Pets is a Sacramento rock band formed in the summer of 2003 by the couple Allison Jones and Derek Fieth, both guitarists and vocalists.[1] The duo built a "straight rock 'n' roll" sound and won a Sacramento Area Music Award (a "Sammie") for Outstanding Pop in 2010.[1] As of December 2025 the band remains active, describing their current sound as "a unique psyched out soundscape with their DIY punkgaze ethos on full display."[2]
At a glance
- Guitar-and-vocals duo: Allison Jones and Derek Fieth.[1]
- Formed summer 2003; the band name was chosen to be "unassuming" and not telegraph the music.[1]
- Members are Sacramento residents: Jones from Citrus Heights, Fieth from Yuba City.[1]
- Won the 2010 Sammie for Outstanding Pop.[1]
- Four albums: Pick Up Your Feet (2006), Ready the Rifles, Get Turned On (2014), and Dig The Skull (2025).[3][4][2]
Origin and members
Pets is a two-person band founded in the summer of 2003 by Allison Jones and Derek Fieth, a couple who both play guitar and sing.[1] They rehearse in the living room of their shared home, hauling out amps and guitars to practice, and they write songs together simultaneously rather than one member presenting finished material to the other.[1] The members are explicitly identified as Sacramento residents, with Jones from Citrus Heights and Fieth from Yuba City; both express strong attachment to Sacramento's downtown grid and have said they would have moved away if not for the downtown scene.[1] They keep a pet cat named Townes and describe themselves as local "happy hour hounds."[1]
Before forming Pets, Jones had played guitar in the local Sacramento punk band Riff Randals.[5][3] Fieth, her boyfriend at the time (now husband), had no prior musical experience when the band started.[5][3] According to the Sacramento News & Review, the couple was inspired to start the band after attending a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show at Old Ironsides; additional influences include The Dandy Warhols and Le Tigre.[5][3]
The pair deliberately chose to remain a duo. After their debut they dropped their drum machine in favor of a live drummer for all shows but said they did not want to officially add a third member.[1] For live performances, they used a rotating cast of drummers including Kepi Ghoulie and Dog Party's Lucy Giles.[5]
Local status
Pets is a local Sacramento band by origin. Submerge states plainly that "both members are Sacramento residents," with Jones from Citrus Heights and Fieth from Yuba City, and the band is repeatedly described as a local/Sacramento act across multiple articles.[1][6][7][8] One 2015 listing calls Pets one of "two other solid local acts."[9]
Releases timeline
- Step — four-song EP released August 31, 2004; the band's first recorded release.[10][5]
- Pick Up Your Feet (2006) — debut full-length album that prominently featured a synthesizer and a drum machine.[1] Released on The Americans Are Coming Recordings (catalog AAC-025), recorded and engineered by Doug Godsey at Your Music Studio, and mastered by Tim Pratt at Monsterlab Audio.[3]
- Ready the Rifles — second album, with 10 tracks and a full live-drum, "straight rock 'n' roll" sound; the duo took roughly five years between the two albums.[1] They recorded it with Ira Skinner at Alley Avenue Studios and handled the album's artwork and packaging themselves.[1] A favorite track, "Sweetspot," came together in about two afternoons; the closing track is "Bored to Kill," tied to the album's "kill the boredom" theme.[1]
- Get Turned On — third album, released June 16, 2014; an 11-track record tagged as fuzz, psychedelic, rock, indie, and noise-pop.[4]
- Dig The Skull — fourth album, released December 31, 2025, recorded by Jeff Melendez at PXP Recordings / Calcium House and mixed, mastered, and co-produced by Andrea Fox Volpato at Fox Recording Studios; features a guest appearance by Jsun Atoms on the track "Robotany."[2]
The duo compared their sound on Ready the Rifles to a mix of The Raveonettes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.[1] An all-ages CD release show was held at Luigi's Fungarden in January 2011, followed by a 21+ show at the Townhouse on Feb. 4, 2011.[1]
Live activity and scene relationships
Pets say they have played at nearly every local venue, including Old Ironsides, Marilyn's, Press Club, The Distillery, Luigi's, The Blue Lamp, and Sacramento State.[1] Their pre-show ritual was eating at the downtown eatery Pete's Pizza on show days.[1]
Pets were repeatedly tied into the broader Sacramento (and pop-punk) community:
- They were part of the lineup for The Secretions' three-day 20th-anniversary "Suck-Fest" festival (May 27–29, 2011) at Fire Escape Bar and Grill in Citrus Heights.[6]
- Pets played an acoustic set with local pop-punk figure Kepi Ghoulie at Naked Coffee on Dec. 9, 2011.[11]
- They completed a roughly two-week summer tour through Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California alongside Kepi Ghoulie and the young Sacramento sister duo Dog Party, playing half their shows in houses and half in bars.[7]
- Pets celebrated their 10th-anniversary show on August 31, 2013 at Bows & Arrows (1815 19th Street, Sacramento).[5]
- A live PETS recording appears on the Sac Go Home Fest free live compilation (released 2015) documenting the final shows at the Midtown venue Witch Room (ex-Bows and Arrows).[8]
- Pets opened, alongside Ghostplay, for the album-release party of regional queercore duo Butch Vs Femme at Starlite Lounge on March 28, 2015.[9]