Turnstile used to play real hardcore, man. I don’t know what happened to them. People like to call out their most recent album, Glow On, because it’s basically masculine Olivia Rodrigo, but Turnstile’s issues started earlier. As far back as their first album — maybe further — Brendan Yates’ tendency toward plainspoken vocals forced me to gatekeep him from being a “real” hardcore signer. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Turnstile started to turn, but I can say this with confidence: they only got together in 2010, but they’ve been trending downward for the last 40 years.
Turnstile have been sellouts sleeping in hotel rooms, they were sellouts when they were sleeping on strangers’ floors, and they were sellouts when they were sleeping at naptime. Turnstile was at their best before they could make music. I liked them a hell of a lot better before they were born.
I wish they were unique here, but they’re not. Turnstile, like most bands (and, frankly, like most other things) were better back when they were sperm. No hawking capitalist merch after the show. No giving in to the popular demand for “breathing.” Just the raw emotion of wriggling around trying to survive. After all, hardcore isn’t about “mainstream appeal,” and hardcore isn’t “success;” it’s about showing up on the scene and trying to grow arms.
Really, whether you’re an artist or just a fan, pre-birth is the only time to get started. Take it from me: I’ve been going to shows since I was a fetus. I listened to In Utero in utero. I was conceived inside the basketball hoop at Gilman. I first entered the pit in the womb, and already knew that kicking was a faux pas. I might have screwed up my cred by starting to walk and giving money to those corporate bigwigs at Gerber, but at least I started from a real place.
I don’t want to keep Turnstile out forever though, because I do believe they have potential to go back to their origins. Sure, they made the blunder of coming into existence, but they can turn that around. Like all great artists, they’ll finally get to be respectable and cool again after they die.