Amid internal issues, DC punk band Ekko Astral have addressed the flurry of changes happening as the rollout of their upcoming record the beltway is burning continues. The record announcement was soon followed by news that drummer Miri Tyler would be leaving the band, and would play her final set with Ekko Astral at the second edition of their trans-rights music festival, Liberation Weekend.

Monday night, Topshelf records, which was set to release the beltway is burning, issued a statement proclaiming the termination of Ekko Astral's contract. The band took to Instagram to corroborate this news and add they'd now be releasing the record independently.

These statements raised eyebrows about the band's internal issues, specifically frontwoman Jael Holzman's peace order petition against Tyler. The band addressed this petition and their split with Topshelf in the below statement:

"On Feb. 18, a Washington, D.C., local news story was published, leading to Ekko Astral no longer working with Topshelf Records. The story reported inaccurately and irresponsibly on a private situation between Jael and our former drummer, Miri. This was poised to be resolved peacefully and in private, but instead the events were transformed and distorted into a situation that hurt everyone involved while temporarily derailing the campaign behind the band’s second album, the beltway is burning. 

Ekko Astral cooperated fully with the story when on-the-record comments were solicited for this piece. Almost all of them were left out, including a detailed account from Ekko Astral co-founder Liam Hughes, whose name wasn’t even in the piece despite it using his likeness. We believe the facts of this situation were presented in a way that differed from the truth, from a journalist whose approach to the story failed to match the stakes and sensitivity of the events in question.

'We gave them an opportunity to report the facts, and they disregarded all of them,' said Liam Hughes, co-founder of Ekko Astral. 'The inaccuracies and omissions in this story resulted in a swirl of misinformed online harassment that led us to part ways with our label. This story shouldn’t have been published in the first place. It should be significantly corrected, or retracted, and the outlet should be forced to reckon with the consequences of its decision-making.'

Hughes continues: 'We love Miri, and we wanted to keep this private for her benefit. This was all extremely hard. We’ve always wanted her to be healthy and safe. We also want her to feel comfortable expressing how she has felt after her time in this band. Despite the heartache and frustration that comes with the current public scrutiny of this situation, we will continue to hold her up as a woman and musician we love. That’s always been our guiding principle in this delicate situation – and we explained how to the news outlet many times.'

Ekko Astral plans to still release the beltway is burning independently on April 22, 2026.

To Topshelf Records: we truly appreciate the time and care you put into Ekko Astral. 

Attached to this release is a breakdown highlighting key factual errors and omissions in the piece we have found so far. 

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On February 18th, 2026, a Washington D.C. local news story was published containing inaccurate and incomplete reporting about a private situation between Jael and our former drummer Miri. On-the-record comments were solicited from Ekko Astral for this piece but barely any of them were used. We believe this resulted in a distorted account of the band’s personal affairs by a journalist with very little experience telling this kind of story.

In Maryland, a peace order is documentation delineating “no contact” parameters between two non-domestic parties. Crucial details about how peace orders work were omitted, despite our explanations and repeated urging that the news outlet discuss this matter with a third party lawyer before publication. This failure to fully explain a peace order misled many readers about what even happened here. The tl;dr of a peace order: Jael’s home is off-limits to Miri, Miri’s direct communication to Jael must cease for the duration of the order, and no in-person and online threats. But there is a crucial limitation to a peace order – it is enforced voluntarily by the person who requested it. This detail is not mentioned in the piece. By consenting to the order, Miri agreed to follow the terms, and because of that Jael doesn’t expect to ever invoke the order throughout its duration. 

Obtaining a peace order in Maryland does not involve calling the cops or filing a police report. Many people choose to file a police report alongside a peace order, but we deliberately did not do that. The band is acutely aware of Miri’s recent incarceration and active probation, and, in turn, pursued action that specifically avoids jeopardizing that. We told the news outlet this multiple times, but it was not mentioned. The only time authorities were involved in this process was in the delivery of the peace order, which is not permitted in plainclothes, and we sought intermediaries to communicate their arrival to Miri ahead of time. 

A peace order does not have an impact on Miri’s criminal record. We told the news outlet this multiple times, but it was not mentioned.  

The peace order forbade threats and harassment but is not a gag order. We want to state unequivocally that Miri is able to discuss this peace order, Jael and Ekko Astral publicly, so long as those statements do not amount to fighting words, explicit threats, or abject harassment. 

After a period of 6 months, the peace order’s past existence may be entirely shielded from public view. Prior to the initial story’s reporting, Miri’s legal situation had been kept private for her benefit, in the hope that she would be allowed a judgment-free reset. 

The story positioned Jael as having a lawyer while Miri had none. Jael only requested legal assistance specifically to ensure her safety without endangering a trans woman who was recently incarcerated. We told this to the Washington City Paper repeatedly, and they declined to publish this information, instead simply portraying Jael as someone with a lawyer next to someone without one. 

FACT CHECK 1: The original story claims that Miri did not consent to the peace order. This is false; Jael, her lawyer and judge were present at Miri’s consent and heard it. The court proceeding literally couldn’t have continued without that crucial act. We urged the reporter to obtain a court transcript prior to publishing this false information. In correspondence with both Jael and Jael’s lawyer, the reporter demonstrated a clear disregard for getting this part of the story straight. Claiming doubt that Miri consented to the peace order, the story cites a recording of the proceedings as evidence in the piece, but it’s unclear if it was a personal recording or an official recording of the court. 

FACT CHECK 2: The story published wording from Miri’s original video:

'But I’m done mother fucker, I’m done

Playing shows around the country 

Supposed to be fun

I was supposed to get paid, but I ended up with none

You may think this is a game, but I got myself a - (the video cuts off)'

Miri was paid everything agreed to throughout her entire time with Ekko Astral. We told this to Washington City Paper and said we could prove it with bank statements but they allowed this claim Miri wasn’t paid to be published without our comment. 

FACT CHECK 3: Miri has never been banned from playing Liberation Weekend. As the founder of the event, Jael has full power over this fact and has tried to get Washington City Paper to correct this factual error to no avail. This is as national outlets like Stereogum have corrected the record. It is Ekko’s sincere hope that Miri continues to perform at Liberation Weekend, as she is a pillar of the DC music scene. 

NOTE: The story has already been changed twice with hidden corrections. Both changes should’ve merited correction notes but the publication is marking them as “updates.” We can provide the correspondence with their editors that led to those changes upon request.

When first published, the story claimed the peace order was first granted on Feb. 13. But the peace order was actually first granted one week earlier temporarily after a judge reviewed the claims in Miri’s TikTok video and found sufficient reason to grant it. After Jael asked for the story to be corrected to reflect that, the publication just put “final” next to the order without reflecting the other facts. 

When first published, the article claimed Miri was banned from Liberation Weekend. After Jael asked for the story to be corrected to say Miri wasn’t banned, the publication simply changed the language to “might be banned.”"

This is a developing story.