Sat, Sep 19
BE YOUR OWN PET
with Iguana Death Cult and Fake Dad
8 pm doors
$24.50 advance / $30 doors
all ages
When the four members of Be Your Own Pet stepped into a practice space in December, 2021, it had been more than a decade since they’d all been in the same room. The quartet had last been together in London’s Heathrow airport, having just played to sold out rooms across the UK. Their trajectory had been fast—in the span of two years and starting when they were just 16, BYOP released two albums (via Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace in the US and XL Recordings in the UK), found themselves magazine cover stars, and played to ravenous crowds around the world. But the flame might have burned too quickly and they decided to call it quits.
The quartet had been living in a pressure cooker—both to put on wild performances every night and to keep up with the wild party lifestyle expected to come with their records. Vocalist Jemina Pearl was facing her own layer of stress as the focal point of constant judgment and attention singing at the center of the stage—not to mention as the only woman in the group.
After this white-hot run of a few years as teenagers, the four Nashville musicians moved on, carving their own unique paths. Stein led the way for four studio albums with Turbo Fruits and spun disco records as a DJ, bassist Nathan Vasquez took his own turn at the front with Deluxin’, drummer John Eatherly undertook a variety of projects including Public Access T.V., and Pearl released a Thurston Moore- and Iggy Pop-featuring solo album before stepping away to start a family.
With a fresh slate of tour dates already booked, Be Your Own Pet are looking forward to sharing this new version of themselves with fans who are thrilled to reconnect and new fans who may not have been old enough to remember their first run. But the band are also longing to reconnect with each other and a part of themselves. The quartet are ready to step back out into the wild, vicious Be Your Own Pet world and rough things up again – but this time, on their own terms.
With Iguana Death Cult’s latest iteration, the band laments on personal stories of hardship and doubt whilst fixing their gaze on the burning world around them. Guitars, percussion, synths and a whole lot of soul-searching is all that Iguana Death Cult needed for their recent resurrection. As part of a personnel change the band gained a strong new line-up, including the dazzlingly virtuous drummer Uri Rennert (previously in Häxxan and Brian Jonestown Massacre). This new era of Iguana Death Cult’s existence is channeling their earlier punk and garage style while simutanously feeling unmistakeably like a product of today. It is characterised by razorsharp and highly rythmic riffing by Tobias Opschoor and the relentless drumming by Uri Rennert. By the ever-groovy and effortlessly cool percussion and synths by Jimmy de Kok and by the hefty yet heartfelt voice of frontman Jeroen Reek, guiding the listener through feelings of despair, anger and solace, in that very order.
Andrea de Varona (she/her) and Josh Ford (he/him) aka Fake Dad are a Los Angeles based,NYC bred indie rock meets dream pop duo. Formed in 2020, the two met at a college party inthe East Village and have been inseparable ever since. Melting their own unique artistic visionsto build a shared sonic shorthand, Fake Dad create an intoxicating and colorful musical fusioncomplete with catchy pop-laden hooks, crunchy, 90s inspired guitars, grooving bass lines, andbuoyant synths.
