The Pendletons

HotList Editors Pick
Nov. 15th '08 Issue
#5 - The Pendletons
"Sad Songs"

"Holy Shit! Who are these guys? Peter Buck was spotted at a recent show by these Athens, Georgia, kids, who sound like Vampire Weekend on a semester abroad with Arctic Monkeys. Check them at myspace.com/pendletons and prepare to be impressed."

http://www.rollingstoneextras.com/rsdigitaledition/editionLg.php - Rolling Stone Magazine

The Pendletons
Oh, Me!
(Indie Outlaw)
US release date: 2 June 2007
by Mike Hilleary


Over the years, Athens, Georgia, has built a reputation for nurturing a variety of great musical talent. With acts such as R.E.M., the B-52’s, Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, and many others all hailing from the sleepy college town, there’s a natural level of curiosity to be had in speculating who within the scene might be next to reach some greater recognition.

One such ensemble hoping to make the cut are the Pendletons. With their namesake taken from Atlanta Braves third baseman Terry Pendleton—best known for winning the National League MVP award in 1991—this young quartet of university friends cut their teeth opening for fellow Athenians the Whigs (now one of the more recent additions to the ATO label). Cycling through staple area venues like Tasty World and the 40-Watt Club, the Pendletons began garnering their own following with their sociable performances, at times providing free chicken wings at shows, or buying the entire bar a round of beer.

Of course, at the forefront is the music. On their charming debut album, Oh Me!, vocalist/guitarist Adam Saunders, lead guitarist Colin Moorhead, drummer Ben DuPriest, and bassist Matt Giordano formidably engage in the kind of hook-driven, garage-pop melodies that bring a light-footed bounce within even the most subdued twee listener. Instilled with an upbeat exuberance, the Pendletons deliver the kind of dance-tinged fits you’d like to picture Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang moving to if they had ever stopped bobbing and shuffling to Vince Guaraldi.

Right off the bat, opener “Not Gonna Stop” serves up an appropriate tone setter. Breaking in with feedback and a running high-hat percussion, the band crashes together for a formal introduction. As muted downbeats match Saunders’s emphatic pleas ("I’m not gonna stop / I’m not gonna stop / caring for you") with staccato-like bursts, the track is meant to shake out the limbs and get circulation in all the right places. Even when the song finishes with the type of quickened-pace ending that wedding bands typically reserve to get one last frenetic romp out of its reception guests, it’s all just a warm-up.

Segueing from one pleasant shoe-shaker to the next is “Put That Record On”. With its twittering guitar melody and Saunders’s clever musings on the workday’s catatonic default setting and indifference ("It’s not the worker’s fault / You know that’s what he’ll say / It’s in his orders (in his orders) / But then who’s to blame cause when the thing went wrong no one told us (no one told us)"), the song’s feel-good chorus rallies for an escaping soundtrack. Calling out for something new to listen to, to “turn the music loud”, the track waves a flag of anti-seriousness, marching with trumpets, trombones, and a swing that puts the performance stage and dance-floor on the same level.

It is this particular approachability that makes Oh Me! the fun indie gem that it is. From the foot-stomping hook of “The Rent” (sounding like a clever hybrid of Modest Mouse’s “Float On” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out") to the southern jam rocker “Sad Songs”, and the handclap-centered sing-a-long of “Upstate”, each one of the Pendletons’ songs feels like something casually coming out a practice session. Even when the band slows things down on the album’s woodblock-tapping title track and the sunny closer “On a Submarine”, there’s a specific affability to the band that warrants attendance at their next scheduled gig. Having recently finished a four-month tour that had the band confined geographically to the southeast (minus a daring excursion to New York City and CMJ ‘07), here’s hoping that the next set of dates will bring them a little closer to everyone else.

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/50932/the-pendletons-oh-me/
- PopMatters.com

The Pendletons

By charley Lee

Photo by Bobb Lovett

When living in a legendary music town like Athens, trying to make yourself heard by the rest of the world when swimming in a sea of amazing music is a task that bands have to deal with. The Pendletons are no strangers to this task. However, drummer Ben DuPriest believes it�s ultimately up to the musicians whether or not they stand out from the crowd.

�The music scene in this country is getting really, really cluttered with good bands,� he says. �What�s really good is that bands are always getting better and doing newer and more interesting things, which really pushes everyone to try that much harder and tends to weed out less deserving acts. That�s one of the reasons we like Athens so much. Compared to larger places like Atlanta and NYC, there�s much less stress to look a certain way, or wear makeup, etc. We�d like to think that we can go to those bigger places and still be ourselves and make our own music and see some success.�

Vocalist Adam Saunders, guitarist Colin Moorhead, and DuPriest went to high school together. The three then attended the University of Georgia, where bassist Matt Giordano joined them in 2004. Things took a natural progression from there. The band began playing around small clubs in Athens, working their way up to the bigger venues and expanding their growing fan base.

�Our first gig ever was at a tiny basement club in Athens called �DT�s Down Under,�� Giordano recalls. �Our last Spring Break was a sort of mini-tour for us with a great band and also good friends of ours, Morning State. We are really looking forward to putting together a more formal tour in the early spring.�

Athens darlings The Whigs have had numerous shows for which The Pendletons have opened. It also doesn�t hurt that Saunders recently played bass for The Whigs on their new album this past summer. In Athens, where the music community is such a close knit scene, having a group like The Whigs lauding your band is a sure way to gain more fans and book better venues.

As Giordano recollects, �Going from [DT�s Down Under] to playing the fabulous 40 Watt with fellow Athens bands The Whigs and Modern Skirts was a really big step for us, and Tasty World is probably where we feel most at home.�

Trying to describe the sound of The Pendletons is no easy feat, even for Giordano. �I�d be hard pressed to describe our sound without using the words �pop� and �rock,�� he says. �Really, we play generally fun rock music to go boating to.� Moorhead adds, �It is impossible to describe our sound without using the words �blasm� and �spankle�.�

Giordano�s description might be closer. The Pendletons intersperse indie rock and pop with a bit of �60s surf rock, a little folk-rock and some raw garage rock flavors. Immediately, comparisons to bands like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Wilco, and The Fuzztones spring to mind.

The Pendletons newly released debut album, Oh Me!, has garnered a lot of local buzz and has been in regular rotation on the college airwaves. According to DuPriest, the record is a clear indication of who The Pendletons are and where they�re headed.

�We�re really happy with the album, the way it sounds and the message it sends about us as a band,� says DuPriest. �There�s no doubt that we�ve grown as a band and as individual musicians; the album was made almost a year and a half ago and if we went in the studio now we could certainly play the songs a lot better and rip far meaner solos, but we can�t really concern ourselves with things like that. The album sounds great and makes us feel really good, and most importantly it sounds like us, which is all an honest band can really ask for.�

As The Pendletons� success outside of Athens starts to take steam, future aspirations for the band become clearer as do plans for what's next. "We need to buy a van," Saunders muses. Really, though, just booking shows, heading back out to South by Southwest in the spring, and hopefully recording an EP of some new stuff ourselves in the near future. It would be great to support ourselves simply by playing music, that would be the overall goal that I know many young bands share."

http://www.performermag.com/sep.spot02.0712.php - Southeast Performer Mag

Spotlight
Up & Coming Local Bands
The Pendletons
originally published September 20, 2006

The Pendletons - (L to R) Colin Morehead, Matt Giordano, Ben DuPriest and Adam Saunders - are playing at Tasty World on Friday, Sept. 29 with The Sammies and De Novo Dahl.

This week, Flagpole lifts the lid on the warehouses containing the Pigpen Studios complex on the northern side of Normaltown, where the members of upbeat local four-piece The Pendletons can be found regularly downing beers and damaging their ears.

The Pendletons (three fourths of which met at Westminster, the same private Atlanta high attended by the boys in The Whigs) skirt the line between catchy indie pop and indie rock, with a flavorsome retro feel that motors along on mixed timing and smartly syncopated beats, incorporating both whimsical and engagingly heartfelt vocal melodies. The band also delves into slightly more straightforward garage rock that picks up an occasional surf-rock hook and/ or vibe. Think of a slightly toned down Franz Ferdinand or a more exuberant White Stripes sprinkled with the vibrant color of Ted Leo. The band has progressed from playing Ween and Weezer covers at DT’s Downunder and can now be seen playing original material at Tasty World and the 40 Watt.

For those who like what they hear, The Pendletons also have a pretty snappy self-titled demo EP recorded at the DARC studio in Athens. The demo is also available at shows and two tracks from it can be found on MySpace, alongside some tracks recently recorded at the Go To Your Room studios in Atlanta, which will go towards an album that the band intends to have finished by the end of the year.

Flagpole dropped in on a Pendletons practice to ask drummer Ben DuPriest and the rest of the boys - vocalist-guitarist Adam Saunders, guitarist Colin Morehead and bassist Matt Giordano - a few questions.

Flagpole
The name?
Ben DuPriest
Terry Pendleton, from the Atlanta Braves, was my favorite third baseman. At first it was The Terry Pendleton Brigade, but then it just became The Pendletons.
Flagpole
If the band had a mascot, who or what would it be?
Ben DuPriest
Giant squid? Terry Pendleton’s too easy, I think. Oh no… Thelonius! We have a monkey - not a real monkey, a stuffed one. We used to have stuffed animals on stage at DT’s. I mean, they were really hardcore stuffed animals. We had a poster made with Thelonius holding a Red Stripe bottle. My brother is an artist in Atlanta and he does our posters and he also does a Pendletons ninja teddy. It’s kind of a team mascot, I guess.
Flagpole
Okay, The Beatles or The Stones?
Ben DuPriest
The Beatles, but I could talk about that for hours.
Flagpole
Maybe one day. Here’s a trickier one, The Strokes or The Hives?
Ben DuPriest
The Strokes, that’s easy.
Flagpole
What about Frank Black or Jack White?
Ben DuPriest
I’d say Jack White.
Flagpole
All right, last one: Cat Stevens or Stevie Wonder?
A unanimous cry of “Stevie Wonder!” rolls around the small practice space, even though bass player Matt Giordano reveals that he was - potentially - conceived when his parents got high at a Cat Stevens concert.
Flagpole
What has the band been up to over the summer?
Adam Saunders
This summer we spent three weeks at DARC working on our debut full-length album. We hope to have everything together - mixing, mastering, artwork, CDs pressed - for an early 2007 release. Plus, we really enjoyed working with both Eric Friar and Asa Leffer. They're good guys and have helped us out quite a bit.
Ben Gerrard

online article address:
http://flagpole.com/Music/Spotlight/ThePendletons/2006-09-20

Spotlight is biweekly feature looking at newer or emerging local acts. Next up: Allison Weiss. Is there a band you'd like to see covered? Email music editor Chris Hassiotis at music@flagpole.com.
- Flagpole

Band takes name from baseball coach

ALEC WOODEN
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: Out & About

THE PENDLETONS

Playing with Freeze Tag and Les Napoleones

When: 10 p.m. Friday
Where: Tasty World
Cost: $5

Not that he needs the money, but Atlanta Braves coach Terry Pendleton's name might rise in stock price pretty soon.

Named for the playing (and now coaching) legend, local quartet The Pendletons are set to storm the music world with the release of its debut album "Oh, Me!" Friday at Tasty World.

"We play upbeat indie- rock with melodic vocals, danceable rhythms and loud guitars," said frontman Adam Saunders, adding that the band has drawn comparisons to the likes of The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand and The Shins. "None of those comparisons really fit, but we're somewhere in that vein."

While that vein is certainly open to interpretation, the members of the Pendletons are known for always giving fans their money's worth.

"A successful Pendletons show is loose and energetic," Saunders said.

"Our favorite gigs are always house parties - that's the kind of band we are."

Formed in 2004, high schools pals Ben DuPriest (drums) and Colin Moorhead (guitar) teamed up with Saunders and recruited the bass work of Matt Giordano to round out their lineup. The guys have since gone from cover shows at DT's Down Under to regional touring and this newly polished album.

"We're still fitting gigs in around everyone's academic schedule," said Saunders, though the band will be fully graduated by the time "Oh, Me!" should really be taking off.

"We hope to tour frequently next spring going back to cities like Charlotte, Jackson, Austin and New York."

Recorded at DARC studios in Athens, the first studio face of the Pendletons allowed the indie-rockers room to expand the four piece sound like never before.

"We filled out some of the songs with horns, strings and keys," said Saunders, with the band members and a rotating cast of local musicians all playing a hand in the orchestral layering.

By and large, this is a successful debut from four kids who are aurally infections on stage and, now, in the studio.

The foot-tapping single "Put That Record On" will be a local anthem in no-time, while "Sad Songs" will wear out the rewind button and "Told You So" shouldn't be missed.

This smiling collection of dance-friendly guitar rock is so much fun that it's criminal. "Oh, Me!" is ready to find some serious press in the Southeast and hints that these guys could be good to know in a couple years.

If for nothing else, they could probably score some free Braves tickets.

online article address:
http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2007/04/26/OutAbout/Band-Takes.Name.From.Baseball.Coach-2880991.shtml - Red & Black University paper