BYOP: Reading 2006

I’m probably going to have to fire the Licorice Pizza events planner: Be Your Own Pet played Ft. Lauderdale last week and I only just found out about it yesterday. On the other hand, the show was Wednesday night and I’m not much for staying out late on school nights. But that makes at least twice now that BYOP has played locally and I’ve missed out.

The same day BYOP was playing in Ft. Lauderdale, Pitchfork posted an item saying XL Recordings plans to release an EP with the three so-called “offensive” tracks left off the US release of Get Awkward. Universal Records apparently didn’t care much for the lyrical content of the songs “Becky,” “Black Hole,” and “Blow Yr Mind,” and kept them off of BYOP's sophomore release. (The songs stayed on the international version.) The set is due digitally June 3, with the CD and limited edition deluxe gatefold double 7-inch hitting shelves June 24, Pitchfork reports.

In the meantime, Be Your Own Pet continues on the road, heading back up the eastern seaboard then through the Great White North before joining the Warped Tour July 9 in Atlanta. A couple of days later (July 12) BYOP will be back in Miami, affording me yet another opportunity to miss seeing them. Check out the BYOP MySpace for tour dates and other things you shouldn’t live without knowing.

Near the end of their summer tour, BYOP will make what I believe is their third appearance at the Reading Festival. The festival takes place August 22-24 in Reading and Leeds in England.

My point in mentioning that stop is to assist in making a smooth transition to today’s post: Be Your Own Pet live at the 2006 Reading Festival. BYOP shared the bill with, among others, The Raconteurs, on August 27, the closing day of that festival. I don’t know the source for this recording, but the sound quality is pretty decent and shows off a young punk band strutting their stuff in front of tens of thousands of people.

I’ve also tossed in “Becky,” one of the aforementioned deleted tracks. The song is crazy catchy, with a sort of punk/doo-wop vibe, if you can imagine that. I’m guessing the Universal people took offense to what sounds like a theme song for those kids who post videos of themselves on YouTube beating their classmates senseless.

Girls on TV.mp3
We Will Vacation.mp3
Bicycle Bicycle,You Are My Bicycle.mp3
Fuuuuuun.mp3
Let’s Get Sandy.mp3
Fire Department.mp3
Damn Damn Leash.mp3
Chicken Wings.mp3
Threshers Flail.mp3

Becky.mp3