They brought on stage hardcore Further than anyone could imagine. Turnstile, a band from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, began their career with a concert in front of 10 people at a community center and now play to tens of thousands of people around the world. The group appears on the pages of THE New York Times or inaugurate the pogos —the jumps and falls of the audience during concerts hardcore, rock either punk where the audience jumps and collides – in the radio editorial team NPR During the concerts that took place there, the famous Small office.
Its singer, Brendan Yates, 35, jumped up and was carried by the editorial staff: “It’s the energy of the moment,” sums up the singer. The group also earned eight nominations at the 2026 Grammys, being the first to do so in the categories of rock, metal and alternative.
Yates walks into the interview with one of his four bandmates, Daniel Fang, the drummer. Their pulse acts as a pendulum between calm and chaos, as they will demonstrate a few minutes later in a dark and lost room at the Vistalegre Palace in Madrid, where they gave the last concert of their European tour. The Never Enough Touron November 27, blowing up and crashing the entire track. “I think there’s something insane about people wanting to share this music with each other, risking their bodies to throw themselves off stage. That’s the purity of it all,” Yates says.
Around 4,500 people attended the concert, fans who know exactly where they are going, the vast majority dressed in their t-shirts, many of whom came from merchandising of this tour and the feeling in the air that something big is going to happen. A beam of blue light is projected from the stage and Turnstile begins with the almost ceremonial strains of an organ. That’s how it sounds Never enough (2025), the opening song that gives the name to their latest album, an evolution of Shine on (2021), in which the group freed itself from niche constraints by mixing moments of ambient And dream pop with the ferocity of gasoline’s scattered rage hardcore which abounded in the albums Time and space (2018) and Continuous feeling (2015).
His musical evolution can be explained by Yates’ growth in his role as a singer, after making his name on the scene as the drummer of Trapped Under Ice: “It’s a more vulnerable position. In the early years, I put all my adrenaline and nerves into screaming into the microphone and throwing myself into the audience and people would rightly say, ‘This guy doesn’t sing’. That was what I needed. But now I continue the journey to find out how express myself with my voice.”
“Brendan is a great songwriter and has the ability to take a broad view or look at details simultaneously and nothing is left hanging, and I constantly listen to songs to re-evaluate them and see what’s missing,” says drummer Daniel Fang, who also describes a harmony between the physical energy of endless touring and the mental exhaustion of the studio, and how the songs evolve to take them live.
In pogos there is the concept of taking care of each other. »
And soon their intentions are seen, in the darkness them and in the bright light the hordes of devoted supporters who mingle in a pogo infinity. If Turnstile has changed anything in his scene, it’s his openness musically and, no less importantly, in the way he understands his world, away from the alpha masculinity he excludes: “This way of dancing can be intimidating, but I think there’s a concept of caring for each other and even though sometimes someone might get hurt, I think there’s a general idea of openness and a common, safe space. Passion can only be measured by the large number of glasses of beer that are almost whole, at ten euros each.
However, you can see from above some points among the participants where there is not much kindness or caring, but rather fist grinders who are named after some unfortunate person. This is how Fang started in this world: “I remember a guy knocked me out while I was dancing and that person is now my best friend. It’s hard to explain that to your mother when she breaks your nose, but in the end, she understands that you found a community,” he adds.
Again, eschewing the manliness and manliness associated with this style, Turnstile’s lyrics address internal difficulties or speak to mental health issues, as in Slow dive (“I want to swim, but the peace and silence comfort me. / I fall, but I feel no weight”), of the feeling of community in Pay attention to me or empathy in I care (“I’m happy to give of myself and change what I can’t change so you know I care about you.”)
Brendan Yates and Daniel Fang are two new stars. Perfect bodies, almost no fat, a healthy life, far from alcohol, drugs and chaos in rock stars’ dressing rooms. And whether for that or something else, it’s not surprising to see teenagers among his acolytes going on stage to jump again.
Turnstile’s “hardcore” is also aimed at teenagers
Is this a space suitable for minors? “I think honesty and transparency are beneficial in all situations, especially with teenagers. Many of us grew up with filters in an education system and with parental control that decided what was most appropriate for a child to experience and when. But there is a benefit to being open and teaching them that the feelings we have, even if they are not always positive, are real,” says Yates.
But everything has a price, and success in such a niche scene is paid for among the most loyal: they have lost certain followers of the principle who criticize them for having marketed, but they won still a lot of new fans. Fang understands: “It’s such a difficult scene to find that it becomes something very special. It’s magical, especially when you’re young. You don’t want it to be something that’s accessible and that even people you don’t like will like it.”
We thus arrive at the end of the concert in Vistalegre. The security guards who had faithfully defended the pit retreated and Yates gave the order: “You know what you have to do,” he says. Turnstile closes the concert with his most popular single from the latest album, the birds, with unstoppable energy and a wild rhythm. The audience invades the stage, merges with the group, who disappears as if they had never been there. And suddenly it’s all sweaty hugs.
About The Author
