The Pop Corporation

Turnstile are just about the biggest punk group on the planet right now, and it seems like there’s still swathes of rock fans who haven’t cottoned on to this fact yet – and maybe that’s how the punks are going to enjoy it, because after today, they’re going to be absolutely everywhere whether they like it or not.

Coming from the hardcore scene, success and ambition is always met with a certain amount of skepticism, raised eyebrows, boring calls of selling-out, and the tried-and-tested claims of ‘they’re not as good as they used to be‘, as people yearn for sports halls and gigs so small the stage is a cleared corner of a room rather than something as gauche as a platform raised up higher than the audience.

Anyone following Turnstile knows that they’re already beyond all that, and have played huge outdoor shows, had arena opening slots, been on primetime US television and even found themselves being name-checked by Demi Lovato as her “favourite band.” Fact is, they are already a huge success, but with ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, they’re about to go supernova.

So just what is it that has made Turnstile such a massive and irresistible thing for music fans? Well, for starters, they’re really good, obviously. More to the point though, is that they’re not built like many of their peers – this is a project that finds itself in that unique spot of being able to do whatever they want – they’re a heavy group sure, but one that plays with other ideas and genres, doing as they please, in whatever way the see fit.

Total creative freedom.

Music fans can be protestant in their tastes and a lot of hardcore fans are no different, thinking that the scene needs to look and sound a certain way, and anything that deviates outside of those imaginary lines are fair game for a kicking. Yet, here we are, looking at a group that is very much a hardcore punk affair, but with that, one that incorporates electronic music, post rock, dream-pop, DC go-go, ’80s goth, psychedelic music, and so much more.

While a lot of their peers stick to loud guitars and brutal breakdowns, Turnstile have spoken word segments from Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, cosmic synth intros and pure pop hooks, as well as self-directing their own films and videos, making for a complete art project that goes 360 degrees. Turnstile just aren’t like anyone else, and they’re all the better for it.

Of course, they still have heavy guitars and breakdowns too, and they’re one of the best in the business at them. Whether they’re just doing what feels right for themselves, or they worked out that there’s an uncomfortable truth for a lot of heavy music that relies purely on volume, that it can be boring and one dimensional, Turnstile are in danger of becoming an all-time great band by creating their own lane.

There’s thousands of bands out there who are happy enough to simply turn everything up to ten, which is fine and all, but sometimes by the time you hear the third song, it all begins to sound like the first song you listened to. The better punks always knew the secret has always been in the creation of dynamics in songs, and often in the moments where the band show restraint, we are rewarded with a harder hitting volume when it inevitably comes.

And this is where Turnstile have always been so interesting; this is where Turnstile really excel. Their non-hardcore moments make the volume feel like the ceiling in crashing in on you, and they do it without relying on something as simple as songs that are just quiet-loud-quiet-loud-loud like we’ve heard (and enjoyed) before – they’ve got a a whole new sonic palate to play with, which has been hugely refreshing.

See, if you listen to their already massive ‘GLOW ON’ album, you don’t feel that this is band turning away from the scene that birthed them, or even a crossover LP to appeal to alternative rock and pop fans – it’s all feeling more like they’re pushing the boundaries of what hardcore can be, and push the genre upwards and outwards.

It is little wonder that they’re hoovering up fans from disparate corners of music, where other titans of the scene haven’t. And this isn’t a failure of those other groups either, but rather, the visibility and versatility of Turnstile and a willingness to do exactly as they please is proof positive that maybe, just maybe, the punks always had a much broader taste in music than many would have given them credit for all these years.

If anyone is getting riled up about their musical direction, it doesn’t look like Turnstile are going to change anything any time soon, because it’s working.

Maybe it was intentional all along, because there were signs – they’ve worked with Mike Elizondo who has in his credits, ‘In Da Club’ and ‘The Real Slim Shady’, and produced LPs by Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold who irritated the hell out of a number of gatekeeping metalheads. And yet, you see the crowd at a Turnstile show, and it is pure energy and love. People are diving off the stage before a guitar or drum beat has even kicked itself into action – it’s jarring and pure art.

It is the group’s varied tastes that seems an unswerving commitment to groove that has seen people who wouldn’t normally like that kinda thing finding themselves completely enamoured with what Turnstile are putting down. ‘Blackout’ from the last LP is already a modern classic, and has of all things, an 808 in it.

So by the time you hear the new stuff, with its ambient sections and the like, it is absolutely a progression of their sound and should be no surprise.

We’re now four years on from ‘GLOW ON’, and we’ve now got ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, the new album that pushes the Turnstile sound even further – a new album that’s Turnstile being even-more-Turnstile than they’ve been before. More fluid. More arty. Still packing enough heat to make a pit lose its’ shit.

The title track is, for a good chunk of it, an ambient track with dissolving notes and hidden unease. It is also a statement of intent. Anyone who wishes they’d just stick to the punk stuff, are going to be met with a bigger spectrum of sound than we’ve seen before.

And now, there’s a lot of big talk around the group. They’re no longer a fanzine band – they’re consistently getting big TV slots and long-form Zane Lowe interviews. They’re being asked questions that hardcore bands don’t normally get asked and, this time around, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the pressure was on them to recreate the success of the last album.

The fervour around them now is almost akin to another huge crossover act – Nirvana – but in this instance, they seem to be coping admirably and even enjoying it. There’s been heavy groups who have been hugely successful since Cobain bowed out with ‘In Utero’, but can you think of another heavy group that the pop fans have fawned over this hard? A heavy band who are this unashamed in the broadness of their tastes? A band who aren’t deserting their roots, but like Nirvana, dragging the scene kicking and screaming up with them.

Maybe it’s a ridiculous thing to liken them to, but there’s something big happening and it’s very easy to get carried away. The fact that they’re using their financial comfort to remember what the scene is all about, by playing and throwing massive free shows to compliment the arena tour which will no doubt come next. If H&M start selling hardcore t-shirts, it’ll be ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ that kickstarted the trend, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

So where’s this album at? Well, there’s anthems ready-to-go. There’s a one-two punch of ‘I CARE’ and ‘DULL’, which shows both sides of the group, with one being the poppiest of punk and the other, smacking you around the guts with slabs of guitar, but both having an undeniable energy. It is so interesting to see a band that can deliver this energy in different ways.

Sure, there may well be fans who feel like the group are missing something from previous years and they might blame that on a change of personnel, success, or whatever else – but that comes with increased attention, right? Success in punk always comes with an equal amount of hype and criticism. Are they hardcore enough? Are they too pretentious? Brendan Yates is not only the frontman, but also a driver for a variety of ideas, credited as a producer in the group too. Drummer Daniel Fang says Yates has something of an “architect mind.”

“An architect has to be a jack of all trades in order to form a vision for what a building should be, the purpose of the building, how the building exists, the spirit of a building,” which will not doubt give credence to those who like to wheel out the uncredited quote of “writing about music is like dancing about architecture“, should anyone get too excited about the success of this group, and their approach to the way they release their music and now, films.

However, this is all kinda the point with Turnstile – they’re not afraid to aim high. In the world of alternative rock, punk, and its many offshoots, they don’t seem to have a limit to what they want to try out. Even if you look at someone wildly successful as Green Day, their sound are been largely the same, save for a musical and the occasional acoustic number. That’s no criticism of Green Day, but the eclecticism of Turnstile should be celebrated alongside those snot-nosed punks who still live for the mantra of three chords and the truth.

The scope and breadth of their music far exceeds what many of their peers have done, and maybe, some of their peers have been wanting to do something like this but couldn’t pull the trigger for fear of rebuttal. Turnstile, quite obviously, want more than one genre can give them creatively.

Never enough, clearly.

You think back to Brian McTernan, who produced their 2015 debut long-player ‘Nonstop Feeling’, who said of the band “they’re fearless, and they know themselves and they trust themselves.” And on this, their biggest release, they’ve decided to do exactly that, and trust their own instincts and you feel that this is going to be a breakout for them on a scale we’ve not seen in years.

And interestingly, you feel like it’s the heavier aspects of this record that will resonate with new fans more than the pop elements. You feel like ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ is going to turn a load of non punks into hardcore curious. Say it quietly, but this album might just be Turnstile’s ‘Nevermind’.

It is hard to think of anyone who has made hard music this accessible and sound so joyful since the grunge movement. While Nu Metal was arena filling and chartbusting, there’s a feminine edge to what Turnstile do, just like grunge had, which feels less like the toxic bro shit of US hard rock that has blighted so many of its scenes. You find yourself thinking that, as the album plays out, they might have just moved the needle on the whole scene, and that will come with its own pressures, but we can’t think of a band better equipped to deal with that.

You sense that Turnstile are about to become the kind of influential that see hipsters at Coachella wearing Jawbreaker tees, and Bad Brains getting a renaissance for the fuck of it. You might see a reality TV star in a Minor Threat shirt now, and obviously, this is going to drive some people mad, but those people are going to have to deal with it – this is what happens when a band catches lightning in a bottle.

It’s not like this album lacks what people love about Turnstile – the likes of ‘SOLE’, ‘SUNSHOWER’ and ‘BIRDS’ are pure pit-fuel, and ‘LOOK OUT FOR ME’ with its “now my heart is hanging by a thread” refrain is 100% going to be bellowed back at the group for years to come.

If ‘GLOW ON’ was them testing the waters, then ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ is the realisation of something that was totally inevitable, but also it turns out, utterly needed. A lot of other bands are going to be nervously looking over their shoulders now, and others, trying to keep up.

Are they Hardcore? Are they New Wave? Are they Psychedelic Indie? Is it Ambient? Is it Punk? Post rock? Who cares? They’re making great music.

With ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, Turnstile have made an instant classic. It is entirely up to you whether you embrace this fact or not. You’d be wise to sign-up and join in the fun, because bands like this don’t come around very often.

Cohesive, eclectic, forward-thinking, fucking brilliant.