Be Your Own Pet

Wednesday, June 21, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513.

A A A Comments (0) By Travis Ritter Thursday, Jun 15 2006

Sassy and brash, Nashville's Be Your Own Pet is all about pure, unadulterated fun. Of course, the members are barely adults themselves, which helps explain the rampant, breakneck energy beelining its way in and out of their music.

Be Your Own Pet

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The 33 minutes that make up the quartet's recently released self-titled debut contain 15 infectiously noisy and crashing garage-punk songs voiced by shrill-trilling front woman Jemina Pearl, who confronts and flirts with disaster in the most playful way.

She wonders when she's gonna die on "Thresher's Flail," considers taking your money and virginity on "Bunk Skunk Trunk" and plans to drown her boyfriend on "Bog." But through all her caustic carousing, she comes off as a curious, pleasure-seeking adolescent. On "Adventure," she goes on...adventures, on "Fuuuuun" she has...fuuuuun, and on "Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle" she rides bikes. (Incidentally, BYOP covered "Bicycle Race" on last year's Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.) Much like Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, Pearl is a stick of dynamite on the mike, and her fuse is lit on every song.

The band's adrenaline-rushing sound cross-breeds the Gossip's jangly garage rock with Kaito UK's pogo-inducing rhythm and the Dead Kennedys' punky seed. It should be assumed that their live show will be even more vigorous -- it might even blast you right out of your hole-y socks.