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Be Your Own Pet are four teenagers from Tennessee with a couple of well-regarded singles under their belt. They might be used to raucous crowds trashing around tiny venues in their home state but obviously no one has told them about cooler-than-thou London crowds, especially one awaiting fashionista favourites The Kills. So maybe BYOP are right to bemoan the crowd’s insouciant attitude to them, but throwing a tantrum is hardly going to help matters. As Stein struggles once more with his guitar, the pouty, slight singer Jemina Pearl whines about being bored. When they do get around to playing a song it’s a hurtling juggarnaut of loud riffs and splurted screeches that suggests they can’t wait to get off the stage. Despite the trauma (or perhaps because of it) it is a fiery performance from BYOP. Though many of their song’s melodies are lost in a flurry of bad attitude, there’s a spiky energy here that form part of a genuine live assault. Pearl, who seemed all sweetness and light as she limbered up on stage before the gig, turns into a snarling, twitching demon with a microphone – a hormonal Courtney Love fronting The Ramones. She moans about having to play their debut single ‘Damn Damn Leash’, spits the line “throw that fucker out the door” on the riotous closing number ‘Electric Shake’ and breaks her silence to the crowd by hoping “you’ll be nicer to The Kills”. This may not have been the most accomplished performance this venue has ever seen, but dammit, in this world of PR-trained rock stars and media manipulation, it’s nice to see some genuine rebellion. Strop on Be Your Own Pet. words: Colm Larkin |
“I
have nothing to say to you guys”, snarls the girl as she turns
her back to the crowd. Those who had arrived in Kentish Town in
plenty of time to catch main act The Kills, now unwittingly found
themselves in the firing line of a surly teenage strop. Support
act Be Your Own Pet are not very happy. Instead of moshing wildly
to their blistering punk, the audience are standing still and politely
applauding. “Don’t be afraid to jump around”,
offers bassist Nathan Vasquez before one song. No one does. “I
know what will cheer you up”, says guitarist Jonas Stein by
way of introducing their brilliant single ‘Fire Department’.
The response is enthusiastic, if still not the pit of flailing limbs
the band seems to require.