Spiritual Cramp, GUV, Imploders, The Carp
Spiritual Cramp
Spiritual Cramp is an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 2017. The band's musical style incorporates elements of various genres, including new wave, classic punk, reggae, and 1990s alternative rock. The band features Michael Bingham on vocals, Mike Fenton on bass, Jacob Breeze on lead guitar, Nate Punty on rhythm guitar, Julian Smith on drums and José Luna on keyboards.
About This Event
Saturday, March 7 Spiritual Cramp with GUV, Imploders, and The Carp at Grog ShopDoors 7 PM | Show 8 PMALL AGES$20 advance | $24 day of show+ $3 at door if under 21Spiritual Cramp arent looking for a soapbox. The San Francisco-born punk experimentalists are here to flash a big smile, flip you off, deliver a burst of musical adrenaline, and then keep on walking. But at the same time, thats something that Im working on, vocalist Michael Bingham knowingly grins.
And on their upcoming sophomore album, RUDE (due TK via Blue Grape Music), Spiritual Cramp discover a newfound balance between that impish cheekiness, emotional vulnerability, and rabid energy. When you focus on yourself and the people around you, you can keep your side of the street clean, Bingham says. From the very first seconds of RUDEs opening track Im an Anarchist, Spiritual Cramp make it clear what their side of the street is.
The record is framed with the tuning of an FM dial and the voice of DJ Crash (played by percussionist Jose Luna), introducing Wild 87 Radio and the San Francisco rude boy sound. The fictitious radio station takes its name from the bands original moniker prior to renaming themselves after a song by southern California rockers Christian Death, and recurs on the album as a way to keep the band grounded in their SF roots. My foundation is in San Francisco, California, and from there I can go anywhere and be who I am, Bingham says.
While Spiritual Cramp have perfected their kaleidoscopic take on rock over nearly a decade, the gleeful RUDE marks the start of a new era for the band. Bingham and bassist Mike Fenton have been the bands constants in that timenot to mention having worked on other projects together priorand wrote the majority of Spiritual Cramps songs on their own across a series of lineup changes. But after a seemingly endless tour in support of their self-titled 2023 debut, their new lineup of Bingham, Fenton, percussionist Luna, guitarists Nate Punty and Orville Neeley III, and drummer Julian Smith gelled to the point that the co-founders decided to bring everyone into the room for the writing process.
It really helped give color and energy to the whole record, Fenton says. The results are nothing short of ecstatic, bounding between new wave burn, indie rock swagger, old-school punk, and even dub and hip-hop flourishes