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American singer and songwriter (born 1955) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vanessa Briscoe Hay (born October 18, 1955) is an American singer for the Athens, Georgia bands Pylon, Supercluster and Pylon Reenactment Society.
Vanessa Briscoe Hay | |
|---|---|
| |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Vanessa Briscoe |
| Also known as | Vanessa Ellison |
| Born | October 18, 1955 |
| Genres | New wave, post-punk, folk rock, experimental, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboard Vocals |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Caution DB Records Sky Records DFA Cloud Recordings Studio Mouse Productions PRS for Chunklet Industries New West Records Strolling Bones Records |
Born to a textile worker and a housewife in Atlanta, Georgia, Hay attended elementary and high school in Dacula, Georgia, prior to moving to Athens to attend college. Hay graduated from the University of Georgia art school in 1978. She became the singer for Pylon after being auditioned by Michael Lachowski, Randy Bewley, and Curtis Crowe. A few months later Pylon were the opening band for the British group the Gang of Four in New York City, at the club Hurrah, after being brought to the club's attention by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider of the B-52's.[1][2]
Danny Beard from Atlanta helped Pylon to record their first single "Cool/Dub" in 1979 at Stone Mountain Studios in Atlanta, and Pylon began to tour the US. The album Gyrate followed and was released in late 1980. Early career highlights included a performance at Central Park opening for the B-52's, a tour of the UK, opening a few dates for U2 on their first major US tour and the release of the album Chomp.[3]
Pylon decided to quit while they were still having fun. They broke up for the first time in 1983 after playing a "final" show, which was taped for The Athens Show. This was never formally released. In 1986, Hay was filmed for the movie Athens, GA: Inside Out and spoke about her experiences with Pylon. She and Bob Hay were married in 1986. In 1987 they had their first daughter.[4]
In 1989, Pylon reformed. Career highlights the second time around included tours with both R.E.M. and the B-52's, performances at SXSW and CMJ. Hits, a compilation of their early material was reissued by DB Records in 1989. Pylon recorded their third album Chain for the Atlanta label Sky Records in 1991. Pylon broke up a second time in 1992.They played several more shows including the South by Southwest Festival in 1990 and 1991, but when guitarist Bewley decided to leave in 1991, the band broke up again.
Vanessa Hay became an RN in 1994. In 1993, she and Bob Hay had their second daughter.[5]
Randy Bewley approached the other band members about reforming Pylon, just for fun, in 2004. In August, 2004 Pylon played an unannounced show at Little Kings in Athens, Georgia. In 2005, they played a series of dates in Athens and Atlanta, including Athfest and at the Atlanta Heroes awards by the invitation of the B-52's. Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever encouraged them to look into reissuing their first album, Gyrate, on CD. Jeff Calder (The Swimming Pool Q's) helped with the process of finding the tapes to restore at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta and Rodney Mills remastered them at Rodney Mills Masterhouse in Duluth, Georgia. DFA records in New York approached Pylon about reissuing this material, unaware that Pylon were already working toward this. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (band), had been including Pylon's song "Danger" in his DJ sets for several years and was interested in re—issuing Pylon's first album Gyrate on his label DFA. Gyrate Plus was reissued on October 16, 2007.[6] A remastered Chomp More was reissued on October 20, 2009.[7]
Hay was also a member of the recording project Supercluster (band) who recorded and sometimes performed in Athens, Georgia along with Jason NeSmith. Other members of this project included Hannah M. Jones, Kay Stanton, Bob Hay, Bill David, John Fernandes, Heather McIntosh, Bryan Poole and Randy Bewley (deceased). Waves, their full-length project, was released on October 6, 2009.[8]
A 7-inch vinyl single "Gravity / Altitude" by Pylon was issued in April 2016 by Chunklet as a part of the Pylon Live project. A double vinyl album was issued on July 25, 2016. This music was recorded at the first final performance on December 1, 1983 at the Mad Hatter in Athens, GA.[9] Vanessa performed with Pylon Reenactment Society at both release events along with Swimming Pool Q's and members of Love Tractor.
Since 2014, Hay has fronted the Pylon Reenactment Society, a Pylon tribute act who have featured members from more recent Athens bands like Supercluster (band), the Glands and Casper & the Cookies.[10] In a 2016 Portland Mercury interview, Hay said, "It's been inspirational, if that's the right word, to be able to play this music again. I really don't want people to forget Pylon. These are different people and we are re-enacting this experience, so it's not exactly Pylon, but it's fresh and done in the same spirit". In October 2017, Pylon Reenactment Society self-released an EP initially recorded on December 11, 2016, for broadcast in Los Angeles, California, for DJ Michael Stock's KXLU show "Part Time Punks," called "Part Time Punks Session." In March 2018, Hay was named one of the “25 Best Frontwomen of All Time” by Paste Magazine[11]
On February 9,2024, Pylon Reenactment Society released their full length album debut on Strolling Bones Records titled Magnet Factory. The album of eleven songs includes two tunes written by Pylon in 1979, but never formally recorded in the studio – “3 x 3” and “Heaven (In Your Eyes)” alongside nine original songs. One of the new tracks (“Fix It”) features vocals by Kate Pierson. The graphics for the package were designed by Michael Lachowski, original bassist for Pylon.[12][13][14][15]
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