When Jack White announced the many artists opening for him on his forthcoming tour today, the long list of supporting acts included one particularly exciting name: a reunited Be Your Own Pet. The Jemina Pearl-fronted Nashville punk band, notorious for putting on wild shows in the ’00s, broke up in 2008 after releasing two albums: their self-titled LP in 2006 and its 2008 follow-up Get Awkward. The band will perform on April 38 and 30 at his shows in Atlanta and their hometown of Nashville, respectively.
“I’ve been really blown away by the response today, to be honest,” Pearl said over the phone from her home in Nashville after the news was shared. “I wasn’t sure if people would give a shit. I’ve had so many people like reaching out to me—I feel like it’s my birthday or something.”
Saying goodbye to Be Your Own Pet in the first place was not easy for Pearl. “Things ended tumultuously, and honestly, I didn’t want the band to break up, so it was hard for me to let it go,” she said. But in the years since, she’s stayed plenty busy. “I’ve done some seamstress work, I’ve sold vintage clothes, but mostly, I’ve really focused for the past nine years on being a mom, which is wild,” she said. “It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had, but also the best one.”
Her husband Ben Swank, co-owner of Third Man Records, was always in contact with his friend and Pearl’s Be Your Own Pet bandmate Jonas Stein. “Ben really was determined to help us find a path to being friends again, which has happened, and honestly it’s been really amazing for us all,” Pearl said.
Last summer, the members of Be Your Own Pet got back together in the same room for the first time since their breakup; the meeting place was the Blue Room Bar at Third Man Nashville, naturally. Once the idea of a full-on reunion was thrown out, the band’s four members—Pearl, Stein, John Eatherley, and Nathan Vasquez—all agreed to give it a shot. She said they also received the blessing of their founding drummer, Jamin Orrall of JEFF the Brotherhood, to reunite without him.
The band started practicing in December 2021. “It’s crazy how much you immediately remember,” Pearl said. “I remembered basically all the lyrics even though I haven’t even listened to the songs in 14 years, you know? It’s like riding a bicycle—it’s just ingrained in your brain forever.”
Not long after those first sessions, Pearl ran into Jack White at the Third Man Christmas party. (“My kids call him ‘Uncle Jack,’” she said.) White—a Be Your Own Pet fan—had heard about the band’s practices, asked how they were going, and wondered if they would be interested in playing some of his shows. The band’s planned timeline to return in 2023 abruptly moved up. “We always wanted to open up for the White Stripes,” Pearl said. “That was our dream when we were younger, so it’s cool that we get to do this now.”
It seems very likely that the band’s reunion will extend beyond the two shows. “All we have planned right now is this,” she said. “If anybody else wants us to play, I’m sure we would want to do that, but we don’t have any plans right now.” When asked if they’ve been working on new music, she deflected: “Um…maybe? I dunno! It’s too early to answer right now, but we’ll see.”
Regardless of what the future holds for Be Your Own Pet, Pearl is happy to be back in touch with her friends. “I felt like after that first meeting, even if nothing really came from it—maybe people don’t care, we don’t play shows, but we’re just all really good friends again—that’s enough for me,” she said. “Cause that’s how we really started as teenagers, we were just all best buds together. Now we have our band group texts where we send each other memes and stuff.”
“They’re like my brothers, you know? It’s like family—you have your ups and downs, but you come back together.”
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