Okay, so I had no idea that when Jen posted Be Your Own Pet’s ‘Adventure‘, I’d be about to listen to one of my standout tracks of 2006 so far; and this was especially surprising, since I’d heard some random stuff of theirs and been left thinking… meh. But the mail brought me the record, and I’ve been caught hook, line and sinker. Snappy, loud, mindlessly, gratuitously and superbly full of gratuitous swearing (‘Bunk Trunk Skunk’) Be Your Pet has the same kind of excitement as I always associate with taking a chainsaw to a shed; it’s jump up and down, kick out and dancing on the dining room table kind of music. BYOP claim to like boredom ‘cuz then you can SMASH IT!’; not surprising for a band that exhorts you to burn it all down (‘We Will Vacation, You Can Be My Parasol’). But you’re not going to get bored listening to Jemima Pearl’s voice, which matches the razor-sharp guitar work, and challenges it for… razor-sharpness; although she also displays a softer sensibility to match the punk stylings on ‘October, First Account’. Similarly, the band’s sense of humour is as twisted as the music; check out the video for ‘Adventure’, which features a bunny hunt which culminates as bunny’s friend cries and the band tuck into rabbit barbeque.

Credit also has to go to any band that designs their own record sleeves with crayons.

It’s pretty breathless stuff, especially coming from a band made up entirely of asthma sufferers, but keep up; it’ll be worth it!

Watch the video for first single, (58 second long) ‘Let’s Get Sandy’ here.

Be Your Own Pet – Fuuuuuun (yousendit / megaupload)
Be Your Own Pet – October, First Account (yousendit / megaupload)

Remember, they’re touring all over the place!