Pitchfork

We liked the idea of Be Your Own Pet playing Warped Tour. We liked it so much we told BYOP lead singer Jemina Pearl so when we talked to her about the band's semi-controversial Get Damaged EP, among other things. But alas, as of yesterday, Be Your Own Pet have canceled their Warped appearances.

In a posting on their website, the band wrote, "We regret to inform our fans that we will not be participating in this year's Warped Tour. We have been going non-stop for the past 6 months and didn't realize how much the intense schedule would take out of us. Something had to give and sadly it's this tour."

However, the band wasn't necessarily too jazzed about playing Warped in the first place. In our discussion about her perceptions of the tour and the kinds of kids who make up the audience, Pearl said, "I just associate it with a certain look and a certain style and the kind of kids at school that I thought were-- this is really bad, I'm sure-- the kind of kids that were dumbasses wearing Rancid t-shirts who thought they knew what punk rock was and threw things at people in the cafeteria. So it's like, okay, now we're going to be performing for these people.

"Our label is under the impression that we're going to play one date and then automatically sell 100,000 more records. They gave these examples: 'This band did it, and they sold this many more! They had this many more digital downloads!' And it's all these bands that seem like they fit with the Warped Tour.

"Maybe I'll be eating my words later, but all those bands [on Warped Tour] have this very specific look and sound and style. It's like the new hair metal or something. There are like 10 different rules about how you write a song and what everything sounds like and looks like. I'd like to imagine that we're very much the opposite of that. It'll be interesting for us to go in there and just try to put on a really awesome live show, maybe turn some people on to our music that wouldn't have listened to us or liked us before."

Be Your Own Pet still have four dates scheduled for August. Get Damaged came out physically via XL yesterday, June 24.

Be Your Own Pet:

07-09 Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre (Warped Tour)
07-10 Orlando, FL - Central Florida Fairgrounds (Warped Tour)
07-11 St. Petersburg, FL - Vinoy Park (Warped Tour)
07-12 Miami, FL - Bicentennial Park (Warped Tour)
07-13 Elkton, FL - St. John's County Fairgrounds (Warped Tour)
07-14 Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (Warped Tour)
07-15 Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (Warped Tour)
07-16 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Warped Tour)
07-17 Cleveland, OH - Tower Amphitheatre (Warped Tour)
07-18 Detroit, MI - Comerica Park (Warped Tour)
07-23 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center (Warped Tour)
07-26 Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum (Warped Tour)
07-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Post Gazette Pavilion (Warped Tour)
07-30 Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center (Warped Tour)
07-31 Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center (Warped Tour)
08-01 Milwaukee, WI - Marcus Amphitheater (Warped Tour)
08-02 Tinley Park, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (Warped Tour)
08-07 Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Park Pool *!
08-09 Norfolk, VA - Norva Theater *
08-22 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-23 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival

* with the Black Keys
! with Tapes 'n Tapes