eraser emerge from their philly hideout for some bbq
With Sonam, Pier, Kat, and Juliette in Memphis. The Philadelphia punks discuss symbolism, Mariah Carey’s audiobook, caps, and the spirit of the band.
Eraser’s Sonam, Pier, Juliette, and Kat had toured to Memphis from Philadelphia. After we lost each other once in the crowd at Gonerfest, they found me at the merch table (in the shade). “Hey, are we going to do an interview,” Pier asked. Our collective goal to have a conversation in the middle of an outdoor punk festival was way too loose. Between the loud music and literal Memphis trains, there were no quiet conversation spots. “Let’s try over there,” I said with fully unearned confidence before leading four of the coolest human beings in punk to a ditch under a bridge. There was nowhere to sit, nowhere to stand, and no way we were going to hear each other. We ultimately hiked to a warehouse parking lot a block or two away.
Before we could sort out recording the chat, I was invited to participate in a star fingers group portrait. (You ever do a star fingers group portrait? I highly recommend this experience.) Like any group of close friends, there was an immediately recognizable shared language between Eraser. They blurted out their inter-band nicknames while introducing themselves. Each symbol on the cover of Hideout, their debut record on Siltbreeze, is imbued with personal significance. There’s a palpable mischief shared by all four of them when they quizzed me on which symbol belongs to which band member, and they seemed equal parts disappointed and delighted when I beefed each guess.
It felt crucial to get up front during Eraser’s full sun early afternoon set. It was one of the most powerfully danceable shows of an excellent weekend, which isn’t a surprise given Kat’s buoying bass grooves or Juliette’s powerful and occasionally whistle-assisted work behind the drums. Pier is one of contemporary punk’s most undersung shredders. Sonam, meanwhile, is the fucking Fonz—a cool and commanding frontperson doing all the electronic freakout shit. It’s no wonder Memphis rap icon Tommy Wright III tracked them down in the crowd afterward, jumped on their Nashville show the next night, and ultimately joined in when everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to Pier.
Months later during a chat immortalized on the see/saw jukebox bonus podcast, the band told me that Hideout was named for the Philadelphia basement where they’d get together, work on music, and hide from the rest of the city while processing the loss of family members. That foundation of vulnerability and trust is palpable in their rapport. Frequently, they give each other their respective flowers. Stuffed into Sonam’s car on the way to Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, Pier had the aux and played “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka into DJ Sammy & Yanou’s 2001 smash “Heaven.” Juliette sang the hook in the backseat while Sonam and I discussed our respective garage rock blog eras.
Eraser recently finished recording their new album and are touring the Midwest this week to and from a see/saw party in Minneapolis. It’ll be the first time we’ve seen each other since the weekend of this September 2025 conversation when the five of us pre-gamed a barbecue lunch with shared food truck fries.
As we start recording, we’re all navigating this greasy ketchup situation.
Sonam Parikh: I feel like people are really polarizing about ketchup. Literally, America and ketchup go hand in hand. The idea of this super processed thing to mimic a sauce for poor people…hello?
Pier Harrison: I feel like the majority in America actually really loves ketchup and this idea that a lot of people don't like ketchup, I don't know where you got that. Some people don't.
Sonam: Everybody that I know doesn't like ketchup. I feel like it's because I live on a coast, but I think if I lived in the middle of the country, I'd encounter more people like myself.
Juliette Rando: Guess what? When I was a child, my siblings and I used to make these home videos with our family camcorder. This one movie we made was really, really good. It was called The Secret of Ketchup. It was about this group of people from somewhere in Eastern Europe, and they come to America to try to steal the recipe for ketchup. We should watch it.
Pier, when we went around and said all of our names into the microphone so I’d get the transcript right later, you self-identified as “Peepo.” Is that an accepted nickname?
Pier: Within the band, yes, so much so that I just said it when you put the microphone in front of my face, but you can call me Pier.
Can I call you Peepo?
Pier: Yes.
How’s the food been on the way here?
Sonam: We went to Potchke in Knoxville. Shout out George.
Pier: Mediterranean deli the night before.
Sonam: They had all these Palestinian dishes I’d never heard of before. There was this amazing orange salad and this really cool pilaf.
Pier: Potchke had a Karl Springer coffee table.
I’m so sorry, but who is Karl Springer?
Pier: Karl Springer, the legendary post-modern interior designer architect. He made a bunch of art deco revival weird round chunky furniture in the ’80s.
Kat Bean [chants]: Karl, Karl, Karl!
Juliette: Peepo’s an expert on vintage furniture.
Tell me about the artwork for Hideout. It’s got these symbols and I’ve wondered for a few months about their significance.
Sonam: Our really good friend Gavin Perez did it. We went to them with an idea. We all chose some objects that were really special or important to us during the making of this. We all put in like three.
Kat: We all picked a symbol. It’s an amalgamation of us.
Sonam: It’s us, baby.
Can I ask what each of you brought? Like one symbol each?
Juliette: You have to guess.
What, no, I didn’t agree to this!
Juliette: Who is egg?
Kat: The context has been provided. That’s your clue.
Pier, are you egg?
Pier: No.
Kat [wearing a white dress]: The context has been provided! I look like an egg!
Kat you’re eating ketchup in this outfit, and speaking as a sloppy boy, I’m wondering how you’re feeling about your choices today.
Kat: I’m gonna get barbecue on this later. I did not plan correctly.
If you stain it bad, it might be the most Memphis shit ever.
Pier: You could always dye it.
Kat: Or I could wear it to the gig later and be like, “What’s up Memphis???” Handprints, like war paint? We got work to do.
Juliette [to me]: Who’s the Middle School S?
The Middle School S? Uhh, Pier?
Everyone: No!
Sonam: It’s me! I grew up in Brooklyn and I spent my whole life scrawling the Cool S on everything. It’s only much later that I learned where it came from. It’s called the Cool S, the Universal S, some people call it the Stüssy S. It’s always resonated with me because it’s everywhere in Brooklyn.
Evan Minsker
So let’s pause a second—tell me anything about growing up in Brooklyn.
Sonam: I grew up in Bay Ridge. My parents came to America in ’82 and they had a bodega on 4th Ave. I was a baby growing up in the bodega. My bassinet was by the cat food. Once there was a robbery and the person took me. Gasp, I know!
Juliette: [gasps] How old were you?!
Sonam: I was so little, I can’t remember! This was the story—the person took the baby carrier and I was in it and started running down the street and my dad ran after him. And yeah, well I’m here now, so!
That’s awful.
Sonam: It was a typical robbery. I was so little, I wasn’t cognizant. I think it’s more of a funny story.
Kat: “Whoa, the Earth is moving fast!”
Pier: And that’s where you got your love of fast noises.
Sonam: Yes, yes. No worries. No worries. Don’t worry about it. We’re OK. We’re fine.
Pier: You should pull a Mariah Carey and be like “and that’s where I developed my love of xyz luxury item.”
Sonam: We’ve been listening to the Mariah Carey autobiography in the car.
Pier: It’s been a joy to share that because it’s one of my favorite things. Everyone else is listening and I’m trying not to be too influential, but then someone will gasp like “oh my god” at a comment and I’ll be like, “Yes, everyone loves it.”
Sonam: Yes, it’s killing it. We’re maybe just halfway through and it is crazy.
What is Eraser learning from Mariah that you’d like to carry with you on your journey?
Sonam: Well, she was a weird little girl growing up in New York who got bullied and was poor as shit too, so I love her.
Kat: Yeah, she wrote her first songs when she was five or six years old.
Juliette: The way she describes Ritz Crackers is really inspiring [laughs]. She tells a story about how when she was a kid and she'd be hungry for a snack, her dad would give her one Ritz Cracker, and so she goes into extreme detail about the experience—the mouth-watering texture, each crumb she was savoring. It just makes you realize you should appreciate every cracker you're ever given.
Pier: I feel like in a lot of ways her life story is just like this big universal analog. It’s a very universal story for not fitting into one category. Sometimes that’s in the very literal way where she talks about being a biracial person. This is my second go-round with this audiobook. It’s been a while.
Kat: But you taught it in your class.
Pier: I made my students listen to the chapter about Glitter.
What else are you all taking in recently?
Pier: True Anon. It’s where I get all my news. They investigated Jeffrey Epstein.
Kat: It’s the only anti-pedophile podcast. [laughs] They do a whole series on 9/11 that’s hour by hour, so if you want to get into that podcast, start there.
Pier: Just listen to each new episode to get your daily news! It’s like Democracy Now.
Kat: It’s like Democracy Now for the freaks.
Sonam: I’ve been learning about making gold caps. I didn’t make this one [points to the gold cap in their teeth], but this one I thought was lost, which is how the idea started.
Juliette: You found it?!
Sonam: I found it. It was crazy. It was in my duvet cover in the washing machine. But yeah, I guess learning a lot about metal melting, molding, shapes, and stuff like that. And in that way, I’ve been learning about the history of caps. I grew up around caps. My dad was always like, “Put your money in your mouth.” They can’t really take that from you unless it’s the very end, you know what I mean? Whenever he was smiling, he had like the hugest dimples and you could see all this gold flashing. I don't know, it just makes me feel closer to him or something, but also caps look sick as hell. And they’re part of so many Asian cultures, Black American culture, like caps are the best. They’re such a powerful way for people who maybe don’t have a lot of money to flex and feel good about it.
How would you define the spirit of Eraser? What’s an adjective that gets me toward the space that you all inhabit together?
Pier: Can we say it at the same time?
Juliette: Wait…
Pier: No, we can’t talk to each other about it. Do you have it? Do you have yours? OK, on the count of three—one, two, three…
Sonam: WOMBLIKE.
Kat: J.U.G.S.
Juliette: SMIRKY.
Pier: IMPISH.
You all shouted and I didn’t hear any of what you just said, so let’s go around individually for your answers.
Kat: I said “J.U.G.S.,” which stands for “just us girls.” Sonam and I are nonbinary, so saying “jugs” is the perfect way to express it. When we’re in the basement, it’s just us doing our thing. Us just being in the room together is what Eraser is, you know? Whatever we bring to the table that day.
Pier: The word I said was “impish,” which spoiler alert, is a reference to the word in one of our new songs. It’s that energy of being like “hee hee hee” and kind of evil. It’s mischievous.
Juliette: Mine’s similar, I said “smirky.” I was gonna say smirk, but I feel like the smirk has a connotation of coming from a creepy man, so not that kind of smirk.
Pier: You’re reclaiming smirk.
Sonam: Mine was “womblike.” When we go down into the basement, there’s this thick gel that sort of encases us and we’re just in the zone for a couple of hours. I don’t mean to make this all mother-related, but I just feel like it’s a space where we sort of become kids and fucking fuck around and laugh and be stupid and just really love each other.
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