Be Your Own Pet Return With "What A B*tch"
BE YOUR OWN PET RETURN WITH NEW SONG, “WHAT A B*TCH” - LISTEN
NEW SINGLE PREMIERES TODAY VIA THIRD MAN RECORDS
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR KICKS OFF SEPTEMBER 10
IN LAWRENCE, KS, SUPPORTING ANAMANAGUCHI ON SELECT DATES
Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet return today with the raucous new single, “What a B*tch,” available now via Third Man Records. The official music video for the track also premieres today, which was made in collaboration with Third Man labelmate Blair Tramel of Snooper.
"’What A B*tch’ is an anthem for anyone who has ever been labeled too much, too loud, too brash, just because they dare to be themselves,” explains vocalist Jemina Pearl Abegg. “My daughter got called a ‘bitch’ by a classmate for the first time this year and was devastated by it. I told her every woman I love and respect has been called that and worse just for existing, so reclaim it and wear it as a badge of honor. That inspired me to take all the insults I've received over the years and turn them into a source of power instead. This song is my rally cry for all the so-called ‘bitches.’ I love us!”
On the experience of working with Blair Tramel of Snooper on the music video, Pearl Abegg says, “Blair Tramel has been a dear friend for many years, and her creativity has always inspired me so much! It was great to have a project we could finally collaborate on and the ideas just kept pouring out of both of us. I’m so thankful to have her unique vision and talents turn my silly idea into a real music video.”
LISTEN TO “WHAT A B*TCH”
WATCH “WHAT A B*TCH” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Still From “What A B*tch” Official Music Video, Directed by Jemina Pearl Abegg, Art Directed by Jemina Pearl Abegg, Blair Tramel, and Pierrette Noel Abegg, and Edited by Blair Tramel // Download Here
In 2023, Be Your Own Pet released their long-awaited new album Mommy via Third Man Records, marking a triumphant return after nearly 15 years apart. Following a whirlwind two-year career in the late 00’s that saw the four teenagers release two records (via Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace in the US and XL Recordings in the UK), become magazine cover stars, and play to ravenous sold-out crowds around the world, it became clear that the flame burned too quickly and they needed to call it quits. Now, a decade and a half later, the band hasn't skipped a beat, as evidenced by this explosive album.
Mommy was written and recorded by the three founding members, Jemina Pearl Abegg (vox), Jonas Stein (guitar), Nathan Vasquez (bass), and longtime drummer John Eatherly. In March of 2022, BYOP made an explosive comeback with a series of shows supporting Jack White. As they reunited in the rehearsal room, the first time they had all been together since their breakup, they swiftly rediscovered their bond was still there and that very same day began writing the album.
STREAM/PURCHASE MOMMY
Be Your Own Pet will hit the road this Fall for a run of headlining dates and support slots with ANAMANAGUCHI. For more information, see below and follow Be Your Own Pet on Instagram at @byopband.
BE YOUR OWN PET LIVE
SEPTEMBER
Sep 16 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar & Billiards
Sept 17 - Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theater*
Sep 18 - El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Place*
Sep 19 - Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin*
Sep 20 - Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory*
Sep 21 - Memphis, TN @ 1884 Lounde
OCTOBER
Oct 14 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle*
Oct 15 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
Oct 16 - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade*
Oct 17 - Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues Orlando*
Oct 18 - Miami, FL @ Gramps
Oct 19 - Tampa, FL @ Crow Bar
Oct 21 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
Oct 22 - Savannah, GA @ El-Rocko Lounge
Oct 23 - Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
* w/ ANAMANAGUCHI
ABOUT BE YOUR OWN PET:
When the four members of Be Your Own Pet stepped into a practice space in December 2021, it had been more than a decade since they’d all been in the same room. The quartet had last been together in London’s Heathrow airport, having just played to sold-out rooms across the UK. Their trajectory had been fast—in the span of two years and starting when they were just 16, BYOP released two albums (via Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace in the US and XL Recordings in the UK), found themselves magazine cover stars, and played to ravenous crowds around the world. But the flame might have burned too quickly, and they decided to call it quits.
The quartet had been living in a pressure cooker—both to put on wild performances every night and to keep up with the wild party lifestyle expected to come with their records. “You give a bunch of teenagers some money and tell them to go on tour forever? It's probably not the healthiest thing,” guitarist Jonas Stein says. “I just felt like I could not maintain a healthy emotional status and craved stability.” Vocalist Jemina Pearl was facing her own layer of stress as the focal point of constant judgment and attention, singing at the center of the stage — not to mention as the only woman in the group. “We were all under 21 and were partying our asses off all the time,” she says. “And I think people had this expectation that the Be Your Own Pet show was gonna be crazy. We needed to be that spectacle every single night, and it was a lot for us to take on.”
After this white-hot run of a few years as teenagers, the four Nashville musicians moved on, carving their own unique paths. Stein led the way for four studio albums with Turbo Fruits and spun disco records as a DJ, bassist Nathan Vasquez took his own turn at the front with Deluxin’, drummer John Eatherly undertook a variety of projects, including Public Access T.V., and Pearl released a Thurston Moore- and Iggy Pop-featuring solo album before stepping away to start a family.
“For better or worse, we all were slapped in the face that it wasn’t as easy,” Stein says. “We were all moderately successful, but we didn’t have that Be Your Own Pet chemistry.” The idea of a reunion began creeping back, and a chance encounter with Jack White led to a quickly planned reunion show opening for him. “We started writing songs the first time we practiced,” vocalist Jemina Pearl grins, the wild streak that inspired and amazed countless audiences burning as bright as ever. “Immediately.” And just as fast as they started, Be Your Own Pet realized they weren’t content with jamming out the old hits, and the daydream of a single Nashville performance soon morphed into a full run of gigs opening for Jack White. Along the way, Pearl found herself digging back into the music that inspired the origins of Be Your Own Pet (X-Ray Spex, The Adverts, The Damned, Devo), stuff she’d tucked away for a decade. “Be Your Own Pet was my identity for so long, and then when we broke up I went through this period where I didn't know who I was anymore,” Pearl says. “I often felt so powerless back then. Not in control of my own mind or the chaos around me. That's why it’s been so amazing to get a second chance with this band, as adults and on our own terms.”
2023 found Be Your Own Pet back with a new album and stronger than ever before. Mommy bolstered the group’s patented garage punk ferocity with matured songwriting, inspired musicianship, and a fervor to claim their space and define their future. “I’m not your victim, I’m my own person/ I’m not some casualty, I set myself free,” Pearl roars on lead single “Hand Grenade”, propelled forward by a burst of guitar shrapnel from Stein and a time-bomb rhythm section courtesy of Vasquez and Eatherly. Born during the group’s first day of writing, the track is both a vicious rebuke of the sexism and abuse that pervades the music world and a steely refusal to be defined by it. “That song’s one of my little babies,” Pearl says. “By telling our stories and sharing our truth, we can gain power back from a situation where we felt powerless.”
On Mommy highlight “Goodtime!”, that exaggeration comes through in the form of trying to balance two kids, a mortgage, and some FOMO. “Used to be the life of the party/ Crashing out nothing to lose/ Now I’m not so juvenile/ I got nothing left to prove,” Pearl shouts over a roiling garage thump, before quickly transitioning to wondering aloud whether everyone else is still hanging out and just not calling her. “The older you get, the more responsibility and compromise, the more people that depend on you—but there’s always a little bit of missing the freedom from when you’re younger,” she explains. Stein agrees: “You can be nurturing an adult life with your family but still looking over your shoulder like, ‘God, I wanna be partying.’”
The group has grown a lot since their first run, both personally and musically, but has managed to reshape their razor-edged swagger through the turmoil. “It got kind of dark towards the end. My own challenges with mental health probably affected everybody in the band. I was undiagnosed with bipolar 1 at the time. It felt like we were just on this runaway train,” Pearl says. “Years later, we wanted to come back together in this new, more evolved place, to connect the threads between our old records and Mommy, while not worrying about what other people’s expectations might be.”
In the studio, the quartet reveled in leveraging their new freedom and strengths through their old formula. While Pearl had previously fitted lyrics into the others’ songs, she brought her own song ideas into the writing room for Mommy. Stein, meanwhile, relished the opportunity to riff out some new lead guitar parts after relinquishing that role while fronting Turbo Fruits. Vasquez evolved from a rough-around-the-edges rocker in the band’s early days to the band’s limber, inventive engine. Eatherly’s newly diversified skill set led to even more robust songs. “He’d be shouting out melody and production ideas while drumming,” Stein says. “He’s that super-talented motherf*cker that pisses you off because he plays everything better than you.”
The thunderous capacity of the rhythm section powers songs like “Big Trouble”, a siren-laden jam where Pearl insists on her own emotions and reality. Elsewhere, “Worship the Whip” plays out like an explicit, leather-clad dom evolution of “Whip It”, the riotous “Pleasure Seeker” stomps and snarls through a glorious layer of fuzz, and reverb-laden retro ballad “Teenage Heaven” brings a relationship back to a place that’s no bickering and all making out.
Be Your Own Pet are sharing this new version of themselves with fans who are thrilled to reconnect and new fans who may not have been old enough to remember their first run. But the band are also longing to reconnect with each other and a part of themselves. “Mommy is the bitch in charge, the one in control,” Pearl says. “It’s a reclamation of myself.” With that, the quartet are ready to step back out into the wild, vicious Be Your Own Pet world and rough things up again – but this time, on their own terms.
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Photo credit: Angelina Castillio
