[TICKET GIVEAWAY] Be Your Own Pet w/ Venus & the Flytraps and Budge | July 27 @ Eastside Bowl

A band that preceded this site by just a bit, but for a brief moment felt like one of the most exciting and important indie rock bands in the world, if, a few years ago, we were ever pressed to pick any one Nashville band to reunite, it would’ve been Be Your Own Pet, despite the prospect seeming ever-unlikely year by year. Formed in 2004 while still in high school, the group went from burned CDs and DIY shows to world tours, major labels, and endless critical accolades at lightning speed, performing major fests like Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, and Reading & Leeds, earning praise from Zane Lowe, appearing on late-night television, and touring with the likes of Sonic Youth and Arctic Monkeys all while still in their teens. Adopting a pop-laden garage punk sound and a wild and unpredictable performance style, BYOP released just two albums and a handful of EPs before burning out in 2008, largely due to the immense pressure of touring, major label pushback, and the constant attention brought on by their meteoric rise.

After their split, singer Jemina Pearl tried her hand at a brief solo career and married Third Man Records’ Ben Swank, guitarist Jonas Stein (also one half of Sparkle City Disco) launched another popular Nashville group who’ve since disbanded, Turbo Fruits, along with second drummer John Eatherly, who later fronted New York post-punk outfit Public Access T.V. and currently makes music as Club Intl; bassist Nathan Vasquez has long been apart of local group Deluxin’, and, of course, original drummer Jamin Orrall found fame with his band JEFF the Brotherhood (and isn’t part of their reunited lineup, though he gave his blessing). Since originally splitting on rocky terms 15 years ago, Be Your Own Pet had begun to feel more and more like an amazing band cut short who’d simply be relegated to history, a footnote for those too young to obsess over the next big thing during what’s recently become dubbed as the “sleazy indie” heyday. But recently, after noticing reunions from peers and beginning to reconnect as friends, the band had warmed up to the idea of staging a comeback for fun. And once Jack White came calling, asking them to open for him at a string of shows in 2022, they couldn’t say no.

It wasn’t initially clear if those Jack shows in Nashville, New York, and Atlanta, along with a couple of headlining pop up performances around them (including Nashville’s Soft Junk) would be the extent of their return, but given the rapturous response to their comeback, their clear nostalgia for making music together, and the electrifying chemistry in picking up where they left off, we weren’t surprised (but were incredibly thrilled) when the group began joining festival lineups like Primavera, Shaky Knees, and SXSW last year, cementing their full-on return with the announcement of a new LP, more than 15 years after their sophomore effort, Get Awkward, called Mommy, which dropped last summer through White’s Third Man Records. Ferocious and frenetic, the record blends the sound and punk spirit of their original work with the experience and life lived in the years since, and after those festival dates and international shows last summer, BYOP hit the road for their first proper North American reunion tour throughout the fall and winter, preceded by an absolutely incredibly performance last September at Third Man’s Blue Room, capturing the unbridled intensity that earned them such high praise back in the day.

Continuing the momentum into the new year, BYOP appeared at California’s Just Like Heaven festival back in May, and are currently out on a tour of the south and midwest. which caps off back home in Nashville on July 27 at Eastside Bowl! If you didn’t manage to catch any of those aforementioned reunion dates- the pop up show at Soft Junk and with Jack White at Ascend Amphitheater in 2022, or that stellar Blue Room headliner last year- this is another exciting chance to see why Be Your Own Pet are one of the greatest Nashville bands of all time, and tickets are still available right here, with two other great local favorites, Venus & the Flytraps and Budge set to open! We’re excited to announce that we’re also giving away a pair of tickets to one lucky fan, so preview the whole lineup and enter for a chance to win below.

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Be Your Own Pet, Venus & the Flytraps, and Budge will perform Saturday, July 27 at Eastside Bowl. The show is 18+, begins at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.), and tickets are available to purchase for $25-30.