Erase Errata

By only

Friday March 25, 2005

Punk Rock is just Punk Rock

How do you go from listening to Sonic Youth while delivering pizza in a small town in Texas to playing on a split 7” with the band? Just ask Erase Errata’s Jenny Hoysten. She may not know the answer, and she may not know what post-punk means, but she does know that San Francisco is fun and punk rock is just punk rock.

ONLY: What’s going on?
Jenny Hoysten: Well, we’re a three-piece now and we just did our first recording as a three piece down in Los Angeles. It was with this kid, Alex (Newport) that recorded the Locust one time. It was pretty fun. It’s weird because I’m playing guitar and singing at the same time, so I’m just trying to get used to it. Our guitar player (Sara Jaffe) left. She’s going to grad school for creative writing. She always had all of her homemade books and ‘zines and stuff like that for sale while we were on tour. It’s kind of what she does. So she’s pursuing writing now.
ONLY: And then you had another singer?
J: Yeah, we had a friend of ours (Archie McKay) who sings in some other bands (Revenge, A-Tension) kind of sitting-in. Just for a while, while I learned how to play guitar and stuff.
ONLY: How did people react to that?
J: You know, people kind of freaked out a bit. There were pretty dramatic reactions to it. Local people in San Francisco didn’t really care. They were happy either way. Everybody’s happy here. (Laughs)
ONLY: Was it a gender thing, because he was a guy? Why do you think people want you to stay all-girl?
J: I don’t know. People are strange.
ONLY: I heard that you played some women’s music festival in New York and they wouldn’t let him play.
J: Oh, right, yeah. It’s not that they wouldn’t let him play; he couldn’t even get onto the grounds of the festival. They don’t let any men on the land.
ONLY: Wow.
J: Yeah.
ONLY: Every time I read anything about Erase Errata I hear the word post-punk.
J: Um, I have no idea what that word means.
ONLY: How would you describe the music?
J: I just think of us as a rock band or a punk band. We try to throw in some variation on the stuff we play, so I guess it’s improvisational.
ONLY: What’s the new recording like?
J: Things seem a little bit more melodic right now because my guitar playing isn’t exactly the same as Sara’s. We’re trying to calm it down a little bit so that it’s not so frantic. It’s always been so spastic and frantic. I think we’re just trying to do something different while we have the opportunity.
ONLY: Are you playing and touring a lot now?
J: We’ve been really taking it easy this year. We’ve all got to work a lot. It’s really expensive to live in San Francisco. We can’t live on our music, so we’ve all got to pay off some debts that we got into from touring so much.
ONLY: What do you do?
J: Um, I do sound at a club. Bianca (Sparta) works at a video store and does some freelance design stuff. Ellie (Erickson) works at a non-profit that does grant writing for people in prison to get grants to do art projects.
ONLY: You guys have played with lots of crazy bands like The Fall and Sonic Youth and stuff.
J: Sonic Youth was definitely an amazing band to play with. Playing with bands like that is such an honour because that’s the kind of stuff I listened to when I was a kid and I delivered pizzas.
ONLY: What are some good San Francisco bands?
J: Well… Numbers are good…Coachwhips… Spector Protector are good, it’s a two piece kind of electronic gothy band. XBXRX, Flying Luttenbachers…
ONLY: What about Death Sentence: Panda?
J: They’re great. We toured with them. Bianca from Erase Errata and I are in a two-piece band called California Lightning and we did a tour with Death Sentence: Panda.
ONLY: Does Erase Errata have any band rituals?
J: I guess we just sit and write a set list before we play. Talk about what we’re going to play. Have a drink.
ONLY: Is it hard to play guitar when you’re drunk?
J: No, It’s really easy.