I was pretty skeptical when first approached with music by Be Your Own Pet. They are an ideal band from a marketing standpoint, just a group of teenagers from Nashville that crank out short, catchy garage rock tunes fronted by a cute female vocalist. To my absolute surprise, these kids fucking blew my socks off. I was first exposed to their music via the debut single “Damn Damn Leash,” a tune that proved to me that this band might have some potential. As an appetizer to their full-length album, hitting stores in June, BYOP has offered up an EP to tide us over. The Summer Sensation EP contains five cuts including the catchy-as-hell “Bicycle, Bicycle.” Rumbling drums and a fat bass line leads to Jemina Pearl’s explosive, Karen O-flavored vocals. No fancy production, no slick effects, just concise punk tunes that sound mighty good for kids not even old enough to buy booze.
BYOP shows musical growth on “Fire Department”, slowing their tempo down just a tiny bit, adding in a touch of disco drums to the intro, with a great bridge allowing bassist Nathan Vasquez to take the spotlight for just a moment until Pearl explodes into the chorus. “Take That Walk” slows down even a bit further, giving Pearl a chance to actually sing for a minute, rather than just a continuation of her punk rock yelps that comprise most of the band’s material. With tunes this solid, their debut full-length album has the potential to be damn damn good. In less than fifteen minutes, the length of the Summer Sensation EP, I went from a skeptic to a fan. These teens are just what we needed get garage rock out of the monotonous slump that it has fallen into.
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