Pylon

Pylon is a rock band from Athens, Georgia, USA. The band's danceable jangle pop sound influenced the Athens, Georgia music scene and the 1980s American pop underground. Allmusic wrote that Pylon's "role as elder statesmen of the alternative rock explosion is unassailable". The group is named for a novel by William Faulkner.


All four members of Pylon were art students at the University of Georgia in Athens. Guitarist Randall Bewley and bass guitarist Michael Lachowski began playing music and attempting to form a band in 1978. They practiced in a studio in downtown Athens which Lachowski rented from Curtis Crowe, upstairs from the current 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 soon joined the band as a drummer. On February 14, 1979, the three held auditions for a singer. Vanessa Briscoe (now Vanessa Briscoe Hay) was chosen.Pylon played their first live show at a party on March 9, 1979. Members of The B-52's attended Pylon's third show. 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.Soon Pylon opened for Gang of Four in New York. Pylon's debut single, "Cool," appeared on DB Records in early 1980, and received many positive critical reviews. From 1980 to 1983 Pylon toured parts of the U.S., Canada, and the UK, playing with groups such as the B-52's, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, Love Tractor, R.E.M., the Talking Heads, and U2. Pylon was the opening act for the first part of U2's first U.S. tour. Crazy/M-Train charted at #61 for Club play singles in 1982 according to Billboard Magazine entry in All Music Guide. At that time the members of Pylon were beginning to feel that playing together was becoming less fun and more like a business. They decided to break up the band in 1983. (Wikipedia)

Band Website
Myspace

LOVE TRACTOR

Since I'm on an Athens kick I thought I'd post some more killer angular post-punk from the early 80's. Love Tractor made mostly instrumental Jangely, angular, rhythms with funky drum and bass beats. What makes Love Tractor stand apart from other art rock of the period was their emphasis or lack of emphasis on vocals. Because there was not a lot to reference at the time people often described them as arty surf rock, which is totally off base. I'm guessing it was attributed to the instrumental guitar-heavy sound. But make no bones about it, Love Tractor were an Art rock/Post-Punk band through and through. I prefer their first two albums which I found in the two dollar record bin at my local record store. If you dig around I bet you can score cheap copies of these too.


Noteworhty Albums*
Love Tractor (1982) DB Records
Around The Bend (1983) DB


Love Tractor (1980 — 2002) was a band from Athens, Georgia and like The B-52's, Pylon and R.E.M., was recognized as a founder of the Athens, Georgia alternative rock scene. Love Tractor toured extensively and recorded five critically acclaimed albums during the 1980s—and was particularly known for their instrumental rock. (Source:wikipedia)

Method Actors

Method Actors have been a favorite of mine for quite some time. I found a used copy of one of their albums which is a double album called "Little Figures" a few years ago and never heard anything about them other than that they were part of the Athens, Georgia post-punk scene in the early 80's. Since Method Actors were playing NYC a lot in those days its no wonder that they picked up a little Television "marquee moon" kinda vibe and brought it back home to be mixed in with their contemporaries the B52's and Pylon. Great frantic tube-amped scrappy guitars over angular rhythms with Tom Verlaine like vocals. Acute records has released an anthology of their recordings called "This Is Still It" covering their early singles as well as the little figures album. This is A+ post punk from the heart of Athens, Georgia circa 1979-80.


The Method Actors, a critically adored post-punk/new wave band from Athens, GA, was formed in 1979 by two members of the short-lived Tone-Tones: guitarist/vocalist Vic Varney and drummer/vocalist David Gamble. Though they gigged extensively throughout New York City in a concentrated burst a few months shortly after forming, it was back in their hometown where they were picked up by London, England’s Armageddon label, whose Peter Dyer was in town to sign Pylon, a like-minded band managed by Varney. From 1980 through 1982, the Method Actors recorded and released a number of well-received discs, including This Is It (a three-song 7” picked as a Single of the Week in the U.K.’s New Music Express), the Rhythms of You EP (trimmed of two songs for U.S. release as Dancing Underneath, issued on Athens’ DB label), and the double-LP Little Figures (reduced to a single LP in the U.S.). While touring in support of their album, they took on a third member, guitarist Michael Richmond (Varney had switched to bass), but Gamble was out before the end of 1982. The band was a quartet by the time it released its final album, 1983’s Luxury. Varney subsequently formed Go Van Go, which was active on and off through 1987, then carried on as a solo artist with several albums to his credit. Much of the Method Actors' early material was compiled on This Is Still It, released in 2010 by the Acute label.(by Andy Kellman : AMG)