Published by Do615 on 9/1/23.
The year is 2004. One of England’s most popular DJs, Zane Lowe, hears “Damn Damn Leash” by teenage punks Be Your Own Pet. These Nashville School of the Arts students quickly find themselves as one of the most in-demand bands in the music industry. That’s an awful lot of pressure to put on a group of 16 and 17-year-olds, and their wave of success ends with an abrupt breakup in 2008.
Fast forward to 2022. Their increasingly active Instagram account follows a slew of archival posts with the announcement that Be Your Own Pet will reunite to open for Jack White on two tour dates. The comment section goes insane, and additional tour dates continue to fill up their calendar. By 2023, it’s confirmed that it’s not a nostalgic pop-up. The band would release their first record in 15 years, Mommy, followed by a headlining U.S. tour kicking off in their hometown of Nashville.
As Be Your Own Pet launches their second act, a new generation of punks starts their first. Being Dead hits the road to promote their debut album on their initial tour, opening for the Nashville veterans at The Blue Room. The Austin-based duo of Julie “Falcon Bitch” Keller and Cody “Gumball” Dosier cut their teeth in Austin’s DIY scene for years, creating an innovative, if not absurd, live experience. Highlights include planting actors in the audience to heckle them and creating a new instrument by dangling a 9-volt battery from a headband to play a synthesizer. Their interviews are consistent with this energy.
“We’re really, really strong and really, really good looking in person,” Falcon Bitch quips. “Obviously in the photos, but like way, way more stunning in person. They should really come to the show to see how strong we are.”
Conducting an interview with these two is a fine art of committing to their bits without letting the joke hijack your allotted time. Don’t mistake their silliness for apathy, though. The gritty, psychedelic surf rock of their new record, When Horses Would Run, is the product of years of working out songs live and a nurturing scene that allowed them to reach a national stage.
“I feel like [in] Austin, we play so much it’s like everybody knows – we have a fanbase. I’m excited to see what people who haven’t heard us think. We got to win them over,” Gumball says. “If they like the record, they should come see us live because it is not totally different, but it is something else to enjoy in its own way. It’ll be a really fun time.”
Building an audience in new cities is essential to reaching the next chapter of their career. Making new fans and meeting up with their burgeoning Nashville pals, Snooper, aren’t the only things this duo is eying, though.
“I’m excited to get my road legs. Be a road dog. Be a hound – and howl, and really come into the greasy self. Maybe get some cool bumper stickers, some decals […] maybe get some of those bandanas that tie with the flames, even though we do have a few of those,” Falcon Bitch says with giddiness. “Just get a better collection, a better variety, of those cool bandanas that all the chopper riders – all the riders wear […] that way we don’t have to worry what we’re going to wear to the show.”
The When Horses Would Run sessions began in 2017 with Jim Vollentine, a collaborator of fellow Austinite bands Spoon and White Denim. These songs would morph over the next six years as the band continued to perform the tracks around town, but Being Dead has a different approach for its impending successor – a strategy they don’t see a tour affecting.
“It took too long, and let me tell you what, we are not taking that long with the next one. We’re trying to get it out next year. We’re demoing it; we’re like halfway through the demos,” Falcon Bitch discloses. “I think that we’re going to record them so fast that we have to play them like that. We’re going to catch ourselves in a bad place.”
“We don’t even have to worry about how we’ll do it live whenever we’re recording it. It will just be fully like, ‘oh, that sounds great,’ regardless of our live capabilities. Then we’ll dumb it down for the live show,” Gumball adds.
While Gumball has a newfound, carefree attitude towards recreating their future album live, Falcon Bitch emphasizes just how much the live experience played a role in their debut.
“It’s just hard because I feel like the live setting is more punk. It’s a little faster because we only have three people on stage so to create all of these little intricacies and things that happen in the production of the actual song isn’t really available,” she explains. “We kind of shorten that gap and sprinkle in some fun gimmicks and other songs that we only play live.”
Whether they’re incorporating bizarre performance art into their shows or honing their improv skills during interviews, fun is ultimately what it’s all about. Sure, it’s art. Yes, that art is their career. If it’s not fun, though, what’s really the point?
Catch Being Dead having the time of their lives opening for Nashville legends Be Your Own Pet at The Blue Room on Saturday, September 16th.
