Big news for 2000s garage rock fans: Nashville quartet Be Your Own Pet are getting back together, and, fittingly, they’re reuniting to open for Jack White.
Singer Jemina Pearl, guitarist Jonas Stein, bassist Nathan Vasquez, and drummers Jamin Orral and John Eatherly met as teenagers at the Nashville School for the Arts and formed Be Your Own Pet at the ripe age of 15. The group quickly broke the hype machine, signing with XL Recordings and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Records and opening for the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Sonic Youth right off the bat. After releasing two albums, 2006’s Be Your Own Pet and its 2008’s Get Awkward, the band folded under the pressures of indie fame.
“Things happened very fast, probably too fast,” Pearl remembered. “We played our first show at a pizza place that had all ages shows in the basement, and then less than a year later we were being flown across the country to be courted by labels. It was quite literally a whirlwind and incredibly overwhelming.”
After taking some time away from the spotlight, however, the all-grown-up band is ready to play again. “I’ve had a Be Your Own Pet sized hole in my heart for the past 14 years,” Pearl said. “We shared something life-changing together, so to get to go back and do it again as adults feels like coming home.”
Instead of coming back hot with a full-blown reunion tour, the band is taking things slow this time around, opting for a pair of shows with fellow garage rocker Jack White. Be Your Own Pet are set to open for White at The Tabernacle in Atlanta on April 28th and at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville on April 30th.
“We are here to have fun and enjoy the good times,” Stein said. “After enough time goes by, the negativity turns into life experience and the positivity grows and turns into more fun and laughter. Be safe and have fun with it!”
Tickets to Be Your Own Pet’s shows with Jack White are on sale now via Ticketmaster. The dates are just two of 57 shows White has planned this year as he gears up to release two albums. Over the course of the tour, he’ll also be joined by the likes of The Kills, The Afghan Whigs, Geese, Ezra Furman, Chicano Batman, and Briston Maroney, and more.
