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Band Guide · Turnstile · Hardcore Punk / Post-Hardcore · Baltimore, Maryland

TurnstileBand Guide

Formed 2010 · Baltimore, Maryland · Hardcore Punk / Post-Hardcore / Alternative Rock

Turnstile are the band that broke hardcore open — a Baltimore five-piece who spent a decade building a reputation on the DIY circuit before releasing Glow On in 2021 and becoming one of the most critically acclaimed rock records of the decade. By incorporating R&B textures, shoegaze atmospherics and reggae rhythms into a hardcore framework without diluting the fundamental energy, they proved the genre had more room than almost anyone had suspected. This is the complete guide.

Best Songs Ranked Play Rock Heardle
Turnstile band photo
Formed~2010Baltimore, MD
Studio Albums4
BreakthroughGlow On2021
Best AlbumGlow On2021
Start WithMystery

Who Are Turnstile?

Turnstile are an American rock band formed in Baltimore, Maryland around 2010, emerging from the city's DIY hardcore punk scene. The band built their reputation steadily across a series of EPs and albums throughout the 2010s, developing a sound that retained hardcore's fundamental energy and physicality while progressively incorporating a wider range of influences — R&B, reggae, shoegaze, dream pop — in ways that never felt forced or genre-indulgent.

Their 2021 album Glow On became one of the decade's most critically acclaimed rock records, earning widespread praise not just within hardcore circles but from mainstream rock publications and listeners who might never have encountered the band through their earlier work. The album's achievement was demonstrating that hardcore could be emotionally open, melodically generous and sonically diverse without sacrificing the raw energy that made it compelling in the first place.

Why Glow On Mattered

Glow On (2021) is acclaimed because it demonstrated that hardcore music could incorporate elements of R&B, shoegaze, reggae and dream pop without losing its fundamental energy or alienating its core audience — and because it did so with an emotional directness and melodic generosity that felt genuinely unusual for the genre. It is widely regarded as one of the best rock albums of the 2020s.

New to Turnstile?

Start with Mystery — the most immediately accessible entry point and the track most likely to convert someone who doesn't usually listen to hardcore. Then Glow On (2021) as a full album, beginning to end.

Band Members

BY
Brendan Yates
Vocals
Founding vocalist and primary creative force, whose energetic, physically committed live delivery and willingness to push the band's sound toward unexpected emotional territory has been central to Turnstile's evolution across every album.
FL
Franz Lyons
Bass · Vocals
Bassist and co-vocalist who contributes significantly to the melodic dimension of the band's sound, with his vocal harmonies on Glow On being a key element of the album's warmer, more accessible texture.
PM
Pat McCrory
Guitar
Guitarist who, alongside second guitarist Brady Ebert, provides the rhythmic and melodic framework that allows Turnstile to move between hardcore aggression and more atmospheric, textured passages within single songs.
DF
Daniel Fang
Drums
Drummer whose technically accomplished, rhythmically adventurous playing — capable of moving between hardcore blasting and R&B-inflected groove within the same song — is a central element of what makes Turnstile's genre-crossing approach work.

Band History

~2010
Turnstile forms in Baltimore, Maryland, beginning to develop their sound on the city's DIY hardcore circuit and releasing early EPs that establish their reputation within the scene.
2015
Nonstop Feeling released, the band's first full-length album and a significant step forward in the development of their more melodically expansive approach to hardcore.
2018
Time & Space released, widening the band's audience and reputation significantly and receiving widespread critical praise as an unusually ambitious hardcore record.
2021
Glow On released, becoming one of the most critically acclaimed rock records of the decade and earning the band a Grammy nomination, mainstream press coverage and a dramatically expanded fanbase beyond hardcore's traditional boundaries.
2023–present
The band releases TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION (2023) and continues touring, maintaining their position as one of the most creatively significant rock bands of the current era.

Discography

2021
Glow On
Mystery, Blackout, Alien Love Call. One of the best rock albums of the 2020s. Start here.
Essential
2018
Time & Space
Moon, Big Smile. The breakthrough critical album before the mainstream crossover.
Essential
2015
Nonstop Feeling
Drop, Fazed Out. The debut that established the sound.
Great
2023
TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION
Underwater Boi, Birds. A shorter, more experimental later work.
Great

The Turnstile Sound

Turnstile's sound combines the energy and physicality of hardcore punk — fast tempos, dense riffing, Brendan Yates's intense vocal delivery — with an unusually wide range of influences absorbed and integrated without the seams showing. R&B grooves, shoegaze atmospherics, reggae rhythms and dream pop melody all appear across their catalogue, treated not as genre-tourism but as natural extensions of the emotional range the band wants to cover. Daniel Fang's drumming is particularly central to this: the ability to move between a hardcore blast and an R&B pocket within a single song is what allows everything else to coexist.

Hardcore Punk Post-Hardcore Alternative Rock

Turnstile Trivia Quiz

Five questions — how many can you get right?

Best Songs by Mood

Not sure where to begin? Use this as your entry point.

First song ever
Mystery
Most aggressive, pit-ready
Blackout
Most atmospheric
Alien Love Call
Most purely joyful
Fly Again
Most R&B-influenced
Underwater Boi
Best earlier-era track
Big Smile
Most emotionally direct
Holiday
Underrated deep cut
Endless

Turnstile FAQ

When did Turnstile form?
Turnstile formed in Baltimore, Maryland around 2010, emerging from the city's DIY hardcore punk scene before building a reputation as one of the most energetic and musically adventurous hardcore bands of their generation.
What is Turnstile's most famous song?
Mystery is widely considered Turnstile's most famous and most accessible song, a melodically rich track from Glow On that became a crossover hit and introduced the band to a much wider audience beyond hardcore's traditional fanbase.
Why is Glow On so acclaimed?
Glow On (2021) is acclaimed because it demonstrated that hardcore music could incorporate elements of R&B, shoegaze, reggae and dream pop without losing its fundamental energy or alienating its core audience, and because it did so with an emotional directness and melodic generosity that felt genuinely unusual for the genre.
What is the best Turnstile album to start with?
Glow On (2021) is the essential starting point and the record most responsible for the band's crossover success. Time & Space (2018) is the best entry point for their more straightforwardly hardcore earlier sound.
Is Turnstile actually hardcore?
Yes — Turnstile emerged from and remain rooted in the hardcore punk tradition, and their live show retains the physical energy and intensity associated with the genre. What makes them distinctive is their willingness to incorporate other influences into that framework without abandoning it.
Did Turnstile win a Grammy?
Turnstile received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album for Glow On in 2023, a reflection of the album's unusually broad critical reach and commercial crossover beyond hardcore's traditional audience.

See Also