Pylon

Pylon never matched the sales or broader reach of their fellow Athens, Georgia, acts R.E.M. and the B-52's, yet their imprint on the city's storied music community ran just as deep. The quartet's taut, off-kilter jangle pop echoed through the local scene and the wider American indie underground of the 1980s, and their stature as forerunners to the alternative-rock boom stands unchallenged. Their opening pair of LPs, Gyrate in 1980 and Chomp in 1983, remain cornerstone artifacts of early U.S. independent rock, while the 2016 release Pylon Live preserves a vivid snapshot of their concert sound.

They borrowed the name from the everyday orange traffic cones that line city streets. Guitarist Randy Bewley and bassist Michael Lachowski, University of Georgia art students drawn to Television, the Ramones, and Talking Heads, launched the project and soon rented rehearsal space inside a loft studio belonging to local artist Curtis Crowe, who joined on drums. After trying several singers they settled on fellow UGA student Vanessa Briscoe, whose sharp, distinctive delivery meshed with the band's jagged guitars and driving rhythms.

The group played its first show in March 1979. That summer the B-52's broke through in New York with "Rock Lobster," clearing a path that let Pylon make its own N.Y.C. debut and follow with dates in Philadelphia and Boston before the next semester began. Their debut single, "Cool," surfaced on the dB's label in early 1980, drawing strong reviews and becoming a staple in underground clubs; later that year they released Gyrate and supported the B-52's in Central Park. Steady touring surrounded the arrival of their second album, Chomp, in 1983, yet dissatisfaction with the finished record and a curtailed U2 support tour prompted the band to split.

During the hiatus Athens became the hub of American indie music, propelled in large part by R.E.M.'s growing success and repeated acknowledgments of Pylon's influence. When Rolling Stone named R.E.M. "America's Best Band" in 1987, drummer Bill Berry maintained the accolade belonged instead to Pylon, even though the group had already broken up four years earlier. That recognition, paired with the forthcoming dB's Hits compilation, led Pylon to reunite in 1988 after opening for R.E.M. on the Green tour.

They issued their third album, Chain, in 1990. Bewley's subsequent departure brought another breakup, sealed with a final performance at Athens' 40 Watt Club on November 22, 1991. Years later the DFA label reissued expanded editions of the early catalog as Gyrate Plus in 2007 and Chomp More in 2009.

Bewley died on February 25, 2009, after suffering a heart attack while driving his van. In 2016 the band released the archival concert album Pylon Live, captured at their last 1983 show at the Mad Hatter in Athens, Georgia, and issued on the date that would have been Bewley's 61st birthday. November 2020 brought Pylon Box from New West Records, a multi-disc set containing newly remastered versions of Gyrate and Chomp, a disc of singles and rarities, and an unreleased 1979 recording of the band performing in their rehearsal space.