Pylon Reenactment Society Impress with 'Part time Punks Session'

Pylon Reenactment Society will release their 6-song 'Part Time Punks Session' EP on Chunklet Industries, a hip Athens-based tastemaker record label founded by Henry Owings. Pylon Reenactment Society formed from the ashes of Pylon, one of the most influential bands at the outset of what became known as the ‘Athens, GA music scene’, along with other frontrunners The B-52’s and R.E.M.

This album is a rough and invigorating go and that is soooo what we need right now in this day in age of boring copycat wannabe rock stars and doledrum listening options (Spotify has killed at least 4 hours of uneventful 'dead' listening time in the past week alone). This EP, on the other hand, is refreshing. It's no wonder that Part Time Punks brought them in studio and Chunklet Industries decided to put it on vinyl.

Pylon Reenactment Society was founded in 2014, five years after Pylon’s celebrated history came to a sudden end in 2009 with the death of guitarist Randy Bewley. It is fronted by Vanessa Briscoe (now Briscoe Hay), whose inimitable vocal textures and phrasing defined the band’s sound for most listeners. Pylon was, and always will be comprised of Hay, Bewley, Michael Lachowski, and Curtis Crowe.

The 'Part Time Punks Session' EP was recorded in December 2016 just hours before the band played the Part Time Punks series at Los Angeles’ Echoplex. In the spirit of renowned DJ John Peel, Part Time Punks DJ and organizer Michael Stock invited the band to visit Josiah Mazzashi's studio The Cave in order to record exclusive tracks for his ‘Part Time Punks’ radio show, a show on KXLU that has earned a cult following since 2006.

In Pylon’s prime, they were every Athens band’s favorite local band. Their musical naïveté, southern upbringing, art school smarts, and house-party roots exploded together to create something quite improbably amazing, simultaneously hitting the listener on a mental, physical, and spiritual level.

Pylon Reenactment Society happened when Athens’ artist Jason NeSmith, head of the music committee for the first annual Art Rocks Athens, was organizing an event exploring the 1975-1985 Athens art and music scene. He asked Hay to perform a short set of Pylon songs. Since NeSmith’s band Casper & The Cookies had previously recorded and performed with Hay as Supercluster, it was natural for them to back her at this event. The response was very positive with the group then opening for Fred Schneider (The B-52s), touring with indie darlings Dressy Bessy, and performing shows in conjunction with the release of the ‘Pylon Live’ album.

What started as a one-off gig transpired into a tight touring unit. In addition to Hay and NeSmith, the band is rounded out with Kay Stanton (Casper & The Cookies) on bass guitar and backing vocals, pianist Damon Denton (Big Atomic) on keyboards and Joe Rowe (The Glands) on drums.

'Feast on My Heart' is special given that this is the only song Hay has co-written with someone from outside the band. Craig Woodall, member of Athens-based experimental band Limbo District, and Hay chose a section at random from Shakespeare's least popular work ‘Titus Adronicus’, and translated the words into modern slang. A special chemistry was unveiled, as they took turn, in suit, consecutively writing these lines.

The 'Part Time Punks Session' EP will be released via Chunklet Industries. It is slated for digital release on October 6 and on 12” vinyl, as a limited edition of 100 on color disc, on October 20. A limited number of cassettes will also be available at shows only.

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