She Wants Revenge may be the main draw on the Nylon Magazine Summer Tour (Wednesday at the Pageant), but check out Nashville punk upstarts Be Your Own Pet for a reminder of how much fun being young can be.

Just don’t stand too close to the stage if you’re wearing anything expensive.

Take a look at the photo art on their sophomore album, “Get Awkward,” and you’ll know why. The photos were taken after a food fight, which these kids have started onstage on more than one occasion.

The quartet, whose members still can’t legally order a drink (lead singer Jemina Pearl turns 21 on June 20), plays rousing classic punk a la Black Flag and the Slits. BYOP’s members have been playing together since they were 13 and 14, having met during high school. Most of their parents are in the music industry.

Given a morning time slot at last year’s Lollapalooza, the band woke Chicago up with a set to be reckoned with. Despite their youth, BYOP balances their rowdy spirit with the poise required to play in front of big crowds.

I caught up with bassist Nathan Vasquez (left) a few weeks back as the Nylon tour van pulled into Austin.

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RC: How has the tour been so far?
NV: It’s been pretty cool. It’s a pretty party-hardy tour. There are two women with TheCobraSnake.com documenting via camcorder all of the hijinks that happen on the bus every night.
RC: What is your musical background and who are some of your idols?
NV: All of our families are very musical, mine especially. My dad is a jazz guitarist. He introduced me to music at a very young age, so did my mother. When I was three or four I used to have a favorite Bob Marley record. My mom would have me listen to it all of the time. She was also into early U2. My parents nurtured me while I started out on drums. No matter what was in my hands, I’d use them as drumsticks. I remember being literally like six or seven and watching Nirvana on MTV, freaking out and not being able to describe how much I wanted to do that. I got into newer music during the 1990s golden era when Beck came out and the Beastie’s “Sabotage” was out.
RC: How has Nashville’s rock scene treated you?
NV: What’s weird about Nashville is that there is a s–tload of music and bands. But it’s rare when shows are packed with fans. There are usually five or six bands on a bill and the audience is basically the other bands’ members. Bands tend to stick to the same local joints, don’t really click together and are content in isolation. We came out of the all ages house party scene, which was pretty diverse. There was the harsh noise music, the really fun seventies-ish punk influenced groups and the stoner metal. We’d start as many bands as we could with friends and throw house parties. There is a hardcore punk scene, but they tend to do their own gigs at spots and not help out with the all ages crowd.
RC: Why did you replace your drummer (Jamin Orrall) recently?
NV: He quit. He was visibly unhappy with everything and very transfixed on the negative side of the music business. What it came down to was that he wasn’t willing to compromise as much as we were and do the radio IDs and interviews with (teen magazines.) John (Eatherly) was more than willing to step in and see some of world.

Nylon Tour featuring She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, the Switches and the Virgins

Pageant, Wednesday, 8 pm

$17.50 in advance, $20 day of show

Photo by: Michael Lavine