Ah, youth. You're in high school and all you want to do is start a punk band, get the hell out of your hometown, and conquer the world. Instead, you'll probably have to get an after-school job to buy that guitar and fight your parents for every rock concert they let you go to. If only your dad were a musician, or a rock photographer, or Vince Neil's manager, then he'd enroll you in a performing-arts high school (but no big deal if you drop out), drive you to your gigs, and let you start a label out of the basement (hey, it's also your recording studio!).

Such is life for Be Your Own Pet, a barely legal, Nashville-based rock band with equal parts punk style and formal training. Riotous live shows and songs about "Adventure" and "Fuuuuun" have earned them a reputation as party-rocking adolescent punks. Sure, BYOP aren't doing anything terribly original, but they've got the novelty of youth on their side; everything they do is as good as new.

Childhood friends, singer Jemina Pearl, 19, and guitarist Jonas Stein, 18, met drummer Jamin Orrall, 18, at Nashville School of the Arts (think Fame with Southern accents) and decided to start a band, recruiting underclassman Nathan Vasquez, 17, to play bass. "I really hated school," says Pearl, currently rolling through her hometown following a performance at the Bonnaroo festival. "But it was better than regular high school. It was a lot more laid back, the kids there are interested in art, and I guess there's a lot of bands there."

Their families have also been supportive of their musical aspirations, and when they're not on the road, the band members all still live with their parents. "Jonas's dad is a manager [of Vince Neil, among others], so he knows a lot about the music industry," explains Pearl. "All our dads used to be musicians, so we've all just grown up around music our whole lives. Jamin's been playing the drums since he was 7, Nathan's been playing music his whole life, and I've kind of been singing my whole life."

Cool parents and a supportive school system don't seem like spurs to create rebellious punk rock, but Pearl insists there's plenty for them to rail against. "Everything pretty much sucks."

Even with family in the industry, BYOP's rise to stardom has been remarkable. They found early support from BBC's Radio One and England's XL Recordings. Energetic showings at 2004's CMJ and 2005's South by Southwest led to a single on Rough Trade. Thurston Moore flew out to see them in Nashville before signing them to his Ecstatic Peace! label. (Moore founded the label independently in 1981, but now does distribution with Universal.)

"Our old manager was friends with Thurston," Pearl explains. "He ordered our CD from Jamin's label, Infinity Cat, and he wanted to put out a 7 inch. [A]fter he got this new deal set up with Universal he was able to put out our album."

That signing has led to a lot of lazy talk about these kids being the new Sonic Youth, but (so far) they lack the noisy experimentalism of that hallowed band. Instead, BYOP nail the pop hooks, fashion sensibility, and boy/girl dynamics of their elders while abandoning Sonic Youth's avant-garde ambitions.

The more appropriate comparison for these kids is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Pearl's wildly charismatic stage presence and snarling, sassy vocals read like a studied version of Karen O circa Fever to Tell. Pearl dismisses the comparison. "I've never seen them play. I met Karen O once; she seemed pretty cool, but I haven't really listened to them that much."

Like that band, Be Your Own Pet depend upon the art-star power of their frontwoman to stand out. The boys are all capable musicians, but Pearl is clearly the star. Without her, this band would still be playing Guido's Pizza in Nashville instead of gracing the cover of Nylon magazine.

None of that really matters when Be Your Own Pet are onstage, though. The band rip through their abrupt songs in a frenzy, with Pearl's fits and tics stealing the show. "We just try to have as much fun as we can and put on the best show that we can, and we hope that the people watching will get into it, too, 'cause that's the whole point of going to a show."

editor@thestranger.com