Be Your Own Pet / Black Lips

26-Sep-2006 10:48 PM

Contributed by: pete

Be Your Own Pet / Black Lips
September 25, 2006
The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario
Review and Photos by: Pete Nema

Full photo set: Be Your Own Pet

I'm going to write this review like Be Your Own Pet writes and performs their songs. Short and fast. And it's best if you imagine I'm screaming.

I went to Be Your Own Pet almost entirely because I love their band name. Can't help it, it just works for me. Love it. And with a 19 year-old energetic female lead, you know there's likely a few good photos to be had. So I went. After getting through the opening band without puking (seriously, more on that later), Be Your Own Pet came on stage around 11:25 PM. From the moment they started playing, the energy level was insane. Bouncing, head shaking, jump kicks, kicking mic stands, and writhing around on the floor were all part of the incredible pace.

Jemina Gets Started

Jonas Contemplates Who To Make Out With

Insane Energy

But things that burn fast rarely burn long, and Be Your Own Pet burns at the maximum. For the final song of the set, Jemina (vocals) attacked the front row of the crowd with a cymbal from the drum kit while Jonas (guitar) leaned out to grab a full mouth kiss from a fan. After a very brief break, they returned to stage to pump out another two minutes of super-high energy punk, before throwing down their instruments and leaving again. Show over. They spent just 35 minutes on stage in total.

Jonas Down Low

So This Is What It Looks Like In Stop Motion

If Only I Could Hear The Lyrics

Let me back up a bit to the opening band, the Black Lips, and explain my "puking" comment above. The Black Lips have been around longer than Be Your Own Pet, and are known for hard core punk stage antics. Pants off, pissing, lighting their genitals on fire, playing guitar using said genitals - you name it, they've done it, and if they haven't they probably would. So, it's a known danger to be pushed up against the stage for one of their performances.

Low Down Guitar

Feigning Disgust After Man-on-Man

Truly A Class Act

As their set reached peak, the two guitarists locked in a front-to-back embrace and performed some man-on-man mouth action. Seemingly disgusted (either real or acted), one of them started puking all over the stage, all the while holding his guitar and getting a few notes in between sprays. And it didn't stop until he was dry heaving. He then requested a beer from the crowd and it only took a few seconds for one to get passed forward. Definitely the classiest act in current day punk.