Meet Ian Pendlington: Band member and manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Pendlington and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important thing to us has always been our team and our support system. The team being just three members of the band. We are always there to continue to motivate each other when things inevitably feel stressful or overwhelming. We also push each other creatively to be better than we have been before. Our support system is our family and friends. We are fortunate to have very supportive parents that allowed us to work in their homes until we could afford to get our own space, and we have all have partners that understand and support our career as independent musicians. 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We actually have a lot of similarities to some of our favorite musicians. From funny stage banter to three part harmonies, and lyrics people connect with. Maybe we stand out by accidentally combining those things, which people seem to enjoy and be surprised by at shows. I like to think people get more than they expected. I’m proud to have made music with my two best friends that people actually want to listen to, and connect with. As simple as that might seem, it feels amazing. We’re ecstatic every time we meet someone who connected with a song of ours. We got to where we are with a combination of work and luck. As far as the luck part goes, if we didn’t have supportive families when we began, it would have been almost impossible to start this band. Besides that, we’ve performed as much as we could for 6 years, taking lessons from every gig and rehearsing to lessen the flaws we had until we were good enough to be as entertaining and tight as we could. We’re still improving. I’d say it’s not easy, but very enjoyable, and all the more possible because we keep each other inspired when it gets a little tough. The most recent skill/lesson I think we’ve learned is communication as a band. We’ve always tried, but this past couple years has been great. We can be constructive with each other, and take criticism more as a compliment than an insult. It just means we know we can do even better. (Also, some gigs aren’t worth playing. That will mean something different to every musician, and took us some time to learn) What do we want the world to know? That we exist, we love playing music for people (if that wasn’t clear by us being a band) we’d love to meet you one day, and we appreciate every moment you spend with us.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One place my wife and I always take friends and family from out of town is a vegan restaurant in Buckhead called Cafe Sunflower. To go see music, it would definitely be Red Clay Music Foundry in Duluth, GA. It’s our favorite place both to play and see music in Georgia. Other than that, we often end up spending a lot of time with guests at our home, hanging out, cooking, and having drinks.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would definitely dedicate any of our success to our parents. They gave us a space to make music starting out, and encouraged us to work harder and harder at it.

Website: https://www.highbeamsmusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highbeamsmusic/
Twitter: Twitter.com/highbeamsmusic
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/highbeamsmusic
Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/user/Highbeamsmusic
Other: Our new single “Keep You Around” is out now on Spotify!

Image Credits
Live shot black and white- Meg Schelin All others – Julie Lott