989,{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022609/new_398598091.shtml |title=Guitarist for famed Athens band Pylon dies

|author=Julie Phillips |date=26 February 2009 |publisher=Online Athens.com (cred. Athens Banner-Herald) |access-date=2011-01-10}} coinciding with the release of a compilation of the band's work from 1979–83, Hits (1989).{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Hits/master/859853|title=Pylon (4) – Hits|website=Discogs|year=1989 }}

They opened for the final leg of R.E.M.'s Green tour.

In 1990, the group released a new album, Chain, on Sky Records. They played several more shows, including the South by Southwest Festival in 1990 and 1991, but when guitarist Bewley decided to leave in 1991, the band broke up again.

Pylon came out of retirement again in 2004, and played their first set in more than a decade in August 2004 at the then-fledgling Little King's Shuffle Club in Athens. They played the 2004 New Year's Eve show at the 40 Watt Club, headlined the first night of the Athens music festival AthFest in June 2005, and recorded an untelevised segment for Pancake Mountain in 2006.

On April 4, 2007, Pylon performed an impromptu show at Little King's to announce the reissue of Gyrate on DFA Records. Expanded with extra tracks and retitled Gyrate Plus, it was released on October 16, 2007. They performed several key shows in 2008, including the Part Time Punks Festival in Los Angeles,{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/partying-like-its-1983-part-time-punks-announce-post-punk-fest-featuring-a-certain-ratio-pylon-savage-republic-vivian-girls-and-more-2408026|title=Partying Like It's 1983: Part-Time Punks Announce Post-Punk Fest Featuring A Certain Ratio, Pylon, Savage Republic, Vivian Girls and More|date=29 October 2008|website=Laweekly.com}} a show taped for Georgia Public Broadcasting in Athens, and the Revolve Film and Music Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.{{cite web|url=http://yesweekly.com/Festival-revolves-around-film-and-music-a5008/|title=Festival revolves around film and music|date=6 August 2008|website=Yesweekly.com}}

On February 25, 2009, Bewley died, two days after suffering a heart attack while driving his van.{{Cite news |title=R.I.P. Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley |first=T. Ballard |last=Lesemann |url=http://music.ccpblogs.com/2009/02/27/rip-pylon-guitarist-randy-bewley |newspaper=Charleston City Paper |date=27 February 2009 |location=Charleston SC |access-date=2011-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404012639/http://music.ccpblogs.com/2009/02/27/rip-pylon-guitarist-randy-bewley/ |archive-date=4 April 2009 }}

Bewley's death brought the band's career to a close; Hay said, "Pylon died when Randy died".

DFA reissued the band's second album in expanded form as Chomp More in 2009.

In October 2011, DFA issued a two-track 7" split single called Cover + Remix. The A-side featured a cover of Pylon's "Cool" by Deerhunter, while the B-side consisted of a remix of "Yo-Yo" by Calvinist.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Cover-Remix/release/2971815|title=Pylon (4) – Cover + Remix|website=Discogs|year=2011 }}

On July 25, 2016, Chunklet Industries released the double album Pylon Live, which had been recorded at Athens club The Mad Hatter on December 1, 1983, before they disbanded for the first time.{{cite web|author=Mark Deming |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-mw0002945995 |title=Pylon Live – Pylon | Songs, Reviews, Credits |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2016-07-29}} Pitchfork called it {{blockquote |text=an all-business, no-banter set that sees them streamroll through 20 songs in 70 minutes with assembly-line precision: bassist Michael Lachowski and drummer Curtis Crowe lay the foundation, Bewley sculpts it into strange shapes with his surgical guitar lines, and singer Vanessa Briscoe-Hay splatters her mantric messaging on the walls like a spraycan-wielding prophet.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22125-pylon-live/|title=Pylon: Pylon Live Album Review – Pitchfork|website=Pitchfork.com}}

}}

The album was previewed by Chunklet's April 20 release of a 7" single, "Gravity", taken from the live album.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Gravity-bw-Weather-Radio-Live/master/991856|title=Pylon (4) – Gravity b/w Weather Radio Live|website=Discogs|year=2016 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/music/pylon-live-documents-athens-musical-heyday/BenrPvMtOYqv1zDtipT6oO/|title='Pylon Live' documents Athens' musical heyday|author=Harrison, Shane|publisher=Atlanta Journal-Constitution|newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|access-date=21 July 2016}}

New West Records reissued the "Cool"/"Dub" single as a special edition for Record Store Day in 2019. On August 28, 2020, the label announced the November 6, 2020 release of Pylon Box, a vinyl box set that contains remastered editions of Gyrate and Chomp, and two exclusive albums, Extra (containing various non-album tracks and five previously unissued recordings) and Razz Tape, containing the band's first-ever studio recordings, preceding the "Cool"/"Dub" single. The box also includes a 200-page hardcover book with new interviews with the surviving members of the band and testimonies from members of R.E.M., The B-52's, Gang of Four, The Bongos, Mission of Burma, Sleater-Kinney, Beat Happening, and Sonic Youth, and others.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2020/08/27/pylon-box-set/|title=Pylon vinyl box set to include 'Gyrate,' 'Chomp' and previously unreleased rarities|website=Slicingupeyeballs.com|date=27 August 2020|access-date=2 October 2020}}

In September 2020, the city launched the Athens Music Walk of Fame. The public art walk spans a two city blocks loop around West Washington and Clayton Streets connected by North Lumpkin Street. Guitar pick plaques were laid down on the sidewalk in front of such significant music venues as the Georgia Theatre, the 40 Watt Club, and the Morton Theatre. The first round of inductees included The B-52s, Danger Mouse, Drive-By Truckers, The Elephant 6 Recording Company, Hall Johnson, Neal Pattman, Pylon, R.E.M., Vic Chesnutt, and Widespread Panic.{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Jessica|date=2020-09-02|title=The Athens Music Walk of Fame Honors Past and Present Musicians|url=https://flagpole.com/topstory/2020/09/02/the-athens-music-walk-of-fame-honors-past-and-present-musicians/|access-date=2020-11-29|website=Flagpole|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Athens Music Walk of Fame {{!}} Athens-Clarke County, GA - Official Website|url=https://www.accgov.com/9580/Athens-Music-Walk-of-Fame|access-date=2020-11-29|website=www.accgov.com}}

Hay is a member of the Athens band Supercluster, formed in 2007. Bewley was also a member before his death.{{cite web |url=http://www.creativeloafing.com/music/article/13058869/superclusters-vanessa-briscoe-hay-untangles-athens-musical-lineage |title=Supercluster's Vanessa Briscoe Hay untangles Athens' musical lineage |website=www.creativeloafing.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111041835/http://www.creativeloafing.com/music/article/13058869/superclusters-vanessa-briscoe-hay-untangles-athens-musical-lineage |archive-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=dead}}

In 2014, Hay formed Pylon Reenactment Society with guitarist Jason NeSmith, drummer Gregory Sanders, and bass guitarist Kay Stanton, members of more recent Athens bands like the Glands and Casper & the Cookies.{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandmercury.com/music/2016/12/07/18731846/the-pylon-reenactment-society-revives-the-past|title=The Pylon Reenactment Society Revives the Past|website=Portlandmercury.com}}{{Cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/pylon-reenactment-society-indie-rock-music-review-8c7e954ecde14694ab5a0a35fa7a1d19 |title=Music Review: New album by Pylon Reenactment Society revives Pylon's style of funky art punk |first=Steven |last=Wine |department=Music |language=en-US |publisher=Associated Press |date=2024-02-05 |accessdate=2024-07-06}} In a 2016 interview, Hay said "It's been inspirational, if that's the right word, to be able to play this music again. I really don't want people to forget Pylon. These are different people and we are re-enacting this experience, so it's not exactly Pylon, but it's fresh and done in the same spirit". In October 2017, Pylon Reenactment Society self-released an EP initially recorded on December 11, 2016 for broadcast in Los Angeles for DJ Michael Stock's Part Time Punks KXLU show, titled Part Time Punks Session.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Reenactment-Society-Part-Time-Punks-Session/release/10964499|title=Pylon Reenactment Society - Part Time Punks Session|website=Discogs.com|date=6 October 2017 |access-date=2 October 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://blurtonline.com/review/pylon-reenactment-society-part-time-punks-session-ep-colored-vinyl-12/|title=PYLON REENACTMENT SOCIETY – Part Time Punks Session EP (colored vinyl 12")|first=Fred|last=Mills|website=Blurt Magazine|date=25 October 2017|access-date=2 October 2020}}

On February 9, 2024, Pylon Reenactment Society released their full length album debut on Strolling Bones Records titled Magnet Factory. The album of eleven songs includes two tunes written by Pylon in 1979, but never formally recorded in the studio – "3 x 3" and "Heaven (In Your Eyes)". It also includes a track ("Fix It") featuring vocals by Kate Pierson.{{Cite web|url= https://www.bigtakeover.com/interviews/interview-pylon-reenactment-society?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR332nkzjNJ5Qr6O6SECvW5gEI9U2uNZ7P1OwQejIhQKC-ZbAJQW4kkoyAU_aem_Admq8JAVBwOXdpHOmQzn-OkVL5Jl9gFJnn4tNges |title=Interview Pylon Reenactment Society|website=bigtakeovee.com|first=Chip|last=Midnight|date=5 February 2024|access-date=21 May 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/inspired-by-original-band-pylon-reenactment-society-releases-own-new-album/NN3CJIC7KVCURMJL7CSP2WP2SA/|title= Inspired by original band, Pylon Reenactment Society releases own new album |website=ajc.com|first=Lee Valentine|last=Smith|date=5 February 2024|access-date=21 May 2024}}

• Randall Bewley – guitar (1978–1983, 1989–1991, 2004–2009)
• Curtis Crowe – drums (1978–1983, 1989–1991, 2004–2009)
• Vanessa Briscoe Hay – vocals (1979–1983, 1989–1991, 2004–2009)
• Michael Lachowski – bass guitar (1978–1983, 1989–1991, 2004–2009)

• Gyrate (November 1980, DB Records DB54; reissued on CD 2007 as Gyrate Plus, DFA Records DFA2181CD)
• Chomp (April 1983, DB Records DB65; reissued on CD 2009 as Chomp More, DFA Records DFA2220CD)
• Chain (1990, Sky Records)

• "Cool / Dub" 7" single (April 1980, DB Records DB53)
• !! 10" EP (February 1981, Armageddon Records AEP10214)
• "Crazy / M Train" 7"/12" single (March 1982, DB Records DB61)
• "Beep / Altitude" 7" single (September 1982, DB Records DB62)
• "Beep / Altitude / Four Minutes" 12" EP (September 1982, DB Records DB62)
• "Sugarpop / Sugarpop Remix / Interview" promo CD single (1990, Sky Records)
• Cover + Remix 7" single (split single with Deerhunter (June 2011, DFA Records DFA2279LP)
• "Gravity / Weather Radio" 7" single (April 2016, Chunklet Industries CK7010)

• Pylon Live (July 25, 2016, Chunklet Industries CHKLP020)

• Pylon Box (November 8, 2020, New West Records)

• Declaration of Independents – 13 Tracks of U.S. Rock 1980, Vinyl LP, Various artists (1980, Ambition Records AMB1, Basement Records BASE 6005, Stiff Records Yank 2)[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Declaration-Of-Independents/master/360736 Various - Declaration Of Independents] Discogs
• Trouser Press Presents the Best of America Underground, Cassette LP, Various artists (1983, ROIR A124) [https://www.discogs.com/Various-Trouser-Press-Presents-The-Best-Of-America-Underground/release/2719721 Various - Trouser Press Presents the Best of America Underground] Discogs
• Jericho Go, Vinyl LP, Various artists (1985, DB Records / Stiff Records D BAT80) (DB Recs / Victor Musical Industries, Inc. VIL 28034)[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Jericho-Go/master/903104 Various - Jericho Go] Discogs
• Athens, GA – Inside / Out, Vinyl LP, Various artists (1987, I.R.S. Records IRS6185)
• Hits, Cassette, CD (1989, DB Records DB91)[https://www.discogs.com/Pylon-Hits/master/859853 Pylon (4) - Hits] Discogs
• Squares Blot Out the Sun, Vinyl LP, CD, Cassette, Various artists (1990, DB Recs DB72)[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Squares-Blot-Out-The-Sun/release/3519753 Various - Squares Blot Out the Sun] Discogs
• Totally Wired, CD, Various artists (1995, Razor & Tie RE 2076)[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Totally-Wired/release/925941 Various - Totally Wired] Discogs
• KFJC 98.7 Fifty – Blowing Minds Since 1959, Vinyl double record LP, Various artists (2009, No label KJFC24)[https://www.discogs.com/Various-KFJC-897-FM-Fifty-Blowing-Minds-Since-1959/release/2645241 Various - KFJC 89.7 FM - Fifty Blowing Minds Since 1959] Discogs
• Keith Haring – The World of Keith Haring – Influences + Connections , Vinyl triple record LP boxset, Triple CD boxset, Various artists (2019, Soul Jazz, Ltd. SJR LP444)[https://www.discogs.com/artist/1579623-Keith-Haring Keith Haring] Discogs
• Blank Generation: A Story Of Us - Canadian Punk & Its Aftershocks 1975-1981, Five CD Boxset, Various artists (2023, Cherry Red Records CRCDBOX147)[https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/blank-generation-a-story-of-us-canadian-punk-its-aftershocks-1975-1981-various-artists-5cd-book-set/] Cherry Red Records

• Athens, GA: Inside Out (1987)

{{Reflist}}

• [http://pylon.band/ Pylon official web site]
• {{AllMusic}}
• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{MusicBrainz artist}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081218153335/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2008/12/interview_pylon.php Village Voice Interview with Michael Lachowski and Randy Bewley]

{{Pylon (band)|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

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