Jemina Pearl

by Heather Phares
After the demise of Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet in summer 2008, singer Jemina Pearl continued to collaborate with drummer John Eatherly. With Eatherly on guitar, they began writing songs that combined their former band's snarl and spastic energy with pop and new wave influences. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, who also runs Be Your Own Pet's label, Ecstatic Peace!, introduced the pair to producer John Agnello, and the pair began working with him on a batch of songs that recalled "Becky," the '60s "girl group gone wrong" track that was cut from Be Your Own Pet's final album, Get Awkward, for its violent lyrics. The pair moved to Brooklyn and recruited guitarist Max Peebles (formerly of Be Your Own Pet spinoff band Turbo Fruits), bassist Ben Pearson, and drummer Erik Ratensperger. The band played its first show in January 2009, opening for the Fluid; that March, Eatherly and Pearl entered the studio with Agnello, recording the bulk of Pearl's solo album over the next two months. That summer, the single "I Hate People," which featured Iggy Pop, appeared on the Internet. Thurston Moore and TV on the Radio's David Sitek also appeared on the album, Break It Up, which arrived in fall 2009.