NEWSLETTER

Be Your Own Pet is the youngest band in the world, and we think they are going to get really big. They will probably be burnt-out by the time they are 25, then have huge nervous-breakdown star-fit sort of things at 26.

For now, though, they sound like a bunch of cute young kids who would be punks if they weren’t so smart. But they are smart, so their music is smarter than punk.
They all love their parents too, which is SO not punk.

Vice: What do your parents do?

Nathan (guitar): My mother works for the highway department. My father is a Latin classical guitar composer.

Jamin (drums): My dad is a producer and songwriter. He produced our first two singles. My mom is the arts coordinator at a Montessori school I used to go to. She’s really good at it.

Jemina (voice): My dad has had lots of different jobs over the years. He’s been a painter, a musician, and a photographer. My mom is a seamstress and designs clothing.

Did they encourage you to pick up instruments?

Nathan: There were lots of guitars everywhere growing up, because of my father. I was kind of born into it.

Jamin: Yeah, they are always into anything I am doing creatively. It’s rad.

Jemina: I got a guitar for my ninth birthday from my dad, and then once I started junior high my parents wanted me to play violin. I switched to cello. I was terrible at both.

Who are your parents’ favorite musicians?

Jemina: I just asked my dad and he said, “Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, J. J. Cale, Keith Jarrett, Jimi Hendrix, Nick Drake, blah blah blah.” He’s still going but I think that’s enough. I don’t know what my mom likes. Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens, I guess. Both my parents are into folky stuff. I fucking hate folk music because they’ve played it ever since the day I was born. I’m tired of listening to that stuff.

What do your parents say about your music?

Nathan: When describing my band to my grandma my mother usually just says “rock music.”

Jamin: My mom says it takes her back to the late 70s. My dad says it sounds like kids making noise in a basement.

Jemina: My parents say that they like it. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. My mom hates all the cursing, but I think she’s coming around because the other day she told me one of her favorite songs is the one where I say “motherfucker” like four or five times.

TRACEE GOLDBLATT

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