Michael Scott Lachowski was the

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

player for Pylon, a band from

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. He was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, and attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

art school. He and his roommate

Randy Bewley Randall Eugene Bewley (July 25, 1955 – February 25, 2009) was the guitarist for the Athens, Georgia-based band Pylon. Life and career Bewley was born in Bradenton, Florida. He lived in Sarasota, Florida, Washington, D.C., and near Atlant ...

formed Pylon, recruiting Curtis Crowe as a drummer, and

Vanessa Briscoe Hay Vanessa Briscoe Hay (born October 18, 1955) is an American singer for the Athens, Georgia bands Pylon, Supercluster and Pylon Reenactment Society. Biography Born to a textile worker and a housewife in Atlanta, Georgia, Hay attended elementary ...

, a fellow student at the University of Georgia. They recorded the single " Cool/Dub", an album '' Gyrate'', an EP, another album ''

Chomp Chomp is a two-player strategy game played on a rectangular grid made up of smaller square cells, which can be thought of as the blocks of a chocolate bar. The players take it in turns to choose one block and "eat it" (remove from the board), to ...

'', and two singles. Pylon toured the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom before breaking up in 1983. They returned to tour again in 1988, and recorded another album, ''

Chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

'', in 1990, before breaking up again in 1991. Pylon reformed in 2005 and occasionally performed until 2009, when Bewley died. Their first album, '' Gyrate Plus'', was reissued on October 16, 2007, by

DFA Records DFA Records is an American independent record label based in New York City. The label was originally founded in 2001 by Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. Goldsworthy and Mur ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2009, '' Chomp More'' was also reissued by DFA Records. Lachowski has had a graphic design firm in Athens called Candy and a magazine called '' Young, Foxy and Free''. He also works on occasion as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

and has been involved as a participant in the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia for years. He has worked in public relations at the

Georgia Museum of Art Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

since 2012. During his time in Athens, Lachowski ran an answerphone service known as the Athens Party Telephone. Its acronym, A.P.T., was used in the

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

song "Stumble", which appeared on the band's first American release, 1982's ''

Chronic Town ''Chronic Town'' is the debut extended play (EP) by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released on August 24, 1982, on I.R.S. Records. The five-track EP was recorded at Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October ...

'' EP.

Discography

Pylon * '' Cool/Dub'' 7"

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

( Caution Records 1979) * '' Gyrate'' LP (

DB Records DB Records (stylized as DB RECS) was a record label owned by Danny Beard, active from 1978 to 1997. The label was operated out of the Wax'n'Facts record store in the Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood of Little Five Points. Through the 1980s, the lab ...

, Armageddon 1980) * '' Pylon !!'' EP (DB Records, Armageddon 1980) * '' Crazy/M-Train'' 7" single (DB Records 1981) * '' Beep/Altitude'' 7" single (DB Records 1982) * '' Four Minutes/Beep/Altitude'' EP (Db recs 1982) * ''

'' LP (DB Records 1983) * ''

Hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

'' CD/cassette (DB Records 1988) * ''

'' LP/CD (

Sky Records Sky Records was an independent record label specializing in krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. They were based in Hamburg, Germany. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, indust ...

1990) * '' Gyrate Plus'' CD (

2007) * '' Chomp More'' CD (

2009) * '' Gravity/Weather Radio'' 7" single (

Chunklet In computer science, constrained clustering is a class of semi-supervised learning algorithms. Typically, constrained clustering incorporates either a set of must-link constraints, cannot-link constraints, or both, with a data clustering Cluste ...

2016) * ''Pylon Live''

Double LP A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

(

2016) *'' Pylon Box'' (2020) Other * '' Dead Letter Office (LP)'' LP (IRS Records 1985) (Cover of "Crazy" by R.E.M.) * ''

Cover + Remix Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

'' 7" single (

, October 2011) (Cover of "Cool" by Deerhunter, Remix of Yo-Yo by Calvinist) *'' Magnet Factory'' by

Pylon Reenactment Society Pylon Reenactment Society is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. Since 2014, Vanessa Briscoe Hay, who was the singer of Pylon, has fronted the Pylon Reenactment Society, aka PRS, a band featuring members of more recent Athens bands lik ...

(Strolling Bones Records, 2024, songwriting, graphics)

Filmography

* '' Athens, GA.: Inside/Out'' (1987), archive footage, interview

Video

* ''

Beep The Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP) is a framework for creating network application protocols. BEEP includes building blocks like framing, pipelining, multiplexing, reporting and authentication for connection and message-oriented pee ...

'' (1990), Pylon, from CD: ''Hits, a compilation'', DB Records * ''Look Alive'' (1992), Pylon, from album :Chain, Sky Records

References

* Reynolds, Simon: ''Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984'',

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, February 2006, p. 264. * * Christgau,Robert: ''Christgau's Consumer Guide-the 80's'',

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint. Founded in 1942 as an independent publishing house in New York City by Kurt and Helen Wolff, it specialized in introducing progressive European works to American readers. In 1961, it was ...

, 1990, pp. 329, 498, 506.

External links

Pylon official web site

PARTY ZONE: a tribute to Pylon

Pylon unofficial web site

AllMusic entry on Pylon

Young, Foxy and Free online magazine

Michael Lachowski art online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachowski, Michael University of Georgia alumni Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) American bass guitarists Living people American DJs American graphic designers American new wave musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Pylon (band) members