Be Your Own PET (BYOP) has been wreaking havoc since their inception in 2003. Back then they were just some crazy-talented teenagers sitting around a Nashville basement. Now they’re still crazy-talented and teenaged, but they’re out of the basement and on the road. Of course, they had a little help from their families: Lead singer Jemina Pearl Abegg’s dad is Christian artist Jimmy Abegg; guitarist Jonas Stein’s dad is music manager Burt Stein; and bassist Nathan Vasquez’s dad is acclaimed Latin jazz guitarist Rafael Vasquez (no info on whether drummer John Eatherly’s got any famous relatives). But all the famous relatives in the world won’t get you the kind of rabid fans BYOP’s got. That you only get by consistently offering up relentless, hard-hitting, messy, “I’m sure there’s a melody in there somewhere” garage rock. And who said America’s kids were all hell-bound?
This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2006.