SPIRITUAL CRAMP

San Francisco changed my life... It gave me more perspective on how much else was going on out there that I had no idea about. It humbled me.

Spiritual Cramp is poised to take over the world - having just dropped their debut LP last week, they have already begun their quest to infect the brainwaves and eardrums of the world with their infectious brand of punk. Taking elements of Brit-pop, 80s New Wave, Dub Reggae, Two Tone and a live show physicality born from years of slugging it out in the hardcore scene the new LP wraps it all up in a tidy package dripping with pop consciousness and feral aggro. It’s brilliant stuff. What follows in an interview I conducted summer of 2022 with vocalist Michael Bingham which appeared in issue #15 of Razorblades & Aspirin.

Let’s start off with the basics, Spiritual Cramp started in like what, 2016?  

We played our first show on April 1st, 2017 at the Hemlock Tavern. About six months to a year before that I met Stewart (who I founded the band with) at a grocery store in San Francisco. He was wearing a jean jacket that had a Ramleh pin on it and A.P.C jeans and I thought he was a very cool guy. We bonded pretty quickly and he expressed interest in starting a band – which is something I was also looking to do at the time.

My previous band had just broken up and I was just kind of living in San Francisco and working. I knew my friend Mike Fenton had a handful of demos so I reached out and he pitched me the idea of doing some 70’s style Richard Hell kind of punk with some reggae inspired elements. As you can tell I was down to make that happen so we recruited a band and here we are today.

Writing music that sounds like Spiritual Cramp is something we put a lot of thought into. We know we want to be unique and have our music stand out but still fit in. We aren’t a jam band. From the start of the band, it’s been a “we come together for a reason” type of project. The songs are written before hand by Mike and I – usually Mike will send me an initial draft with some quick ideas (and sometimes a completed song) and I’ll write lyrics and/or help give it a structure that I think I would like to hear in the song. After that we send the songs to everyone in the band, everyone rehearses it at their own discretion, and we practice a few times then play a show or record.

I’ve read other interviews where you’ve described yourself as being a very guarded person but lyrically you deal with a lot of very personal topics - from dealing with anxiety and depression to run ins with the cops. I know you’ve spoken really openly about depression and anxiety  on stage as well as the role therapy has played in your life - why do you feel it’s important to talk about it. 

I think as my life progresses, I become more private. I think the work I’m trying to do on myself encourages me to stop seeking validation from others and just produce art in the truest sense I can while attracting people naturally instead of trying to force connections. 

These things like anxiety and depression are things that were programmed into me at the core of my being as a response to trauma at home. If I don’t take steps to actively overcome them, I’m going to spend my entire life anxious and depressed and getting in my own way. Therapy helps me with that. If I can encourage someone to go to therapy who might need it, I want to do that.

Punk is what I found because I was looking for somewhere to be found. I recently heard someone use the term “like a scream searching for a mouth” and that describes what it was about punk music that got my attention. At a certain point I wanted to destroy myself and everyone around me because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. Punk waved that flag pretty high and at the time nothing else I could see did.  So yeah, theres a lot of self-loathing and self-destructive themes in our music.

HC/Punk, whatever that means anymore, over the last few years has been producing some of the best music in all my years of involvement with it - but it feels more fragmented than I’ve seen in forever. Why do you think that is? Spiritual Cramp seems to play with everyone and open to any show - do you approach different shows differently? 

It’s hard for me to agree that things are fragmented because I’m a part of so many different conversations in music. I personally don’t feel fragmented – I feel connected, and I think that speaks to what you mentioned above with Spiritual Cramp playing diverse shows. But also, that’s just my experience. Because of the versatility our songs have, we can make a set list that is louder if we are playing a loud punk show or we can make a set that’s a little smoother and pulled back if the bill of the show we are playing needs it.

We take influence from the intensity of the way hardcore bands play live while at the same time we take influence from the way indie rock bands pull the distortion back on their amps. We have never played a show where we walked away feeling like our band didn’t fit in. Obviously, there’s limits to that, but we’ve done shows with everyone from Beach Fossils to Pissed Jeans to Fiddlehead to Radioactivity and it’s never felt like a bad fit or awkward.

What newer bands are you listening to? What older things? 

Heres a list of some new-ish shit I am currently enjoying: Fentanyl, Syndrome 81, Hot Load, Turnover, Marinero, Cemento, Dazy, World Smasher, Blacklight, Peel Dream Magazine, MSPAINT, Oog Bogo, Slugger, Fake Fruit, High Vis, Cold Gawd, Absinthe Father, Spike Hellis, Luster, Slumped, Poison Ruin, Smirk, Toner. Theres so many it’s hard for me to keep track of all the up-and-coming bands that interest me.

As far as older music goes, I’m having a moment with SSD. Been listening to a lot of Belle & Sebastian. Pink Floyd been hitting hard for real too. John Coltrane is usually in my evening rotation.

San Francisco is so crucial to the identity of the band but you’ve recently relocated to LA - has this had any impact on your approach to song writing? What was it about moving to SF initially which made it so impactful to you and the rest of the band. Its changed so much - how have those changes effected you. 

To be honest it’s not any harder for me. A flight to San Francisco and back is like $70 and I love going home. Any excuse I can find to go up there for a bit, be that recording or practicing I will take it. Mike and I still write all the songs remotely. We did that when I lived in the bay so not much has changed other than I have a little more leg work when we rehearse or record, which is fine with me. I like being in motion.

San Francisco changed my life. I moved there and had never really spent any time living in an urban environment before that. I grew up about an hour north of San Francisco (and for a time in Vancouver, WA) but never really had access to the culture San Francisco provided before. I never had a car. It’s different when you can walk out your front door and everywhere you look is Art, Music, Fashion and Money. It changes the way I looked at the world. It gave me more perspective on how much else was going on out there that I had no idea about. It humbled me.

I don’t think the soul has been ripped out of San Francisco. It’s still the most beautiful city in the world. It’s still filled with my favorite people. There are new bands, bars, parks, shows and community. The thing about San Francisco is that you don’t live in San Francisco to stay home. You live there because you are out experiencing everything it has to offer. That’s why everyone pays $3000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment – because you aren’t there. You’re at Thee Parkside. You’re at Golden Gate Park. You’re at the beach. You’re at band practice.

I think the reason people leave SF is because the standard of life San Francisco has stops working for them. You want more room and you want to be an artist full time? San Francisco is a hard city to accomplish that in, but… people make it work.

Is Satan the kindest beast? I guess where I’m going is, you’re named after a Christian Death song, do the lyrics have any meaning to you or is just a good phrase?

Ha! Those lyrics are great. This is a great way to word this question. I recently saw Christian Death play and it was awful. Obviously, it’s a different band now, but still. I had a moment where I got really into them but it was after naming the band. My friend suggested the name to me when we were trying to decide on something and that was the only name that stuck with the group.

Some people cry when they figure out we’re not dressed in all black with platform boots or don’t sound anything like Christian Death. Back to the message boards you go, nerd!

I’m a fan on a cheerleader/drug dealer/enforcer being in the band, like you have in Max and Jose. Let’s talk about your favorite Happy Monday’s song and why? What about Avail? Related: have they ever had to ‘handle’ people at a show who were being disruptive of the set?

Its hard to pick the best Happy Mondays song but the song “Kuff Dam on Squirrel” might be it. Thats my favorite record. I’ve listened to that song so many hours of my life. First album of theirs I ever heard for sure. I guess it stuck with me.

Here’s the thing about Avail – I think I missed the boat on them. A lot of the people in my life that have (incredibly) good taste love Avail and for some reason whenever I put them on it doesn’t hit. Perhaps it’s a time and a place thing. I was in Richmond recently at one of those “community workspaces” and when you go into the little meeting rooms, they have custom wallpaper that is all hand drawn references to Richmond and Avail are on it. That wasn’t lost on me.  I just think there’s something that’s not clicking. If you are reading this and think you can help, email me.

Max or Jose have never had to deal with anyone disruptive – it’s the opposite. They’re usually the ones throwing chunks of tambourines at people’s faces and crowd surfing on people’s heads while we play. Max will stir some shit up. He’ll come backstage with a bunch of people you’ve never met and you’ll realize that he just met them too. Then, well end up hanging with those people all night and the next time we play that town they’ll be on the guest list and be our best friends. Jose is a bit more reserved and mellow but when he gets on stage it’s like another person.

What bands do you feel the most kinship with going right now, any? 

This is an interesting question for me. Sonically? None. I think the flip side of the fact that we can blend in with a ton of different bands also sets us apart. We try very hard to create a sound that’s unique which can sometimes be a little isolating, but I think in the long run its going to benefit us. We’re doing our own thing and I think people recognize that.

If you’re asking me if there are bands out there I feel like are on the same trajectory as us, check the above list of newer bands I’m listening to. There’s so many it’s hard to list them all. I feel kinship with anyone who works hard to make good art and get it out there on the level. I respect the hustle from anyone.

You’ve hinted at your annoyance of “tour” conversation - do you feel like when you combine social media and personal lyrics you get a lot of people who feel like they know you when they don’t? Do you have a hard time connecting with people you meet on tour?

For me, social media makes real life interaction a bit more nuanced. The concept that you can project an image of who you want yourself to be to other people without having to leave your house is really weird. Not pointing any fingers. I do it. There’s a part of myself I want strangers to see and there’s a part of myself I don’t want strangers to see.

I think it’s when people approach me trying to have a personal conversation that’s based on information they got off our social media channels, that I have a difficult time forming a real connection. But also sometimes not. If you want to talk about running Ill talk about running with you. If you want to talk about some record you saw me post Ill talk about it. I guess each interaction is nuanced. I’m a moody person.

I’m always down to connect with people. If you know me you know Im always talking to people. The guys in the band nicknamed me The Mayor. I want everyone to feel welcome and safe – but the flip side of that coin is I don’t feel obligated to be friends or stay in constant contact with everyone I meet via the internet.

I remember reading an interview with Pushead forever ago where he talked about the importance of bands having or projecting an image, is this something you think about? Does style matter? 

Yeah, I think about style. I think about it a lot. It’s like Graphic Design – you can say anything you want with it. Its visual communication. You can walk into a room, not say a word, and let the whole room full of people know what you’re about. You can tell people what’s important to you by the way you present yourself. Style is the most personal form of self-expression next to verbal language.

Spiritual Cramps style is conducive to who we are as people. Its says who we are and what we’ve always been about. We wave the flags we want to wave. It sends the bat signal out. Do you like Cock Sparrer and the Talking Heads? Come fuck with us. Do you like Art and Music and Culture? Come fuck with us. Do you work a stupid job you hate and dream about something else all day? Come fuck with us. Are you an artist or are you trying to be? Come fuck with us. I like Morrissey and The Business and I like Happy Mondays. These bands speak to me because I like every aspect of their art – including what they say without saying it.

Can you share your worst run in with SFPD?

Man, I try to stay clear of those guys as much as possible. Thankfully by the time I moved to San Francisco the crimes I was committing weren’t as overt, so I never got in trouble while I lived there.

I think my worst run in was before I even moved there. I was like 19 years old. A friend of mine and I drove down to San Francisco to go drink and paint graffiti, so we parked my car somewhere in Tenderloin and went out walking. I didn’t even know where I was at this point, I just knew I was in San Francisco. We ended up running into a couple other writers we knew on Polk Street and walked around with them until we found a truck they wanted to hit up. They had us watch while they started painting the truck. Unfortunately for about two seconds I decided to catch a tag on the wall behind the truck while they were painting, and it was the exact moment a cop was turning onto the street. Naturally, my friends ran around the corner as fast as they could blending in with all the people, but I couldn’t get away. I tried running but the cops grabbed me, kicked me on to the ground and punched me in the back a bunch before throwing me in the car and taking me to the Fillmore station. They released me at like 4am and I walked back to the Tenderloin. I never went to my court date.

Anything to add?

Yeah for sure - thank you so much to asking us to be involved in this issue we are truly appreciative. Thanks to all our friends who have supported us from the start of this project. Thanks to Barb for always being there to help me grow and encourage me. Shouts out to all our partners and everyone who gives us the room to grow as people and not make us feel bad for our missteps. Shouts out everyone who’s still grinding on what it is they love no matter what. I love you!

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