Be Your Own Pet at Elsewhere on October 28th

We’re on two wheels baby!!! Be Your Own Pet hits the road for the twentieth anniversary of their iconic self-titled debut album, bringing the show to Elsewhere on October 28th with support from Farmers Wife and Josephine Network. 

Be Your Own Pet was formed in 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee by Nashville School of the Arts classmates, Jemina Pearl (lead vocals), Jonas Stein (guitar), Nathan Vasquez (bass), and Jamin Orral (drums). Signing with Sonic Youth’s Turston Moore’s label, Ecstatic Peace!, BYOP released their debut album, Be Your Own Pet, in 2006, which received high-praise from magazines like Pitchfork and NME for its raucous, yet incredibly tight, chaos. Rocking with all the punk energy of bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sleater-Kinney, Be Your Own Pet is nonstop anarchy from start to finish with high-octane songs that hardly ever approach three minutes filled with screeching guitars, animalistic drums, striking feel switch ups, and seamless song transitions that keep the listener hooked for all 15 songs and thirty minutes. BYOP also never shies away from humor with song names like “Bicycle Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle,” “We Will Vacation, You Can Be My Parasol,” and “Stairway to Heaven” (which is about as far away from a Led Zeppelin cover as you can get), which highlight the teenage snark laced throughout their music. Pearl ties it all together with her in-your-face attitude and punchy vocals instantly recognizable for her signature screams, squeals, snarls, and fast-paced lyrical delivery that embodies the get-out-of-my-way spirit of the band and would go on to inspire countless frontwomen as Karen O and Courtney Love did for her. 

BYOP followed up in 2008 with the equally chaotic Get Awkward with new drummer John Eatherly, which continued the mayhem and intensity of their debut with aggressive and cheeky songs like “Super Soaked,” “Heart Throb,” and “Food Fight!,” before they sadly split up later that year after concluding their UK tour. The band regrouped 13 years later to the delight of many playing their first reunion shows opening for White Stripes singer Jack White on his Supply Chain Tour in 2021. In 2023, they released, Mommy!, through White’s label, Third Man Records, which embraced a newfound maturity that perhaps was inevitable in the 15 years between their last two albums. A little less frantic, a little more groovy, the album branches out to experiment with previously unexplored sounds while still embodying the forward-moving aggression and observational snark that defined their early music, this time through the lens of adults with a little more life experience. 

Now, Be Your Own Pets returns their focus to their smashing debut with a twentieth anniversary tour on which they will play the album “in its entirety (the good, the bad, the lazy, and the ugly) and then a second set of all our favs from the other albums.” Known for their chaotic, mosh-filled concerts, Be Your Own Pet continues to rock as hard as ever with an unmatched urgency and aggression that perfectly encapsulates the wild spirit of their relentless punk. Don’t miss Be Your Own Pet at Elsewhere on October 28th!

How to Get Be Your Own Pet Tickets

Tickets are available now at Eventbrite.com. You can also purchase tickets at the door on the day of the show.

Location: Elsewhere (Zone 1)

Address: 599 Johnson Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11237

Show Time: 7 p.m.

Doors Open: 6 p.m.

Ticket Price: $33, $39 Day of Show

Ages: 16+