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Nashville punk-kids Be Your Own Pet have had their sophomore album censored at the hands of their record label, Universal.
The UK version of the album, titled ‘Get Awkward’, is thirty-five minutes long and contains fifteen speedy tracks, released on the magnanimous XL label.
In the United States, however, tracks ‘Becky’, ‘Black Hole’ and ‘Blow Yr Mind’ have been taken off the album by Universal’s lawyers, who have deemed them ‘too violent’.
‘Becky’, one of the band’s most musically accomplished tracks to date, features a high school feud between ex-best friends, with lyrics that scream: “We’ll wait with knives after class!”
Feisty vocalist Jemina Pearl Abegg appeared mystified by major label bureaucracy, responding in the Washington Square News: “I don’t even know who these people are. There’s no one you can try and talk to to argue your case.”
She later wrote on the band’s myspace “talk about a bummer time!”
Gigwise recently caught up with BYOP guitarist Jonas Stein during the band’s UK tour – don’t miss the full interview, coming soon on the features page.
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