Spiritual Cramp

Spiritual Cramp aren't 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, that's something that I'm 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. "And when I see the opposite of that, I get kind of offended, which is what a lot of these songs are about."

From the very first seconds of RUDE's opening track "I'm 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 band's 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. The song that follows the radio intro similarly grounds listeners in the Spiritual Cramp musical language, Bingham delivering tongue-in-cheek sloganeering ("I'm an anarchist, so leave me alone") over clap-along sunshine punk.