Be Your Own Pet


The Wedgewood Rooms - April 2006
Words and image by Stuart Leech

I can’t remember, in any of my Easter holidays, ever being lucky enough to have been treated to a matinee performance from a hotly tipped young punk band. Be Your Own Pet grab you by the scruff of the neck. With no stage props or impressive lighting, just raw energy you can’t do anything but be captivated. There’s no set list this afternoon either, just shout-out requests from the crowd. Hardcore riffs from the guitars and bass, along with some intricate drum pieces, make the unplanned, unpolished punk ethic disappear - it is clear this band know what they are doing. Thirty minutes in, after a brief chant of 'get your tits out' from the ever-so-mature Wedge crowd, leads to 'Go Fuck Yourselves'. One more chaotic song with all the anger that this outbreak caused and the band are gone, but thirty minutes is enough to realise that you will be hearing a lot more from them in the future.