NIGHT LIFE
America is at war and most every band is just thumping along
in some blind-eyed stupor, poutin' out some goth-disco
love-to-love-ya-baby slime, inoculating us, massaging with
entertainment. Erase Errata's new album, their third, Night Life, is a
look at American life with the fluorescents on. Singer/guitarist Jenny
Hoyston serves up narratives that examine realities no one wants to
look at: war and poverty. I think the US can be a wonderful place and I
generally stay positive, Hoyston explains, but it's overwhelming to
think of all the things going on under our noses and our silent
concession. People are distracted from doing anything or even thinking
about our country's foreign dealings, disturbing trends of corporate
privilege and other major issues. My lyrics are about the government,
political disillusionment, and the things that keep us from thinking
about what is really going on--being distracted by night life,
consumerism and celebrity watching. The album's pithy title track, it's
lone line a thesis: Night life, forget about real life.
While some songs splay their polemic plainly (Tax Dollar, Another
Genius Idea From Our Government), others are more obscure; Beacon
is about churches that take pro-war stances, and some are more
personal: Take You, is a gender-queered love song that takes place
in a cave (It's a shout out to people like me, says
Hoyston), Giant Hans is a surreal allegory about cloud warfare;
though all of the songs are suffused with humor, fury and hope.
Erase Errata's lyrical content is not all that is different this time
around; after whirlwind tours supporting Sonic Youth, Le Tigre, and The
Ex, followed the departure of guitarist Sara Jaffe for grad school in
2004, the band spent almost two years reconfiguring the band's sound
and line up. Drummer Bianca Sparta explains, After Sara left, we
were playing around with the notion of a different sound. We decided to
experiment with a new singer, since Jenny wanted to play guitar and
needed someone to fill in singing for her. So we got Archie McKay, and
he was in the band for about a month. She laughs, adding It made
some of our fans real mad. The band soon realized that they worked best
as a trio and spent the next two years refining and writing. It was not
a simple process says Sparta, We had a lot of practices of just
playing and playing, hating the band, doing a lot of work to get
solid--then all the sudden it started clicking and we ended up writing
really quickly. It was fluid and relaxed. The rhythm section of Sparta
and bassist Ellie Erickson shows that though the band has largely
abandoned a quantifiable skronky, dance punkª sound, they are
still dynamic, elastic and dance-able. They even sound like a pop band
at times. Jenny's guitar playing is pretty different from Sara's
she plays chords, harmonies and is weird in a different way, add
Sparta.
All their changes and efforts are well evidenced on Night Life's twelve
tracks of polished chaos. Since their inception six years ago, the band
has always been hailed as a visceral fury; now, the band's sound is as
powerful and unhinged as ever, though now much more cogent and wielding
firm control on all fronts. After a 2005 tour supporting Bloc Party,
the band decided it was time to begin recording a new album. Night Life
was produced and mixed by the band along with Chris Woodhouse
(A-Frames, Coachwhips) and Eli Crews. It's standard artist bio
hyperbole to insist that a band defies convention, is pure, inspiring
and original-- fortunately, for Erase Errata, it's the truth.
Erase Errata was nominated for the Short List Music Prize in 2003,
received the Best Indie Band award from the San Francisco Weekly, and
was selected to perform on John Peel's radio show two times. They've
played at Noise Pop, SXSW and ladyfests several times, All Tomorrow's
Parties in LA and in England, Coachella (their last performance with
Jaffe), Primavera Fest in Spain, and have played with such acts as
Fugazi, The Fall, and Blonde Redhead.
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