For all the overheated attention lavished upon Be Your Own Pet, four art school kids who went from honing their craft at local hardcore venues to indie flavor-of-the-month when they released their self-titled debut album in 2006, the band has proved remarkably resistant to letting it all go to their heads. “When you’re in the middle of a storm you can’t really tell what’s going on,” says front woman Jemina Pearl of the Pets’ widespread acclaim, which earned them a coveted spot on Universal Records’ imprint, Ecstatic Peace (helmed by Thurston Moore).
“The weirdest was like seeing ourselves on the cover of some publication and thinking like, ‘we shouldn’t be there,” says guitarist Jonas Stein. But when a group of teenagers (and one 20-year old) wreak havoc with 100mph rock ‘n’ roll, made of equal parts power-pop and garage punk-not to mention furiously foulmouthed lyrics courtesy of Pearl, whose explosiveness and camera-friendly good looks give new meaning to the term blonde bombshell-magazine covers and record contracts are par for the course.
With fast-paced guitar riffs and over-the-top rants violent enough to earn them a “Parental Advisory” sticker (and the kind of fan base that comes with it), their recently released sophomore effort does not disappoint, offering up a good helping of heads down, race-you-tothe- finish, confrontational tracks like “Bummer Time,” “Food Fight!” and “Zombie Graveyard Party,” thanks in part to bassist Nathan Vasquez’ own musical exploits.
“I was into the Misfits real heavily around the time we were making the album,” he says. Recorded last summer, Get Awkward is a cautionary tale of youthful ambition turned to druggy LA excess that even goes as far as to give a lyrical shout-out to the fictional all-girl group from Russ Meyer’s vicious, campy classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in the track “The Kelly Affair.” Fortunately- for the Tennessee four-piece’s parents, at least-Be Your Own Pet’s rise has not been marked by the porn star trysts and murderous, transsexual rock Svengalis that plagued Meyer’s The Carrie Nations. For a band this raucous however, at least some wild antics are bound to catch up with them sooner or later.
http://beyourownpet.net
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