Be Your Own Pet Return with First New Song in 15+ Years

On the heels of playing to packed rooms and enthusiastic audiences at SXSW, Nashville's Be Your Own Pet have dropped a new single, "Hand Grenade," via Third Man Records.

The song marks their first new music since the release of their Get Damaged EP (XL Recordings) in 2008 and was written and recorded by the three founding members Jemina Pearl Abegg (vox), Jonas Stein (guitar), Nathan Vasquez (bass), and longtime drummer John Eatherly.

Picking up right where they left off and clocking in at just over 3 minutes, "Hand Grenade" is an exuberant return and leaves no question they are the same band that Pitchfork called "vibrantly charismatic" and Rolling Stone labeled "charmingly raw."

"'Hand Grenade' started out as a threat to the people who harmed me, that I will make them suffer as I have suffered," explains Jemina Pearl. "But the song grew like a mirror to my own grief process, through anger, denial, sorrow. In the end I gain my power back not through violence, but through self acceptance and rejection of the labels others might put on me. I define myself, no one else."

In true DIY fashion, Be Your Own Pet shot a video for the song in Jemina's basement using an iPhone.

Be Your Own Pet are confirmed to play this year's Shaky Knees Festival on May 5 in Atlanta, GA. The following month they head to the UK and Europe for a string of dates including Primavera Sound. Tickets for all shows are on-sale now and all dates are listed below.

In 2005, Nashville's Be Your Own Pet played their first SXSW. The buzz they generated at sixteen years old, along with the release of their debut single "Damn Damn Leash" quickly led to a record deal with Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in the U.S. and XL Recordings in the UK.

BYOP went on to release 2 albums - 2006's self-titled debut and Get Awkward - to critical acclaim on both sides of the pond (including a Nylon Magazine cover) before they broke up in 2008.

Last year, BYOP reunited to play a handful of dates supporting Jack White. The shows led to their massive influence and legacy being discussed via features with Pitchfork, The Guardian, and more. It also rekindled the band's creative passion and they soon found themselves in the studio.

Listen to the new single here:

Photo by Kirsten Barnett