Pylon Reenactment Society will celebrate its debut album Magnet Factory with an album release show at Hendershot’s on Feb. 9.
Within the Athens music pantheon, few groups hold a more hallowed spot than Pylon, the by all accounts legendary group of art students who united for a brief four years to show the sleepy college town the meaning of punk. With a DIY ethos and little knowledge of how to actually play their instruments, Pylon strung together a short but electric string of shows, migrating from Athens house venues to a wider American audience, and eventually the UK and Canada.
Pylon was famously championed by R.E.M.’s Bill Berry, who, after receiving the award of Rolling Stone’s “America’s Best Band” in 1987, conferred the honor to Pylon. When Pylon formed in 1979, however, it was initially met with a cool reception. Audiences weren’t yet quite ready for its choppy, angular sound, industrial aesthetic (its name being derived from a traffic cone) and oftentimes monotonous lyrics—all qualities which would come to define the new wave movement of the early to mid ‘80s.
After its mutually agreed-upon breakup in 1983, Pylon popped up in the intervening decades in various forms, along with a short reunion which resulted in an album. In 2009, Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley died, an event that drastically altered the course of the band.
Following the loss of key member Bewley, Pylon dispersed. Drummer Curtis Crowe and bassist Michael Lachowski stepped away from the band, and songwriter and vocalist Vanessa Briscoe Hay continued working with Supercluster, which included her husband Bob Hay (a bluegrass musician) and members of Olivia Tremor Control, Casper & the Cookies, of Montreal and others.
In the years following the band’s inception, Pylon had gained a large cult following, and despite its tenuous existence, Vanessa Briscoe Hay felt the necessity to keep the spirit of the band alive. So, the band Pylon Reenactment Society, which even today eludes specific definition, was born. Part cover/tribute band, part all-original group, PRS consists of original member Hay, as well as guitarist Jason NeSmith, bassist Kay Stanton and drummer Gregory Sanders.
Through a series of jams and writing sessions, which sometimes involved instruments like spare truck tailgates and power tools, PRS generated nine original tracks, as well as breathing new life into two undiscovered Pylon songs from early on in the band’s history. “3X3” and “Heaven” were discovered by NeSmith while compiling and archiving old Pylon tapes, and though they seemed to be hidden gems, they had lain unreleased since 1979.
The songs on Magnet Factory seem to have been created through a process of masterful alchemy; they’re markedly more developed than early Pylon songs, yet they still retain the original spirit of the band—something that, according to Hay, is entirely intentional.
“They say people change their cell structure every seven years,” Hay said in a statement via label Strolling Bones Records. “So, I’ve totally regenerated several times since we started Pylon 40 years ago. Over the course of your life, you’re going to learn new things. Your mind is going to change and expand. I’m a lot older now, and I can’t be something I’m not anymore. Pylon is our guiding star, but we’re not Pylon. We’re Pylon Reenactment Society.”
It’s possible there has never been a band in Athens with a greater respect for their source material. PRS members regard their original counterparts with great reverence. No attempts are made to replace any original member, but to embody their original energy, calling back to their spirit, while still remaining distinct in their own right.
The same can be said of the album’s original tracks. Under the oversight of producer David Barbe of Chase Park Transduction, the album shines. Instrumental lines are tight, yet simple, the drumming utilitarian and driving, and Hay’s vocals just as electric as ever. “Flowers Everywhere” is a rocking anthem of belonging for people young and old, with a music video directed by Dan Aguar featuring some lesser-known Athens locations.
Legendary B-52s member Kate Pierson collaborated with PRS on “Fix It,” the album’s only song featuring a fifth member. Despite their mutual admiration over the years, “Fix It” marks the first time that Hay and Pierson have officially collaborated. The song serves as a celebration of the mentors and teachers in one’s life, specifically Hay’s.
PRS plans to tour on the heels of the new album, including a show in Austin for the SXSW showcase.
WHO: Pylon Reenactment Society, Organically Programmed Orchestra
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Hendershot’s
HOW MUCH: $10
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