Spiritual Cramp Energizes The Turf Club
Bands are bringing it when they come to the Twin Cities lately. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I feel like the Twin Cities have always been a hub for amazing music, but there’s just something about the current climate here in the Twin Cities that makes it feel like bands are giving us the gift of flawless shows filled with more energy and passion than I’ve seen in the past. Maybe this is me reading into things. Maybe this just goes to show how desperate all of us are for something good to happen up here, rather than the tragedy and stress that have plagued us since the beginning of the year. Either way, I’m eating up this newfound fire and passion I’m getting from every band I see, and Tuesday night at The Turf Club was no different.
Local band Giallo was the first to take the stage and, although their time was short, they absolutely packed a punch with what they gave the quickly growing audience. Giallo is absolutely a hardcore band through and through, but there was something about their performance on Tuesday night that felt just a bit different. Part of that may be because their sound felt just a bit heavier than I am used to when it comes to local hardcore, but I think the main part was because this band felt so warm and inviting. Look, I love hardcore music, but I feel like it’s a hard scene to get into. There are egos and gatekeeping that often make it an uncomfortable situation for me, so I tend to just avoid the shows, but if I ever see that Giallo is performing, I will suck it up and go purely because they made me feel welcome. I know this really doesn’t give you much of a taste of their sound, but, for me, their personality as a band was the highlight; the music, although great, came secondary.
Springfield, Illinois-based No Guard was up next. I didn’t catch everything that was said, but from what I gathered, this band did not come in their typical form on Tuesday night. From what I caught, it sounded like many of the members couldn’t make it to this show, so musicians from various other projects stepped in to cover. Honestly, I never would have known this had it not been mentioned. This band was as tight as they were intense. Watching them was like standing there and being helplessly washed over by an intense tsunami again, and again, and again. There was something classic about their sound and, at moments, I felt like there was even a little Oi! influence mixed in with their hardcore vibe. It added the perfect amount of razzle-dazzle to their set to make them stand out, but at the same time, the energy that they presented their songs with definitely fit the night perfectly.
Denver, Colorado-based Destiny Bond was the final opening act on Tuesday night at The Turf Club, and they instantly stole my heart. Sure, like the rest of the night, their music was intense and, at times, chaotic, but there was something tender hidden behind their extreme tone, and I was absolutely here for it. I feel like hardcore bands get so wrapped up in being the heaviest, most intense band they can be, and often, the melody gets lost in the mix, both literally and figuratively, but not in the case of Destiny Bond. Sure, I latched onto the more tender side of this band throughout their quick performance, but if you didn’t want to fall into that trap, you could have just as easily been wholly consumed by the power and charisma that this band brought to the small stage. From epic jumps done by the guitarists and bassists to the way that vocalist Chloe Madonna would stalk the stage and bark at the audience in a way, Destiny Bond had a brand of intensity that was impossible to escape, but, with its perfection, why would you want to escape it at all?
I’ll be 100% honest with you, it’s taken me a hot minute to warm up to the headlining act of Tuesday night- Spiritual Cramp. The first time I saw them, I was there blind. I knew nothing about this band or their music and was instantly turned off by this prick-ish persona that vocalist Michael Bingham seemed to have. I didn’t know it was a persona. I’m not sure it was a persona. As I recall, Mike mentioned during that setback in 2024 that he had that attitude because he gets nervous in front of crowds, and it was just the way he was when he got nervous. I liked the music, but that attitude left a weird taste in my mouth. I’ve been listening to this band since then and have even seen them a few more times, and although I’m still not sure what I think of that attitude/persona/ whatever you want to call it, I am in love with this band, and I was stoked to see them on Tuesday night.
Spiritual Cramp didn’t hold back. Like every other band that has come to the Twin Cities since the beginning of the year (and like I mentioned at the beginning of this post), something about Spiritual Cramp’s presence on stage felt a bit more intense than in the past, and the energy that radiated from the stage felt more electrifying than oddly crabby and weird. It was song after song with very few breaks. Each song was presented with this odd mix of energized chaos, but also this almost cool, laid-back energy. That’s the charm of this band, and I feel like it matches their sound so well. Sure, they are a punk band, but Spiritual Cramp is a punk band that brings a magnifying glass to the 70’s style punk scene. It’s as if you are seeing The Ramones mix with Turnstile in real time while you get this almost Hives kind of retro-tinge. Whether you like this band’s attitude on stage or not, there’s no denying the fact that they are doing something unique and they are doing it well.
