Erase Errata’s chaotic convergence

By Andrew Lee
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

  TROUBLEMAN UNLIMITED The women of Erase Errata thrive on
musical impulse.

Forget “studio polish,” there’s something to
be said for a band like Erase Errata, which sounds on record like
it’s been together just long enough for the members to plug
their instruments into the same soundboard.

The band performs on July 22 at The Smell as a part of its U.S.
tour which includes dates opening for Sonic Youth. Erase Errata
plays tense, anarchic and claustrophobic music, relying on instinct
to keep from falling apart musically.

That’s not to say that Erase Errata, which consists of
singer/trumpet player Jenny Hoyston, guitarist Sara Jaffe, bassist
Ellie Erickson and drummer Bianca Sparta, plays sloppy music.

On the contrary, the angular guitar chops, punchy bass and drums
and schizophrenic vocals converge to create a nervy, chaotic energy
that could only come from a confident and creatively compatible
group of musicians. The four women are puerile in spirit, but
professional in musicality. Erase Errata is one of the few groups
that can make this playing style work with such natural ease.

“The way we play really makes sense to us,”
guitarist Sara Jaffe said on the phone as the band took a break
from traveling the backroads of Texas on its way to its next tour
stop. “I think that in this case (our separate styles) are
really conducive to each other. It’s not tricky, not in the
sense of, say, a math-rock band.”

Erase Errata’s music brims with jerky movement and complex
elements which often overlap. But true to Jaffe’s statement,
the music doesn’t sound belabored or overly complex.
“Other Animals,” the group’s debut LP from last
year, highlights the band’s strengths, which echo influences
ranging from post-punk heroes Gang of Four to countless new wave
bands of the ’80s New York City music scene.

At times, such as in the song “High Society,” a
playful sense of humor creeps to the fore. Behind a heavy and
persistent bassline, Hoyston speak-sings of a guy who “walks
around town in his pantihose.”

The dynamic is simultaneously light-hearted and heavy with muddy
production.

The band’s talents were enough to catch the ears of Sonic
Youth, curators of All Tomorrow’s Parties at UCLA last April.
With only one album under its belt, Erase Errata was one of the
youngest groups on the bill.

“It was an honor to play with all those bands,”
Jaffe said. “But it was a bit alienating, since the stage was
so far away, in such a big room, and so high up from the crowd. We
just recently played the More Than Music Festival (in Columbus,
Ohio), and in my opinion, it’s nice to be playing in a
smaller town. When there are just a few people, it feels like it
has a lot more to do with the location itself. All Tomorrow’s
Parties seemed more like a showcase than a festival.”

The group’s modest preferences come from an even more
modest independent music scene in San Francisco. This is where, for
all its intensity, Erase Errata’s performances were shaped
for the smaller venues which provide a more intimate atmosphere
with the fans.

“We just want to play music to which people are able to
just dance and have a good time,” Jaffe said. “That
could happen in a small room or a huge concert hall, but of course
it takes more for it to happen in (the latter).”

Erase Errata formed in San Francisco just three years ago, when
Jaffe and Ellie Erickson moved into the same apartment complex as
Hoyston and Sparta, who were already playing music together in a
band called California Lightening. Though not all of the members
are natives of northern California, it’s the region they
relate to the most.

“We’re all distinctly rooted in the Bay Area,”
Jaffe said. “There are a lot of bands there that are playing
good music, bands that we can relate to musically.”

Upon meeting, Jaffe claims the group had an immediate chemistry,
and since then, the four members have been touring relentlessly and
writing new material, in addition to releasing a slew of music on
labels like Tigerbeat6 and Kill Rock Stars.

The all-female band’s relation to the Olympia music scene,
along with its participation in events like Ladyfest can lead to
knee-jerk comparisons to groups like Le Tigre or the Need, but
Jaffe points out their attempts to stay accessible to a broader
audience.

“We definitely have a mixed fan-base, which we’re
really happy to have: boys, girls, straight and queer, we’ve
made attempts not to pigeonhole ourselves,” Jaffe said.

This attitude toward the music instead of the image bodes well
for the hard-working group of musicians, who, judging from their
light-hearted demeanors, appear to be fully enjoying their time
playing music together.

They’ve been on the road since July 3, and in September,
after their U.S. tour, they leave for Europe. The band also aims to
record its second full-length album by the end of the year.

“But that’s as far as we go,” Jaffe said,
referring to the band’s aversion toward making plans too far
ahead into the future.

It figures; spontaneity is in their nature.

Erase Errata plays at The Smell July 22nd. All ages, doors open
at 9 p.m.