Be Your Own Pet

Now that the kids in Be Your Own Pet aren't exactly kids anymore – they were still in high school when the explosive garage-rock band was born, but they're nearly drinking age now – it's not surprising that they're beginning to show a little bit of, um, maturity. Sure, Jemina Pearl still spits and storms across the stage, and sure, the band still begins every song like a caffeinated racehorse out of the gate, but the production work by Steve McDonald on BYOP's new disc, Get Awkward, applies a little finesse to their attack. Although there's little that can excuse the band touring with the likes of She Wants Revenge, one has to wonder what part of "maturity" required BYOP to cave to record company demands to remove three songs from Get Awkward because they were "too violent." Punk rock is supposed to be at least a little scary, right? Guess growing up is hard to do sometimes.