Pet Sounds

Having listened to the new album by Be Your Own Pet (henceforth known as BYOP) repeatedly, I anticipated a killer show. Here's a brash young band out of Tennessee that describes their music as "a kick in the ass". That's a good start. After all, Rock Club has a fondness of all things ass. It's a bold way to describe your sound, but listen to their album and it's tough not to agree with the little fuckers. I was ready for BYOP to put the Rock in Rock Club.

Well, as the old sports clique goes, "that's why they play the game". The concert was a disappointment. Before I get to what went wrong, let's point of a few of the positives. I'll now use a little device I like to call a "list":

1 - The lead singer was pretty good looking. I'm not going to lie. I'd bounce that ass. Yeah, I said it. What?
2 - Their insults to the crowd were pretty funny, especially "Suck My Anus!". This along with the various insults from the zitty young bassist were the highlights of the very short set.
3 - The guitarist was very good and the drummer was outstanding. However, they weren't enough to save the show.

I couldn't tell if the band was just having an off night or if they're just a terrible live band. Could be a mix of both. Jemina, the saucy lead singer, seemed like she had the flu. Her performance was lacking and outside of the "Suck my anus!" comment, she had little interaction with the audience (tough to categorize the anus comment as a "rapport"). This brings me to an important point. Many web sites have compared her to Karen O. from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, and Beth Ditto from The Gossip. Well, Jemina, I've seen Beth Ditto sing. Beth Ditto is a friend of mine (no she's not, but just go with it). You, my friend, are no Beth Ditto!

[side note: the only reason I added the previous paragraph was for Potsy. The kid loves Lloyd Bentsen humor.]

BYOP plowed through the songs with energy but they seemed to be running in place. Each songs sounded the same. Jemina could have been singing the exact same lyrics over and over for all I knew. The band really lost me when the bassist spit on a kid not far from me. Now, I know it's a time honored punk tradition to insult the crowd and even spit on them. However, BYOP is not exactly the Sex Pistols. The move was either a bit contrived or the bassist was just a tool. I'm going with the later. After about 30 minutes the band called it a night and opted not to come back for an encore. It was the right decision.

BYOP's sound is ideal for a great live show, but they just can't deliver. I'll continue to listen to their stuff, but you won't catch me at another one of their shows. Suck your anus? No, young lady, you suck mine.

Rock Club rating: 3.1

The night wasn't a total loss because I did get to see four songs by the opening band, Black Lips. The day of the show I checked out their first album and I wasn't too impressed. It fact, it kind of sucked. I guess their other albums are better. Having already written too much and seeing as this review is horribly overdue, I'm again going to use a "list" to summarize the Black Lips performance:

1 - The lead singer had a glorious mustache (picture pending)
2 - Their sound has been described as southern-fried garage punk
3 - With three singers, they had a bit of a Futureheads thing going on
4 - Despite the garage/punk flair, a couple songs had a strange Beatles and Beach Boys sound. I think it's called "melody".
5 - Three guitarists, no bass. They bring the straight forward rock.
6 - Finished the set with a series of exaggerated bows to a cheering crowd who had not idea they were about to be let down by BYOP.

Rock Club rating: 6.2