| Author | Message | ||
     Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1556 Registered: 10-2004 |
Holy fucking crap, there goes another one... http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/ne ws/149406-pylon-guitarist-randy-bewley-r ip Not sure how old he was, but I'm guessing he hadn't yet reached 50... So, any Pylon fans around here? I've been a pretty big fan of theirs for a long, long time. Their first two albums, Gyrate and Chomp, consist of some of the finest music to have ever come out of this country. For those who don't know, Pylon was part of the Athens, GA scene that spawned REM and the B52s. Pylon took the angular/arty/dancey approach, and did it extremely well. They had a wonderful melodic sense, due in large part to the exceptional guitar playing of Bewley. Bewley played a lot of melodic, arpeggio type stuff, along with sharp, choppy, unusual chords. REM (who covered Pylon's excellent 'Crazy') stated many times that they were huge fans of Pylon, and absolutely intimidated by them at the same time. This is truly a sad loss... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2613 Registered: 05-2005 |
I have one of their albums on cassette somewhere Jeff. I actually bought it twice within about 10 days in November 1989. The first time was in Wuxtry Records in Athens, GA. I somehow managed to lose this tape almost immediately (I was doing a lot of travelling around the US then). I replaced it in Tower Records in Greenwich Village, NY. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2934 Registered: 05-2005 |
What a shame. Don't know what they sounde dlike but I have read about them. Must check em. They are dropping like flies. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1358 Registered: 08-2006 |
I've got the CD "Hits" and their more-than-respectable 1990 comeback "Chain." A really great group. I'd always hoped to catch them live as part of some future resurgence, but without Bewley's guitar in the mix, I don't see how it'll come to pass. It's a damn shame - Pylon's a band more people should know. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1383 Registered: 01-2005 |
I bought their 1990 cd Hits when it first came out on DB RECS(DB91), which came out when they re-grouped if I'm not mistaken. I don't know why I missed buying their vinyl in 1983 when I got hooked on R.E.M.'s Chronic Town ep and Murmur album. I remember hearing (from the same radio program that introduced me to the GB's in 1988) about a legendary Gang of Four and Pylon tour from 1982 that I regret not seeing when it stopped in Detroit. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 99 Registered: 10-2008 |
ok jumping aboard - Precaution from Gyrate is wonderful and the rest of the album is good to very good. I always think they are a band to admire rather than love though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2615 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh, Rob has just reminded me that I have Chain on vinyl. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1387 Registered: 09-2006 |
One of those bands that I don't play enough but really enjoy every time I do. I've got Hits (which means I've got Gyrate as well), Chomp and Chain | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1564 Registered: 10-2004 |
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, February 27, 2009 Fellow musicians and friends from Athens and around the country on Thursday remembered Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley as brilliant, creative, thoughtful and generous - in a word, an inspiration. Bewley suffered a heart attack Monday and died shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday. He was 53. Bewley and bassist Michael Lachowski started playing music together in 1978, recruiting drummer Curtis Crowe and vocalist Vanessa Briscoe (now Briscoe Hay). Pylon debuted in 1979 at a party over a downtown record store, and quickly rose to success on the heels of their Athens predecessors and friends, the B-52s, who'd formed a few years earlier. R.E.M. came along a year later in 1980, and repeatedly have cited Pylon's influence over the years. R.E.M. recorded a cover of Pylon's song "Crazy" as a B-side in 1985 (later released on 1987's "Dead Letter Office"). And former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry once famously called Pylon "the best band in the world," Hay notes on her blog. Pylon also was prominently featured in "Athens, Ga.: Inside/Out," the 1987 documentary about the 1980s music scene here. "We are so very saddened to hear the news of Randy's passing," R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said on R.E.M.'s Web site Wednesday. "Pylon have always been an inspired catalyst to R.E.M. and the Athens music and art scene, and beyond. Randy's guitar playing and attitude was intensely unique, and his influence integral and profound; he will be greatly missed." While Pylon shared duties as musicians, much of the band's sound is attributed to Bewley. "He was the musician of the band," said bassist Michael Lachoswki, "even though he didn't know how to play when we started. "The guitar geeks and musicians flocked to Randy to admire his guitar skills. I never tried to understand it - I was more in the category of blanket amazement." That amazement came from Bewley's unique style and tuning, Lachowski said. "He didn't know how to do his own tuning in the beginning, and then he learned that way, and it was too late to change. So, he had a lot of people trying to find out the secret to his playing, but no one could figure out his parts." One of those intrigued guitarists was Jeff Calder of Atlanta band Swimming Pool Q's, which also got its start in 1978. Calder asked Bewley a few times how he played certain songs, but quickly gave up trying to imitate him, he said. "Nobody else could do what he could do," Calder said. "He had a sense of rhythm ... and there was so much space in his guitar playing. Only someone who had a tremendous sense of confidence could really feel it and know when to not play. And that's really part of what distinguished him as a guitar player and as a person. When you talked to him, he was the same way. There were no wasted words." Bewley's influence spread wide. Athens musician Larry Tenner, production director for Flagpole magazine, met Bewley in the 1980s after reading about the band in a book about upcoming new wave bands. "I guess I thought that famous rock musicians wouldn't have any time to talk to people like me," Tenner said, "but (Bewley) turned out to be the nicest guy. We usually talked about guitars and amps and effects. Randy definitely inspired me to want to play music in this town." News of his death quickly appeared in national publications, said friend Maureen McLaughlin of Athens, "and that's really because he was a brilliant guitarist." Bewley also was a wonderful father and husband, McLaughlin added. "He was also a very modest person - and he was gracious and caring. He would talk to anybody and was interested in everybody. He loved art and color and design and could do so many different things so well," McLaughlin said. "I can't even think that he's gone." |