Be Your Own Played the last show of this tour at home in Nashville
This past Saturday night was a culmination of anticipation and love for Nashvillian hometown heroes, Be Your Own Pet. The droves of fans poured into East Side Bowl to see the band that they hold near and dear to their hearts. BYOP formed in 2003 and quickly emerged as a punk band to be reckoned with, but by 2008, it was all over. The band would separate for a handful of reasons and go their own ways for the next 14 years. It would not be until 2022 when the group would get back together to give it another go. And in August of 2023 they would drop a highly anticipated new album, “Mommy”.
The band has evolved and grown from their early on experiences and this new record shows just how good they are. The crowd tonight, also shows me, just how well loved they are. Lead singer Jemina Pearl Swank was meandering through the crowd before her bands set. She was cheering on the opening artists and saying hello to fans, but mostly she was being a mom. I could see this rockstar mother doting on her two young children a few feet away from me and it made my heart warm.
What an experience this must be for her and the band. The first time around they were just teenagers, with a parent always touring with. Now they are adults, and in control, with all the knowledge that they collected during all those impossibly tough times.
The first opener was a band called Budge. The band consists of frontwoman Jessie Hopson, drummer Adam Miller, guitarist Jackson Berra and bassist Chandler Bostick. The band has a sound that takes me back to those alt-rock sounds of the 1990’s, and I absolutely adore it. The music is played with no pitfalls of drag or empty spaces. Everything is filled wonderfully from low murmuring sound and softly sung lyrics to giant explosions of screaming vocals, joyous drum beats and excellent guitar wails.
Hopson exclaims at one point, “This is definitely the largest crowd that we’ve ever played in front of,” and “We are so excited to be here.” They got their chance to highlight their skills tonight, and they did not miss a beat. They dazzled the crowd with their combination power pop/garage rock/ shoegaze sound, and we will be looking for to seeing more for this group.
Brenna Kasis and Ceci Tomè make up Venus, and the backing band is The Flytraps. They are next. Brenna and Ceci met in college in a songwriting class, and the chemistry blossomed into this beautiful collaboration between two honest and inspirational women who rock. I pulled right up front for this portion of the show, and I am glad I did.
Their lyrics are phenomenal, cathartic, fueling and liberating. Both women stand, unitedly strong, at the stage front and swap voices over both grungy and melodic rock ‘n’ roll. Well thought out pace-changing instrumentals back these two and give them the light and freedom that they need to share their message. Brenna states, “Make some noise if you’ve ever felt misperceived” between songs. You can hear it in her voice that this is not just a line, slipped in. It is a rally cry. With songs like “Worse Together”, “Boys Are Cuter When They’re Crying” and “Scaredy Pants”, I can hear the messages of Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett alive and in good hands. They make a declaration of gaining power through heartbreak. These two young, ambitious rock stars will only grow together. I look forward to more empowerment and community driven shows from them.
Without further ado, it is now time for the reemergence of Be Your Own Pet. The band comes out to a ruckus clashing of hands, stomping feet, and high-pitched whistles from the audience that hold them close like family. They are Nashville kin after all. There is a positive vibe in the air that the first two bands have helped to create and now BYOP is about to take it to the next level.
There is so much exuberance in the eyes of lead vocalist Jemina as she takes the microphone. The whole band is in good spirits, and they are immediately laughing and being light and it is as if we are all hanging out in their garage listening to them work things out. However, everything has been worked out and we are here, at the last show of this tour and they break into “Worship the Whip”. A song which sets the tone that they are here again and will dominate the path of their own destiny.
Jemina is joined by guitarist Jonas Stein, bassist Nathan Vasquez and drummer John Eatherly. They are shredding, ripping, and terrifying the naysayers with every note. I think that their blood must be boiling at where the industry left them so many years ago, but they do not seem bitter on stage. The band is happy an appreciative of where they are now, even if it was a tumultuous journey. We all love where they are too. Right in front of us and giving it their everything.
The quartet slams into “Goodtime!” after the opening. This song emulates the transition from youthful and ambitious kids in a van traveling the country with a “What’s Next!” kind of attitude, to the reality of age and the “What the fuck is next?!” confusion that life slaps onto your lap. It is a song about raising two kids, trying to keep up with a mortgage and the fear that your friends are enjoying a more carefree lifestyle without you. The songs are fantastic, and you can see how the band has erected a different sound that was built over the foundation of what they started with.
The fuzz featured guitar riffs, booming bass lines and earth crashing vocals remain and coordinate with this new life and exclamation of we are here and we are not going away this time. The track that really set things off tonight is “Hand Grenade”. The song in an anthem to where they are now. The words from the track hit with unapologetic reverence:
“I’m no survivor/ I’m no survivor/ Another lit match on the pyre/ When you can’t sleep and you can’t sleep/ I’ll be the reason in the middle of the night/ Yes I’m the reason, I am the reason/ That I keep moving towards something like healing/ I’m a survivor”
And the refrain of
I’m not your victim(I’m not afraid)
I’m my own person(I’m not afraid)
I’m not some casualty(I’m not afraid)
I’m not your victim(I’m not afraid)
I’m my own person(I’m not afraid)
I’m not some casualty(I’m not afraid)
This soul shaking battle chant with thunderous percussion and heart wrenching cries from Jemina is just one side one the coin tonight though as we also hear her breakdown and sing a classically arranged love ballad titled “Teenage Heaven”. I feel as if this is an ode to what might have been had the band been able to stay together, but I might just be reading way too far into it. On the surface it is simply love personified with no ill will or false intent. Two people just navigating the world together and letting their endearment be the sherpa. I catch this love from our frontwoman during the set, as she gazes up to the private mezzanine and shoots two handed heart symbols, kisses and shout outs to her kids, during well timed out water breaks.
The crowd will be without a voice tomorrow as they scream along with the songs “Becky” and “The Kelly Affair” which are conveniently placed back-to-back. “Mommy is the bitch in charge, the one in control,” Pearl says. “It’s a reclamation of myself.” Jemina has told various interviewers. We have taken notice.
The show is exceptional, as we knew it would be. This is our band, and they carry the flag for everything right and good. It is not just a bunch of people going to see some show with some bands. Concert going is a shared experience and despite what religion, gender, sexuality, political affiliation, or otherwise perceived difference we might have we gather in a now sacred space, and we hold hands and dance and sing in unity because we can. Words matter, and the words and music of Be Your Own Pet help shine the light so that we can get to our next plateau.
Here’s the set list:
- Worship the Whip
- Heart Throb
- Goodtime!
- Bummer Time
- Wildcat!
- Adventure
- Rubberist
- Get on YR Knees
- Hand Grenade
- Girls on TV
- BeckyPlay Video
- The Kelly Affair
- Black Hole
- We Will Vacation, You Can Be My Parasol
- Big Trouble
- Fuuuuuun / Food Fight!
- Bicycle Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle
- Teenage Heaven
- Bunk Trunk Skunk
