San Francisco Bathhouse
November 26 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

Erase Errata are a San Francisco punk group, who sound very reminiscent of American punk legends the Minutemen. This is despite the fact they are an all-girl group and play songs which last a bit long. So they could be called The Twominutewomen. And like the Minutemen, their music escapes simply being called punk, it certainly has the urgency and relentlessness of the genre, but Erase Errata are also experimental, shifting, dense and musically fascinating. It was an excellent show, and certainly a bargain-priced concert.

The night was opened by Knifefight, who had done a very good job opening for Guitarwolf two weeks ago. They’re straight-up garage-rock/punk – monster riffs and heavy rhythms. They are a very talented group, especially when getting sludgy (there’s a slight hypnotic quality about their droning) even if I have no idea what their vocalist is saying/growling.

Next up were Aucklanders The Coolies. It was a clumsy set punctuated by bass drum-kicks falling off, out of time rhythm sections and audience interaction which included the messing up of the title of their first single. The guitarist wasn’t even shoegazing, she was back-wall-gazing. There’s some talent there, and they’re fitting into the whole Mint-Chicks-Auckland scene, but ultimately you couldn’t really tell if the ramshackle nature of the performance was intentional or not. Which is not a good thing if you’re going to play prog-like music.

Erase Errata came on and immediately experienced difficulties playing thanks to Qantas misplacing guitarist Jenny Hoyston’s guitar. As a result, she struggled with straps and guitars, which not only caused a couple of delays but probably limited her occasionally simultaneous trumpet playing (which was might impressive). But they sounded great, with humorous lyrics and a compelling and polished live performance – their bassist Ellie Erickson in particular was fantastic and made the bass sound like I’ve never heard it before. I’m pretty sure there weren’t any pre-recorded backing tracks, so I’m still trying to figure out where some of those sounds came from. The drummer Bianca Sparta was also excellent, but then again, I am a sucker for cowbells. Excluding the guitar fixing breaks, song after song was thrown down one after another without hesitation, with an almost improvised quality. And when they came on for an encore, the singer came back and teased that it was just a “wind-up”, and they were having a breather. Unfortunately the set seemed to end abruptly when the bassist decided she’d had enough and left leaving the guitar and drums to quickly wrap up a song they’d started. Indeed, if there was to be a downside about this show, it would be that it was too short. But then the energy of their show more than made up for any selfish complaints I may have.