No mistaking
Erase Errata are four "dirtbag girls" who make frenetically paced, aggressive music that's sometimes called political, feminist, and no wave.

By Jimmy Draper

'EVERYONE'S GOTTEN AN infusion of energy," Erase Errata vocalist-trumpeter Jenny Hoysten says, sitting outside Oakland's Club Hot as she eagerly discusses the Bay Area's recent frenzy of musical activity. "It seems like everyone's trying to be as creative as possible and do as much stuff as they can. Like, all my friends who didn't think that they were able to tour or stuff like that before, now they're like, 'Whatever! I'm going for it! I quit my job!' "

"It's pretty exciting," guitarist Sara Jaffe says. "There are more bands all the time, and a lot of folks here seem to have some like-minded ideas and want to create a musical community around those ideas."

Having survived the economic ups and downs of the late '90s, Hoysten (a former Bay Guardian staffer) and Jaffe certainly don't take the up-and-coming community for granted. Neither has forgotten that barely two years ago such a scene was practically impossible as practice spaces closed, venues such as the Coco Club were forced to shut their doors, and countless musicians fled the city to find more affordable housing, leaving the future of the rock underground – like many other areas of the arts – looking dismal.

All of which makes the past year's burgeoning experimental noise rock and post-punk scene that much more inspiring. In fact, with upstart labels such as ToYo and Inconvenient putting out records by local talent and acts such as the Quails, the Coachwhips, Crack: We Are Rock, Pink and Brown, Numbers, the Vanishing, and Tussle putting on shows practically any given night of the week, the Bay Area has become home to one of the most exhilaratingly unique communities on the musical map. And for the past two years, Erase Errata have been at the forefront of the underground renaissance.

Formed in Oakland in late 1999, the frantic foursome – including, along with Hoysten and Jaffe, drummer Bianca Sparta and bassist Ellie Erickson – have been one of the West Coast's most buzzed-about bands since they first took the stage in early 2000. For good reason, too: notoriously spazz-tastic, their (in)tense and terse live shows earned them a devout following of local and national fans that includes legendary acts the Ex, the Fall, and Sonic Youth, all of whom have invited Erase Errata to open for them. It wasn't until last fall's release of the band's debut LP, Other Animals (Troubleman Unlimited), however, that things truly started taking off.

A jittery explosion of whiplash-inducing time changes, hyperventilated vocals, and Wire-y rhythm 'n' punk, the album is one of the most impressive, original debuts in recent memory. For 26 Need-on-speed minutes, Other Animals effortlessly manages to capture the hot-wired spontaneity of the band's live sets, with art punk party-starters such as "Other Animals Are #1" and "Marathon" threatening to shake themselves apart as Hoysten's spastic-elastic vocals veer between Tourette's-style whoops and start-and-stuttered shrieks that recall Lora Logic and Rachel Carns.

Instantly memorable, the incredibly danceable, schizo-phonic sound often gets the band compared to Gang of Four, Devo, Delta 5, and Scissor Girls, but the most frequent tag attached to the quartet is the difficult-to-define "no wave." Which isn't, according to the band, the most accurate description.

"We definitely associate ourselves with the methodology [of no wave], and yeah, [we fit] as far as, like, the rhythmic things that no wave implies, like constant rhythm with whatever over it," Hoysten says. "But I think no wave in general was just so much more atonal than what we do. We can be atonal at times, but we're kind of poppy in a lot of ways, too – and riffy. And I think no wave is pretty much not about that."

Unconcerned, Jaffe shrugs off the label. "Like the whole 'post-punk' label, it's apt if it's used in a potentially expansive way. It's not apt if it's trying to lock you into having a certain kind of sound."

Because they're an all-female band playing a rather uncategorizable, chaotic rock racket, it's unsurprising that Erase Errata have to spend so much time trying to keep lazy critics from locking them into obnoxious boxes with conveniently generic stylistic tags. And so, aside from the ever present no wave description, they're often absurdly lumped in with riot grrrl and almost always dubbed overtly political – a term they feel applies by default more than anything.

"We kind of all align ourselves in varying extents, being feminists and being politicized with what we're doing, and so in that sense we're not going out there to say, 'We're here to represent ourselves as feminists, or to do this or that, or to do these really concertedly political sort of acts,' " Jaffe explains matter-of-factly. "But at the same time, we certainly are supporting those ideals and realize that's coming through in our music and also in the very fact of us doing what we're doing."

"I think that we're political just by nature of who we are – we're these dirtbag girls who try to live our life in a certain way and make art in a certain way," Hoysten adds. "The method is political more than the message is. We think that it's really important to watch how we do everything as much as what we say."

Which doesn't mean political messages can't be extracted from Hoysten's "obsessive phrases," as she calls her quirky, off-kilter lyrics. "How to Tell Yourself from a Television," for instance, tackles class tension within San Francisco, while the subject matter of other songs – panty hose-wearing guys, the evolution of civilization, technological traps, etc. – reveals that she certainly doesn't veer away from hot topics and social commentary. It's just that, according to Hoysten, there's no agenda to her songs.

"I don't write with the intention of being political," she insists. "I definitely don't think you can sit down and deconstruct the lyrics and be like, 'Oh, this is a political band.' "

Fans will be happy to know that, when not trying to keep from being pigeonholed, Erase Errata have already written two-thirds of a new album and plan to head back into the studio this December to record a second full-length. In the meantime the they are gearing up for their first European tour, releasing a three-inch split CD single with Numbers, and planning a remix EP due in January, featuring mixes by Matmos, kid606, Blectum from Blechdom, and Erase Errata fave Adult., the electro-hot Detroit duo.

"We're really excited about it," gushes Hoysten, who spent several years after college in Hockeytown. "We actually listen to them constantly. They came to one of our shows in Detroit 'cause we were writing them all this fan mail."

All in all, not a bad start for four "dirtbag girls" who, not three years ago, just wanted to jam with each other and "maybe put out a record," as Jaffe recalls. Despite the increasing success and attention, however, the ladies of Erase Errata still don't believe they've graduated to the Bay Area big leagues.

"If there's a show we're gonna play, and a bunch of our friends can't make it, all of us still think that no one's gonna be there," Jaffe says, laughing. "But I guess that, without us kind of realizing it, more people have started coming. And also even within the Bay Area, playing different sorts of venues means different people come."

Hoysten agrees. "The coolest thing is if we don't play on a high stage. When I'm dancing and everyone's all on the same plane as me, then people dance more. The house-party feel is what we bank on getting people to dance – and people go nuts!"

"That's what we hope for," Jaffe continues. "We definitely all feel validated and encouraged to have more fun ourselves if the audience is having fun."

Erase Errata play with Sonic Youth and Quix*o*tic Wed/28, 9 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $20. (415) 346-6000.