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Get Awkward is the sophomore full-length from Nashville foursome Be Your Own Pet. Making it presented new challenges for Jonas, Jemina, Nathan, and John, and yielded some surprises. The songs remain fast and loud, totally wired and tantalizingly brief. Applying the dubious word "mature" is open for heated debate string arrangements and soppy ballads are blessedly absent but the music definitely reflects a sharp increase in experience. "I was nervous, because it was our first second record," confides guitarist Jonas Stein. Stop squirming that syntax does make sense. "Before we recorded our first album, we'd had those songs for God knows how long, before we'd gotten attention from anyone but ourselves." (Since 2003, to be precise.) And following that gestation period, the ditties featured on their self-titled debut and assorted EPs and singles enjoyed months of refinement on the road. "After all that, it was like, 'Okay, time to write a new record starting from scratch.' It was the first time we'd ever done anything like that." "The first time we were recording was scary," singer Jemina Pearl recalls of making Be Your Own Pet. The band was reluctant to tamper with proven formulae. Dead set against it, actually. "Try a slow song? No way. That's not what we do!" This is where the aforementioned experience creeps in. "You realize, doing other things doesn't make you less true to yourself," she concedes. "So this time, we were trying to mix it up, have more variety, rather than just attack-attack-attack, the whole way through." Adds Nathan: "We knew what sounds we wanted to make with our instruments more easily, and could have more interesting parts, and more interaction." Consequently, now there are shifts in tempo and dynamics: the rolling backbeat of "Becky," the abrupt time changes that punctuate "Twisted Nerve." You also get nihilism with pepperoni and extra cheese ("Black Hole"), and a stadium chant that unravels into white noise cacophony ("The Beast Within"). "There are songs you can listen to that make your heart feel a little soft," says Jonas, "and others that make you want to break something." Or, in the case of "Zombie Graveyard Party," eat some brains. Why the change in attitude? "When you're younger, you have this specific idea of punk," observes Jemina who celebrated her 20 th birthday recording "Super Soaked," shrieking about her reluctance to grow up. "If you don't do this, or look like that, then you're not punk." Screw that. The Stooges featured sax improvisation. The Ramones sang love songs. There are no rules. "But sometimes you forget that, because you're trying to fit into the mold you think you're supposed to," she admits. "This time, we broke out and did what came more naturally." Although the writing process was fundamentally the same, i.e. completely off-the-cuff, there were a few structural changes. For one, the installation of John Eatherly on drums which was only kinda-sorta new, since he and bassist Nathan Vasquez already played together in another band. And Jemina assumed responsibility for the majority of the lyrics. It was she who picked up on the head-shaking, pill-popping, freak out groove of "The Kelly Affair" and grafted on a narrative lifted from one of her favorite movies, Russ Meyer's decadent 1970 debacle Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Likewise, she took all-too-typical feelings of adolescent alienation and betrayal, stuck them under the broiler, and pulled out the murderous revenge fantasy "Becky."
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Reviews:
Fun Stuff
Excellent for it's style of screamming rock. Fun to listen to. Favorite is Party in the Graveyard. If your in love with a zombie, would you let her eat your brain? Just a good CD for the collection and watch the members in the future. Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward
Get Awkward (2008, XL Recordings) Be Your Own Pet's second studio album. ****
I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of punk rock. The entire genre, apart from the classics (i.e. the Ramones), tends to turn me off. The reason is because punk rock helped give rise to the worst thing to ever happen to music: Nirvana. But I have to say that Be Your Own Pet has certainly churned out a fine album. The thunderous opener, "Supersoaked," is probably the most appropriate title that could have been given to this track, which features a galloping guitar crunch. The tunes are smooth (in quality, not the sound) all the way to "Bitches Leave," a song worthy of the 70's greats. After that it's a mixed bag of ridiculously immature songs (Food Fight) that make you wonder who the target audience is. There's no doubt that Be Your Own Pet took lessons from their predecessors, because they don't take themselves seriously. Not since "Beat on the Brat" have their been such mindless lyrics, and that's what makes Get Awkward so enjoyable. Even for, say, the punk-rock hating a-hole. (Supersoaked, The Kelly Affair, Bitches Leave)
-Stephen
www.politicianrock.blogspot.com "Me and her, we'll kick your a**, we'll wait with knives after class!"
"Get Awkward" is the sophomore effort of Be Your Own Pet, a young punk band from Nashville, Tennessee. The entire album is loud and angry, but is still a lot of fun to listen to. Three of the tracks on the CD were banned from release in the United States on account of them being "too disturbing." One of those tracks is "Becky," my favorite song on the album by far, which is about a teenager who kills one of her classmates. The other songs are all pretty good, although a lot of them sound very similar. Also, many of the tracks on this album are incredibly short, less than a minute or two in length, which was a disappointing surprise. Still, "Get Awkward" is a lot of fun, and this group's peppy energy combined with the lead vocalist's killer pipes makes Be Your Own Pet a band to watch in the future. Awesome album
This album is amazing. I like it even more than their first. But one thing to take into account: the US version doesn't have all 15 songs the way the UK version does, because the label consored them. It's total BS, and those songs are amazing. So I would say download the UK version, or buy the UK version because there is some awesome packaging. All four members have a card with info about then that's hilarious. Almost as great as their debut!
I was initially worried that BYOP would have difficulty matching the stellar quality of their debut album. However, I worried for no reason! This album rocks! I've listened to it over 20 times in last few days since receiving it. Top tracks include The Kelly Affair, You're a Waste, and The Beast Within. The one thing lacking on this album (that the debut had in October, First Account) is a potential breakout hit. I'm already looking forward to their next album!  |
Keyword: Music,
Description: Get Awkward
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