Be Your Own Pet

Ever since they first burst onto a scene that was unashamedly gay for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with 'Damn Damn Leash', Nashville's Be Your Own Pet have parted opinion across the land. That was back in 2004, now they are seasoned pros, but tonight sparks the final bout.

What brings us here is a feeling there's something unique, something that's hard to put the finger upon, about Be Your Own Pet. While the riotous one minute twenty second adversarial bouts are brash, loud and jarring they are full to the brim with good natured youthful poppy enthusiasm. Maybe it's their raison d'etre - a group of goofball American kids who thrashed out the odd extremely catchy tune - that makes them loved by this audience (as young as it is old, as 'straight' as it is alternative, as female as it is male) so much. After all, popular music which airs on the side of credibly alternative has always been the key for any A&R man. A sure fire way to recruit the major fanatics. Fan girls, fan boys, whatever.

A few teens are to be found begging for the fabled - and by the time we arrive now infamous - 'spare ticket' outside Camden Dingwalls tonight. To find one would mean entry into their very own chocolate factory, for tonight marks what is being touted as the final show, like, EVER dude.

Spas-pop? Goober punk? ADD Anarchy and one last hurrah...

One quick punch in the face after another comes almost as soon as BYOP take to the stage, just as soon as they chug their way through a nice little opener in the form of the instrumental part of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain', that is.

Ladies, gentlemen... start your engines!

As Pearl shouts "I'm an independent motherfucker!" towards the start of 'Bunk Trunk Skunk', it's received with vigour from this crowd, whipping them into a frenzy which develops into sweat-addled torsos greasing along the heads of the bouncing crowd. One guy on the shoulders of his buddy starts to do the helicopter with his sweater before a stray stage invader flies into his path, knocking him from his perch. Soon this juggernaut of unrelenting pace crashes straight into 'Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle' and everyone is just waiting, fists clenched, ready to launch skywards as Pearl shouts "Have fun, and be safe with it, just kidding...FUCK SHIT UP!". If you are standing towards the back of Dingwalls at this very moment, and not in the very middle of this energetic rabble, this is the moment when you feel as though you've never truly experienced the vigour of life.

As banned commentators on the pitfalls, angers and attitudes of adolescence, Pearl and her band have proven they can rile a suit. Get Awkward favourites 'Blackhole' and 'Becky', banned in the US, go down like crucial social diatribes on record but exist purely as killer pop songs to stoke the fires tonight.

What is nice to see tonight is that even during the constant stage invasions which leave the band little room to actually play, Pearl can stay good humoured. "Could you please give us some room on stage! Its taken us years of practice to master these three chords." she says. Its a refreshing joke which, coupled with an impromptu visit onto the stage from their slightly creepy out-of-place looking producer "Uncle Stevie", shows Be Your Own Pet go out without their heads up their own arses.

Before the break-neck circus is on its way Pearl announces "Thank you to you guys for coming to our show! It's been a fun time, it's been the best of times, it's been the worst of times. Its been mostly the best of times though. This is our last song, Super Soaked..." And here's what happened next:

As the crowd close in, mementos seem their primary objective. Like piranhas around the rotting corpse of a small animal, this crowd fight with the venue staff to take what they can. The modest heap of tangled wires that are spat out the other end lay on the ground like a dishevelled skeleton, beaten into submission. Pearl was quoted earlier this week as saying "We want to go out with a bang, while people still give a fuck!". Mission accomplished then! Tonight alone has displayed just why Be Your Own Pet are a band to be missed. Maybe not mourned, for more will come, but missed nonetheless. No chance of an encore then? Fuck!

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