Brendan Yates led the band in five performances that reimagine their robust hardcore sound for the stripped-back performance space
The first time Turnstile appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, their set was recorded from home. The band filled the walls of their space with stuffed animals and cartoon plushies, which essentially stood in for a real crowd. Of course, it wasn’t quite the same. Now, they’ve made their return with a proper Tiny Desk performance complete with an actual audience that frontman Brendan Yates could gently stage-dive into.
Turnstile opened their set with “Dreaming,” a deep cut from their latest album Never Enough. The entire performance is a shining spotlight on the record, which toys with the malleability of their sound and embraces unconventional approaches to an already robust sound. They continued with “Sunshower” and “I Care” before running through “Never Enough” and “Birds.”
Yates led with Pat McCrory and Meg Mills on guitar, Franz Lyons on bass, Daniel Fang on drums, Tobias Moody on saxophone, Theljon Allen on trumpet, and Troy Long on piano. During “Birds,” while the band rocked out, a mosh pit formed in front of the performance area. Standing on the desk separating the crew from the audience, Yates sprang into a flip, landing him in a perfect position to crowd surf in the office.
“This being somewhat of a hometown show for us, there’s a lot of very important people in the room,” Yates said. “A lot of personal heroes and a lot of people that we grew up with. People that are family, people that are friends, people that we found music with, people that we made music with, and newer friends as well. All that to say, thank you for always being there. I love you.”
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Breaking the mold is what Turnstile does best. “The Baltimore hardcore band has always pushed back against convention,” Rolling Stone wrote in a review of Never Enough. “The band’s fourth album sounds like the future — if the future is the realm Bill and Ted visited with all of those guys in shiny silver suits playing electric guitars like saints giving benediction.”
