This past January, influential and beloved punk band Erase Errata returned after an extended break to release Lost Weekend, their first full-length in 8 years. While less active than they were in the early 2000s, the band would occasionally play a handful of shows every year, and a new record hinted at more to come. The album was a welcome return to form that found the band tapping into the frenetic energy that defined their sound, while also expanding the experimental notions they always delved into. That excitement was short lived, however, as two months ago the band released an official statement that they were deciding to end the band with a pair of farewell shows taking place this upcoming weekend in Austin and Houston. After 16 years as a band, the trio comprising of Jenny Hoyston, Bianca Sparta, and Ellie Erickson felt like now was the time to say goodbye. Speaking over the phone, Hoyston went in depth as to the reasons why they decided to end the band now, how the politically charged punk she wrote with the band has changed over the life of the band, and why she feels Erase Errata had its place in time that is no more.

Pitchfork: What led to the decision to end the band now?

Jenny Hoyston: It was such a practical decision where we realized that logistically we weren’t able to be available anymore and then making a public announcement and "Hey quit calling us to play festivals because literally we can’t make it happen anymore." It’s as simple as that. It’s definitely very amicable. We’re all still like sisters. We thought we would make a public announcement and do a last couple of shows for us so we can all revisit our catalog. We’re going to play stuff from all four records and eight 7''s at both of the two shows we’re playing in Austin and Houston so that we get to say goodbye to all the music. Bianca, the drummer, has a family and is moving up to Portland. Ellie just graduated with her MBA from Berkeley. She’s thinking about what her next steps are going to be but they’ll probably be a big deal, like managing a big non-profit somewhere, ideally. For me, I’m back here in Texas and I have a job and lots of other projects going on. Everybody’s just staying busy, spreading out, and doing other things, and we realized we couldn’t logistically make it work to get together anymore like we used to be able to.

It used to be somebody could call us to play a festival in Sweden and we could all work our schedules around to get together and play a show, but now, between family, work, and all the other obligations that come around when you’re in your forties, it’s not happening anymore. Our band is from a different time. Even though we all still love making music and we’ll all continue that music in various incarnations, Erase Errata just has this place in time and it doesn’t feel like from this time in a way. We’re not really a part of this Internet age and even putting the band on Facebook this year was odd for us. It was a rude awakening that we don’t really like doing this stuff that bands need to do these days. We even tried doing an Instagram account and hated it. We’re not really into doing the stuff that bands that want to stay active need to do in this day and age. It’s not really up our alley anymore. We used to love going on tour and playing punk squats all over the world and doing stuff like that, but that’s not where it’s at anymore.

Pitchfork: Lost Weekend was recorded a couple years ago but released at the beginning of 2015. When you were going through the process of releasing it and the album cycle, did you think of it as a farewell record?