REVIEW: Turnstile – Never Enough

The issue with Turnstile is not whether they are still “hardcore” or not. Well, that’s not true; that does seem to be a big issue for a lot of people, the sort of gatekeeping nonsense that lingers even though Maximum Rock ‘n Roll in its salad days is now a wilted memory. In 1985, Minutemen released an EP called Project: Mersh (for “commercial”), a collection of attempted “hit” songs. (Tongue in cheek? Perhaps, but the songs rip. You can’t convince me that people wouldn’t lose their minds over ‘Cheerleaders’ if it was released today.) There was trumpet and –gasp—synthesizer. Did anybody legitimately question Minutemen’s punk bona fides, check their credentials? Of course not. But, Minutemen didn’t have the bad taste to become popular. Project: Mersh did not catapult the band to fame and fortune. It didn’t really sell at all.

There is trumpet and synthesizer on NEVER ENOUGH, too, quite a bit of the latter. And, the fame has come. I’m happy for Turnstile, truly. The more punk adjacent bands finding purchase in the upper reaches of the Billboard charts at the expense of sad lunks with facial tattoos or people named Morgan Wallen the better. The free concert in Baltimore earlier this year looked cool as hell and there is a connection with audiences that can’t be denied. I’m predisposed to like this band.

But, I appreciate the success of Turnstile more than I like its output. NEVER ENOUGH is never better than o.k., typified by the title song that starts to swing after the Alphaville intro but never turns into anything really momentous. The fusion of synthesizer with the harder stuff is not a radical idea and can’t carry the load alone. Faith No More was doing this years ago. MSPAINT exists right now. Turnstile is not on either of those band’s level in songwriting.

I like this album the best when it avoids “hardcore” entirely, like in the bouncy ‘I CARE.’ The songs which are ostensibly ‘hardcore’ like SUNSHOWER or the aptly named DULL are pedestrian punk dressed up with some electronic squiggles and pointless spacy interludes. LOOK OUT FOR ME has its moments then bogs down in its self-seriousness, Brendan Yates’s voice autotuned to within an inch of its life. BIRDS, the inadvertent No Doubt tribute, is simple and the best punk song on the album.

The most fascinating song is SEEIN’ STARS, an instance of copyright infringement to a degree that would make George Harrison blush. The song is nearly a musical cover of The Police’s ‘When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around.’ What I can’t help but call the “original,” however, goes much harder and is not ruined by a cheesy guitar solo. Andy Summers would never.

Turnstile is a competent band that has caught lightning in a bottle. The rhythm section is top notch and can certainly fuel a mosh pit. But lead singer Yates is just…..not good. He doesn’t sing well, certainly not a disqualifier in punk, but he tries hard to and it starts to grate very quickly. His voice is thin, tuned to a generic emo wail. His shouting is yappy. He is more tolerable on the lighter songs and when he is borrowing from other, better bands. He’s a magpie, shrill and larcenous.

An engaging front person is critical to the best punk. Jello Biafra, Lee Ving, H.R., Ian MacKaye etc. infuse the music and lyrics with personality and urgency: You need to listen to this shit, now! But, Yates is forgettable and the songs are inconsequential as a result. The lyrics don’t help, blandly describing the everyday pitfalls of life, teenage doggerel. Yates doesn’t seem disaffected, just mildly annoyed. There is no ‘Police Truck’ on this record.

Turnstile is touring the U.S. with openers Mannequin Pussy in the east and Amyl and the Sniffers in the west, bands that happen to have two of the most dynamic and charismatic band leaders in punk or any genre. I hope the big crowds get there early.

Words by Rick Larson