Be Your Own Pet

Be Your Own Pet members hate boredom

The relatively young post punk band Be Your Own Pet was formed in 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, in the basement home studio at Indie label Infinity Cat Recordings. The front singer Jemina Pearl Abegg, drummer Jamin Orrall, bassist Nathan Vasquez and guitarist Jonas Stein play quite a simple garage rock intended for entertainment. What the members of be Your Own Pet hate most is boredom and all their songs, rather short and abrupt, are aimed to make everybody forget the daily routine and start having a great time listening to their carefree music. The band is often compared to the New-Yorkers Yeah Yeah Yeahs both for the style combining heavy rock guitars with sharp vocals with unusual angular rhythms and for the stage performances, however the team does not care much for they are doing what they like to do. The debut album Be Your Own Pet has been released this year and presents a collection of joyful young spirited songs in many respects similar to earlier released single Damn Damn Leash – the catchy melodies sung in Jemina’s powerful vocals and the dynamic musical performance are well preserved throughout the album.

Few of the album’s 14 exceed 3 minutes

The album consists of 14 songs few of which exceed 3 minutes and hence sound quite abruptly. Thresher’s Flail opens the album with harsh drums and thrashing guitar parts through which Jemina Pearl’s vocals break in loudly and it lasts not too long, but continues in the following track Bunk, Trunk, Skunk, full of energy and devoid of limitations. There seem to be no restrictions for this band – the rattling drums and wild guitar chords never stop till the very end of Be Your Own Pet. The childishly funny Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle and a bit crazy sound of Wildcat! emphasize the impression of the young blood boiling in the veins of these post punks, while Adventure is one of the songs on which Jemina is really singing and does it to her best. The melody of the famous composition Stairway To Heaven is recognized only in the first words of the eponymous track so it can hardly be called a real cover, especially considering its length – less than 2 minutes. Among the standouts Girl On TV should be named as the best sample of post punk rock with a great guitar part and the front singer’s vocals given full swing and also the closer Ouch, a good way to give an abrupt end to a suchlike album.

One of the most penetrating and memorable albums this year

Each track on the album is filled with emotions hard to define. Since the band members are young and innocent, the day-to-day problems are something too remote for them. Their motto might be “Seize the day!” – the only thing they want to do is to have fun and enjoy their youth, giving them so much energy. The songs on Be Your Own Pet have little sense; the rhymes are extremely simple often decreasing to plain repetition of the same words. This is what post punk is like – it’s only ideology ends up into a mere idea – give up any sort of deep reflections and let yourself go. Such tracks as Fuuuuun reveal the young people’s thirst for risk and taking it all from life. Be Your Own Pet is not trying to satisfy everybody and though there are enough catchy melodies on the album, the way they are played can hardly satisfy delicate ears. This is the music for people having an active lifestyle, free from conventions and longing to hear something fresh, innocent and absolutely wild. For those who need a source of energy and ungovernable emotions Be Your Own Pet is a perfect record. Refined by powerful female vocals it is one of the most penetrating and memorable post punk albums of this year.