Curtis Crowe
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Curtis Crowe is the drummer for the Athens, Georgia rock band Pylon. He is a native of Marietta, Georgia and is the middle of five children. Curtis moved to Athens to attend the University of Georgia art school. His sister Rhett Crowe was later the bass player for the band Guadalcanal Diary, a fixture on the college music scene back in the 1980's and 1990's. He has also been involved in several other music projects such as Strictly American and Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars.
In early 1979, Curtis and his friend Bill Tabor sat and listened to Michael Lachowski and Randy Bewley play the same riff over and over in their practice space which was below his apartment in downtown Athens, GA-the original 40 Watt Club-named for a single bulb on a wire that hung overhead. Curtis went downstairs and knocked on their door and offered his services as a drummer. He had played drums since he was a little boy and one of his dreams was to someday play in a band. The sound of the band came together after he joined and Vanessa Briscoe Hay came aboard as the vocalist. Pylon played several parties and caught the attention of the B-52's who helped them obtain a booking in New York which was the major goal of the band at the time. After opening for the Gang of Four on their first two U.S. tour dates, Pylon was able to keep returning to play dates in the northeastern United States and began to record for DB recs in Atlanta, Georgia. They opened for the B-52's in Central Park, toured England in late 1980 and released their first album Gyrate.
Curtis came up with the idea, after seeing some of the clubs that existed in the Northeast, that it was possible to open your own club without too much effort or money, so with the help of his friend Paul Scales, the 40 Watt Club opened in downtown Athens above Yudy's Subs in what had been something called the "Crow's nest". The club proved to be very popular and the floor had to be reinforced with portable beams for all the heavy dancing taking place overhead.
Pylon recorded another album and two singles and broke up in 1983 after touring with U2 for a few of the dates on their first American tour. Pylon was becoming too much like a business for some of the members' tastes, so it was agreed to break up and they did.
Curtis married and settled down and finished school. Athens, GA inside/out was released and there seemed to be more interest in Pylon than ever. Pylon reformed, but this time with more business-like practices in place. They recorded another album and toured with R.E.M and the B-52's. They had a manager. But Pylon broke up again.
Curtis and his wife went on to have two children and he began to work in the film/tv industry as a construction coordinator. He has worked on films like Blue Crush, where he was responsible for "the rock", Cool Runnings and more recently, the first season of Lost, We are Marshall and Californication. He is now divorced, but maintains an amiable relationship with his former wife and children.
Pylon have reformed for fun as of 2005 and have reissued on CD Gyrate,, their first album with bonus tracks which is called Gyrate Plusfor DFA records.
