Hardcore lineups in 2018 don’t come much more stacked than the one that hit Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, April 24 at Barracuda. The buzz surrounding headliners Turnstile has been palpable, gracing magazine covers and receiving rave reviews, while Touche Amore has had a solid cult following of diehard fans for years and Culture Abuse is bubbling just below. It was a perfect cocktail recipe.
Culture Abuse clocked in a solid post-hardcore performance. Their ragged vocals brought to mind early 80’s post-punk, but with their odd sense of humor and indefatigable energy, they brought to mind the recent post-punk band Iceage, who traded in similar tones only to abruptly switch styles and lose their hype. If Culture Abuse keeps up what they’re doing, they’ll definitely grow their brand sooner rather than later.
On the other hand, lead singer David Kelling, lovable as he is, should maybe cut out the a capella closing song, or at least shorten it. Many in the crowd were left with a bad taste in their mouths after a very solid set, one even commenting “I love Culture Abuse, but that was terrible.”
Touche Amore took the stage with a brief announcement. Guitarist Nick Steinhardt was sick and would miss the show. That meant, as a four piece, they were only capable of playing material from their early demos and EPs and their first two records, To the Beat of a Dead Horse and Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me. It made for an incredibly special one-night-only return to Touche Amore’s roots, playing some songs that they hadn’t performed live in almost ten years.
For many newer fans of Touche Amore’s more recent, more introspective and softer material with clean singing, it may have been off-putting. For the longtime fans and diehards, it was magical; a time machine back to their youth. Even the band themselves somehow seemed younger. At one point front man Jeremy Bolm started screaming on a song, employing harsh screamo vocals he hasn’t used since the band’s very earliest days. All the classics amounted to a show stealing performance by the band, who turned a negative into an overwhelming positive.
Turnstile had quite a task ahead of them to top Touche Amore’s time warping performance, but Turnstile’s music more than reels a crowd right back in. The bouncy riffage and wailing vocals are a total throwback to early 90’s skater punk, but kids who were barely born in the 90’s swarmed the stage to stage dive, crowd surf, and mosh to every beatdown riff and breakdown.
Turnstile screams old school ethos, and their attack is relentless. Their music never let up once in their roughly 40 minute set, as they pummeled their audience, who gave the energy back in kind. One brave young man even climbed to the rafters to do the ultimate stage dive during a particularly sick breakdown.
It goes without saying that Turnstile is fun. Their music lacks a certain amount of depth, but they get their audience going and they bring it nonstop. Their dress looks like they’d be playing their own music on a boombox at a skatepark. It’s kitschy and enjoyable. However, their music is often marred by outright awful vocals from backing singer and sometimes lead singer Franz Lyons, who also plays bass in the band. He sounds like he’s trying to pull a Danzig, but he is no Danzig. Their riffs also sometimes skew too old school, bordering on an effort to ape their predecessors. Often it did play better in a live setting, without the purposefully throwback, lo-fi production of their records.
While there wasn’t going to be any topping Touche Amore’s set, a white elephant performance if there ever was one, Turnstile brought out the best in their fans and the best in themselves. There are many things to love, and many things to dislike, but there is no question that the hype over their live performances is deserved. Everyone says it, but the cliche bears repeating: they’re definitely a band to watch for the future.
