Partners in the Arts: Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Squalls founder Bob Hay celebrate four decades of creativity

In music and art scenes, relationships are often short-lived, but the enduring partnership of Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Bob Hay transcends four decades and wildly divergent musical styles.

1986 was an especially important year in the lengthy history of the musician-songwriter-visual artists. Not only is it the year the cult-classic documentary “Athens, GA: Inside Out” premiered, it’s also the year the two were married.

Atlanta-born and Dacula-raised Vanessa Briscoe Hay, 70, is best known as the wildly kinetic vocalist of Athens-born new wave band Pylon, and Bob Hay was the stoic leader and guitarist of Classic City-based Squalls.

Formed in 1979, Pylon enjoyed three separate chapters of inventiveness while influencing several significant artists, including the members of R.E.M., Sleater-Kinney and riot grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. 

Originally from Michigan, Bob Hay, 75, led several iterations of Squalls, a popular Athens-based pop band in the ’80s and ’90s. The group updated their sound during the late ’80s to include additional members, expanded instrumentation and a revamped sonic approach. Their blend of melodic rock, angular rhythms and even Grateful Dead-inspired jams informed the sound of several key Athens bands, including Widespread Panic. 

Two days after their recent wedding anniversary, the couple sat down with ArtsATL to discuss their harmonious union.     

“We were married on July 9, 1986,” recalled Vanessa, “and it was right in the middle of quite a year for us. We got married at the courthouse. It was a small ceremony, and just a few of our friends were there. [Pylon bassist] Michael Lachowski videotaped it and [renowned music scene photo-journalist] Sandra-Lee Phipps took photos.”

“The ceremony was kinda funny because the magistrate judge really took his time,” she recalled. “He was finally available and then he’d found out we’d both been married before. So he made a crack that he thought everybody ought to be married two or three times. But it worked out well for us. Even now it’s still a work in progress, because all relationships evolve over time.”

Rather than make their wedding service a party event, the two artists took a more utilitarian approach to their low-key nuptials. “We were working at two different locations of Kinko’s at the time, and, after we went to the courthouse, we went to a seafood place to eat. It was all very simple.”

“Then Bob went over to Kinko’s on the corner of Jackson and Broad Street to copy the marriage certificate. Somebody saw him all dressed up in his suit and tie and they said, ‘Hey, you look like you just got married.’”

“I said, ‘Well, I just did,’” laughed Bob.

The next year, their daughter Hana was born.

“You just live day by day,” continued the soft-spoken songwriter, when asked about their marital longevity. “Then, after a while, it’s year by year. Then, before you know it, it’s 40 years.”

“We’ve been through a lot,” he continued. “We’ve worked, raised two kids, Hana and Victoria, played a lot of music and worked on projects — together and separately. Now we’re empty nesters, and I think it feels good to look back on all of it. Really, it kind of feels like the house is too big, but that’s all right, too.”

The two met in the early ’80s at a Thanksgiving party on Barber Street in Athens. Many members of the early Athens music and art scene lived and socialized in that now fabled area. “It seemed like most of our friends lived right around there somewhere, so it was sort of a central location for a lot of folks because the rent was cheap,” explained Vanessa. “Like a lot of people have said, we sort of made our own fun because Athens was pretty quiet back then.”

Unlike the members of Pylon and many of the early ’80s music/art scenesters, Bob wasn’t enrolled in the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. “But I knew almost everybody,” he said, “maybe except Vanessa.”

“Bob was in the kitchen playing with a little Casio keyboard with Linda Hopper of [fellow Athens ‘golden age’ band] Oh-OK. I sat and watched them for a while, and we all talked. Then he asked me for my phone number,” Vanessa continued. “But I didn’t know him from Adam’s house cat, so I asked a few people about him. They said, ‘Oh, Bob Hay? He’s the nicest guy we know!’ So I gave him my phone number.”

“That party was around Thanksgiving of ’82, I think,” added Bob. “I asked her to go see Bow Wow Wow in Atlanta, but she couldn’t go. So I went back home to Grand Rapids for Christmas — and we stayed in touch.”

After the holiday break, the two finally went on an official date. “He was working as a cook at the Wildwood Café, and the waitresses made us a little table with a candle and flowers on it, and it was all very sweet,” said Vanessa. “We were poor as church mice back then. We didn’t even have two nickels to rub together, so we had to make the most of it.”

Pylon was in the middle of recording their second album at the time. “I was going out on tour a lot with the band at that point, and Bob would write me letters addressed to the hotels where we were staying, and he’d send tapes and stuff. That was how you communicated back then, because otherwise it’d have to be payphones, and that was always tricky on the road.”

Bob had just formed the Squalls project, so both musicians were busy with their respective projects and day jobs.

By late 1983, Pylon decided to disband (for the first time) and Squalls was becoming a popular national club draw. “It’s funny how it’s all been sort of on a linear timeline with us,” said Vanessa. “We’ve always been busy with our own things at slightly different times — and I think that has made it easier for us to grow as a couple, because we weren’t competing at all.” 

By 1986, the early legacy of Pylon and the growing popularity of Squalls were well-documented in the film “Athens, GA: Inside/Out.” Director Tony Gayton and Producer Bill Cody visited the area and interviewed a wide swath of musicians, artists and assorted local characters. In addition to the Hay’s bands, other artists — including Love Tractor, Bar-B-Q Killers, Dreams So Real, Kilkenny Cats, Limbo District, Time Toy and North Carolina’s Flat Duo Jets — were featured.

Producer Cody, who recently relocated to Athens from Los Angeles, has remained in touch with many of the participants since the original interview segments were shot. “I must say, Vanessa and Bob are the real deal,” he said recently, recalling his enduring friendship with the couple.

“They are genuine people, wildly talented, and their track record proves it. When we were shooting the footage that eventually ended up in the film, Pylon were revered, and Squalls were one of the most popular bands in Athens. Since then, their combined legacy has only grown with all the reissues and renewed interest. But I do think [the movie] introduced a lot of people to their distinct charm.”

Cody, currently prepping a newly restored 40^th anniversary print of the film, noted that despite their differences in personality and performance, “it seems like their partnership is a bit unlikely. But once you spend time around them, you can see that it all just works for them. They complement each other, and their music is almost like bookends. I think they mean a lot to very diverse audiences. To some, Bob is the cook at the restaurant or the guy from Kinko’s, but, to others, he’s the guy whose band sold out the 40 Watt a bunch of times and wrote some great tunes. Vanessa is just an iconic presence, and her influence is worldwide. It’s undeniable. Bob’s songwriting elevated the melodic sort of jangle-pop that Athens was kinda known for, but he combined it with just enough jam band elements to create an entirely unique sound.” 

In the ensuing years, the Hay family has continued its artistic pursuits.

By 1989, Pylon had re-formed and recorded a new album, but, by 1992, they broke up again. Guitarist Randy Bewley decided to leave in 1991, “so when Pylon wasn’t all of us anymore,” said Vanessa, “we decided to just stop playing. For a while, anyway.”

The duo’s “work in progress” continued as the ’90s progressed. Vanessa became a registered nurse in 1994, a year after their second daughter was born. Bob began to retool the Squalls sound a bit to incorporate more jam band elements — as he developed other projects, including The Jolly Beggars and A. Che Why.

By 2004, Bewley approached the other members about re-forming Pylon again. The project continued until his death in 2009. “And during that time, we had a bigger band, member-wise, called Supercluster. Bob was in it, and so were Randy Bewley and Jason NeSmith and Kay Stanton. We were definitely staying busy,” added Vanessa.

“Well, I believe you have to keep evolving,” Bob continued, “because otherwise, it can get stale and we both like to change things up a little bit. It’s good for everybody — us and the people who might hear it.”

“I’ve said this before, but it’s true,” added Vanessa. “They say people change their basic ‘cell structure’ every seven years or so, so I guess I’ve regenerated several times since we started Pylon all those years ago. Since 2014, we’ve been doing the Pylon Reenactment Society to basically reenact the spirit of Pylon but with a new approach. We’re definitely not Pylon because we couldn’t be, but we’re honoring the music as we continue to grow and write new songs.”

Bob claims to have “retired” the Squalls project, but he’s not ruling out an occasional appearance here and there. A couple of years ago, he played two classic Pylon songs with the Reenactment Society at a show at the 40 Watt. “You just never know where I might pop up next,” he chuckled.

Two years ago, the Pylon Reenactment Society issued Magnet, its first full-length album of new material, on the New West subsidiary Strolling Bones. New West also reissued a retrospective set of Pylon’s earlier material on the ambitious box collection in 2020. Propeller Sound Recordings recently reissued the first Squalls album, and archival live material has also been released by Strolling Bones.

“Vanessa worked on the lyric videos for two of the live songs,” Bob noted.

This weekend, Vanessa and the current lineup of the Reenactment Society will headline a tribute show at the Variety Playhouse to honor landmark Atlanta record store Wax’n’Facts’ 50th anniversary. The store is also the headquarters for the newly revived DB Recs label, the brainchild of industry veteran Danny Beard.

“DB Recs issued Pylon’s first singles and our first two LPs,” she said. “Now, with all of these different anniversaries swirling around, everything seems to be coming full circle.”   

Where and when

Pylon Reenactment Society headlines the Wax’n’Facts 50^th Anniversary Celebration, Sunday, July 19. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; show begins at 6:30 p.m. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. NE. 404-524-7354, varietyplayhouse.com.

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Lee Valentine Smith is an Atlanta-born artist, writer and musician. Currently a regular contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his work has been syndicated internationally. He has appeared at Music Midtown, on CBS Radio and on Air America. He also served as art director, consultant and archivist for projects with ’80s hitmakers The Go-Go’s.