Alec Pugliese
On Monday evening Feb. 23, Topshelf Records announced the label would be dropping Washington D.C. punk rockers Ekko Astral. Band frontwoman Jael Holzman said they would instead be independently releasing their sophomore effort the beltway is burning, which was set for an April 22 release.
The label’s statement on social media began, “We can no longer support Ekko Astral,” fueling rumors of controversy. Topshelf confirmed at least part of the rationale to drop the band was related to an ongoing dispute between Holzman and ex-drummer Miri Tyler, Pitchfork reports. On Twitter, Holzman said, “[…] there is a lot more to that story to share [….] and a *lot* of misinformation surrounding the events leading up to it.”
Last week, Washington City Paper reported that Holzman had filed a peace order against Tyler on Feb. 6 over “threats” on social media. In her petition to the court, Holzman said, “I do not want to see Miri Tyler go to jail and do not think that is a remedy here. But I need her to stay far, far away from me and leave me alone, so we can both move on and she can find the help she clearly needs.”
While the judge “made no findings of threats of violence,” Tyler, who did not have legal representation, consented to the order, probably to avoid a potentially negative court ruling and retain the right to remove the order from her record. The peace order requires Tyler to avoid Holzman and her residence until Aug. 13 at risk of a fine and/or jail time.
Tyler announced her departure from Ekko Astral at the end of January following a nearly two-week jail stint. Although Tyler’s announcement said in part, “touring with this band has brought me to a worse place mentally than I have been in nearly 10 years, the split was widely interpreted as amicable because Tyler’s band Pretty Bitter was still set to play Astral’s Liberation Weekend Festival in April. Now it seems safe to assume that performance won’t be happening.
The FADER has reached out to Topshelf Records for more info. The label was not immediately available for comment.