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Artist News Obituaries
Pylon guitarist dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 27 February 2009
Randy Bewley, guitarist with influential New Wave outfit Pylon, has died at the age of 53 from a heart attack. He was apparently driving his van on Monday when the arrest happened, and the vehicle drifted off the road and turned over. He was taken to Athens Regional Medical Center, where he fell into a coma, and died on Wednesday.
Bewley co-founded Pylon in 1978 with fellow University Of Georgia art students Michael Lachowski, Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Curtis Rowe.
The new wave band are notable for their influence on a new generation of acts, most famously REM, who, when named ‘America’s best band’ by Rolling Stone in 1987, said that Pylon were in fact more deserving of the title. The group’s activity over the years has been intermittent, but they had been active again since 2004.
Bewley also taught art, but in recent years had concentrated on his own projects. As well as playing with Pylon, he worked with two other Athens bands, Sound Houses and Supercluster.
He is survived by two sons.
