Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley, a co-founder of the influential Athens act, died Wednesday in an Athens hospital after suffering a heart attack behind the wheel Monday night. He was 53.
Bewley died about 5 p.m. Wednesday at Athens Regional Medical Center where he was admitted after he flipped his van on Barber Street early Monday night.
"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of Randy Bewley," said Athens Regional Medical Center rep Elaine Cook in an e-mail to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday night.
Bewley had a close friend nearby when he died. His bandmate, Pylon lead singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay, works as a nurse at Athens Regional.
"I'm in complete shock," B-52's frontman Fred Schneider told the AJC Wednesday night from Seattle, where his band is touring. "To me, Pylon was the best band to ever come out of Athens. It still is."
Schneider said he first saw the band in the late 1970s in Athens "standing on somebody's front lawn."
"We are so very saddened to hear the news of Randy's passing," R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said in a statement to the AJC. "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."
The experimental rock act first formed in Athens in 1979 by roommates Bewley and bassist Michael Lachowski. They were soon joined by drummer Curtis Crowe and lead singer Vanessa Briscoe. The band was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first Athens gig next month.
"Everyone in Athens is feeling the sadness and shock of this right now," R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs told the AJC Wednesday night. "The members of Pylon were mentors and influences. But they were also buddies. We had quite a great friendship."
Pylon has been readying a CD re-issue of their classic 1983 album "Chomp." They last played Atlanta on Halloween as the opening act for Deerhunter at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points.
Atlanta's DB Recs released the act's first 7-inch single "Cool" / "Dub" followed up by the critically-acclaimed album "Gyrate." The ground-breaking disc re-emerged as a digital download last year on iTunes.
DB Recs founder and Wax n Facts record shop owner Danny Beard attended the Halloween gig with fellow Pylon fan and old friend of the band, Swimming Pool Q's frontman Jeff Calder.
"Randy's guitar sound was melodic but rocking," Beard recalled Wednesday. "Pylon came at it from the art side of things. They had a very intelligent approach. Randy was brilliant, a genius guitarist."
Schneider praised Bewley's and the band's "intensity and minimalist approach." Over the years, Pylon had broken up and re-formed several times, most famously reuniting as the opening act for R.E.M.'s "Green" tour in 1989. The band members always maintained that it took all four members to create Pylon and famously resisted any reunions that would not feature all of the band's original members.
"It's the end of Pylon," said Jeff Clark, Stomp & Stammer magazine publisher. "I know those guys. It was all of them or nothing. They may get together for a tribute to Randy but they won't call it Pylon. There have been better known bands come out of Athens like Widespread Panic, but Pylon epitomized the Athens sound and scene more than anyone else."
As word spread of Bewley's death Wednesday, the band's Myspace page (myspace.com/wearepylon) began receiving sentiments from its more than 5,000 Myspace "friends" around the globe.
Funeral arrangements were still pending Wednesday night.
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