[DID NOT ATTEND: October 22, 2023] Be Your Own Pet / Birthday Girl
I remember when Be Your Own Pet came out in 2006–they were endorsed and supported by members of Sonic Youth.
They played bratty teenage punk and were a ton of fun. And then they broke up.
They have recently reunited (wikipedia says)
Following a fourteen year hiatus, they reunited in 2021 after being specifically requested by Jack White to open up on a few dates of his Supply Chain Issues Tour.
Their own blurb says
On the heels of playing to packed rooms and enthusiastic audiences at SXSW, Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet have dropped a new single, “Hand Grenade,” via Third Man Records. The song marks their first new music since the release of their seminal Get Awkward album (XL Recordings) in 2008 and was written and recorded by the three founding members Jemina Pearl Abegg (vocals), Jonas Stein (Guitar), Nathan Vasquez (bass), and longtime drummer John Eatherly. Picking up right where they left off and clocking in at just over 3 minutes, “Hand Grenade” is an exuberant return and leaves no question they are the same band that Pitchfork called “vibrantly charismatic” and Rolling Stone labeled “charmingly raw.”
I had not heard of Birthday Girl which is surprising only because of the band’s lineage. A Pessimist is Never Disappointed notes:
I think some folks are, rightly, going to check out Birthday Girl because Mabel Canty’s father is Brendan Canty (Rites of Spring, Fugazi, The Messthetics, etc.), or because Isabella MacKaye’s dad is Alec MacKaye (The Faith, Ignition, The Warmers, Hammered Hulls, etc.). But people are going to stay with this band because the music those two make with drummer Tess Kontarinis is sharply realized and emotive. What’s here on the band’s self-titled debut isn’t so much the sound of a new generation of harDCore, as it is that of the heyday of college rock. Less Beefeater and more Bettie Serveert is what I’m saying.
Sounds great.
Unfortunately, I am trying not to go to as many shows in quick succession. And since I was out last night, I decided to give this one a miss. I’d like to check out Birthday Girl some time though.
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Mary Timony is one of indie rock’s great guitar players. I really enjoyed her band Helium, although I haven’t really listened to them in quite some time.
I Just Read About That... 