Concert review and photo of Jemina Pearl by Creative Loafing receptionist/admin Gabe Loewenberg.
Be Your Own Pet w/She Wants Revenge, The Virgins and Switches
Tuesday May 20th, 2008, Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg
Be Your Own Pet released its second full-length, Get Awkward, back in March. Under normal circumstances, an album on Thurston Moore's (of Sonic Youth) Ecstatic Peace label would fly under the mainstream radar, but a small controversy arose. Some of the label's more palatable releases (such as this one) are distributed by Universal Records. It seems that the major label folks had some concerns about the violent lyrics of three songs on Get Awkward, so the tracks were pulled just before it's release. You can read about it here and here. Having been blown away by the band almost two years ago in Atlanta, I was looking forward to catching them again and was hoping they'd have a score to settle with Universal while on tour.
Upon arriving at Jannus Landing for the Nylon Magazine Summer Music Tour Tuesday, I was greeted by a hodge-podge group of 16 to 20 year-olds that looked angst-y and apathetic, but were probably just dressing the part. As more people filed in, the crowd did get a bit more diverse, I even recognized a few folks that I know to be in my “30 and up” age bracket. Prior to Be Your Own Pet taking the stage, we were subjected to the banal, by-the-numbers, low energy stylings of both Switches and The Virgins. My friends and I passed the time by watching people trip over a slab of cracked, uneven concrete. This was far more enjoyable than the crapfest that was pouring fourth of the P.A. system. I was quite convinced at this point that BYOP would save the day and whip the crowd into a frenzy. I was partially right.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2008.