J
ust two years ago, D.C. punk band Ekko Astral felt on top of the world. Their debut album, Pink Balloons, struck a chord with young Americans watching the 2024 election unfold into a repeat nightmare, and made waves well beyond their local scene; it was sad, hilarious, and invigorating, all at the same time. Ekko’s success landed them opening slots for Jeff Rosenstock and PUP, then sent them back in the studio to make a new record they called The Beltway is Burning. They didn’t know how to make sense of it all. All they knew was that it felt awesome.
“Before this, if I sold 30 tickets to a show, I was like, ‘I did it!’” guitarist Liam Hughes says, reminiscing on their early days. “The fact that we were actually selling shows and there was significant hype … There was a tangible feeling of excitement.”
Hughes and frontwoman-bassist Jae Holzman founded Ekko Astral together in 2021. The lineup later swelled to a quintet, compressed to a trio, and returned back to their original duo. But after this summer, Ekko Astral is over. The duo tell Rolling Stone that their Aug. 27 show at the Washington, D.C., club DC9 will be “the final Ekko Astral show for the foreseeable future.” After that, they are retiring the band name, going on “indefinite hiatus,” and officially shelving The Beltway is Burning after online infighting and feuds with ex-bandmates, from their perspective, came to define the project.
