Be Your Own Pet lead singer Jemina Pearl is a lightning rod on the stage. Her stage command and the kinetic energy of Be Your Own Pet put them on the radar of Thurston Moore which lead to their signing to XL and Ecstatic Peace/Universal Records in the early aughts. “I sing my own songs while I run on a treadmill to prepare for our shows,” Pearl tells us in the office of Third Man Records. Twenty years, a child, a band break up, and a reunion has not stopped her from giving everything into a Be Your Own Pet live show.
Pearl did not live through New York in the 70’s, but perhaps an earlier version of herself did. She carries herself with the swagger and poise of The New York Dolls David Johansen or Iggy Pop. Which is why they make so much sense when you see the playlist she made of the songs that are in the identity of the band. There are the notable punk icons and progeny, fringe weirdos, and those that should have been discovered a long time ago, but haven’t been, until you press play.