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Be Your Own Pet Get Hot, Heavy in NYC

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As the Fillmore East quickly filled to capacity last night (May 28), adoring fans, fashionistas, and hipsters alike joined forces in one huge sweaty pit of ambiguity for a kick-ass bill highlighted by Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet.

But, unlike the molten sea of fans beneath them, each performing act stood out on their own; Switches kept the crowd interested with their thick British brogue when tunes like “Lovin’ It,” off latest LP Lay Down the Law, weren’t able to pick up the slack. The quartet’s generic brand of pop-rock is certainly tight, but never wanders off the beaten path — it could have been playing over the P.A. system with the pithy British quips (“We’re from Lonnnnnndon! Wooooo!”) overdubbed.

After a brief break, New York City’s the Virgins, ahem, switched things up with clanking Police-like dub guitar over droned vocals and snappy bass. But, fittingly, their set was short — the band still hasn’t popped its first full-length cherry. Despite the brevity, the crowd bobbed heads and tapped toes to “Rich Girls,” a grooving, Hall & Oats-tinged ditty.

Bringing a newfound energy to the Fillmore that was part surf-rock part DC-punk underground, Be Your Own Pet’s Jemina Pearl moved like Zelda Fitzgerald in a flapper dress, riding the horizon over the din of screeching feedback. And guitarist Jonas Stein brought new meaning to the power chord, playing heavy, fast, and tight through Get Awkward tunes like “The Kelly Affair” and “Becky.” BYOP held the crowd like a teenage crush — fleeting, hot and heavy right up to the final “Go fuck yourself!”

We asked: Considering Be Your Own Pet’s latest album title, Get Awkward, what’s the single most uncomfortable thing that has ever happened to you at a show?

Read the fans’ answers >>
More photos from this show >>

We Asked:Considering Be Your Own Pet’s latest album title, what’s the single most awkward thing that has ever happened to you at a show?.

Back to the story >>
More photos from this show >>

Switches / Photo by Alyse Walsh

Be Your Own Pet / Photo by Alyse Walsh

Be Your Own Pet / Photo by Alyse Walsh

Back to the story >>
Read the fans’ answers >>