Poised to Blow Up, Spiritual Cramp Is Bringing San Francisco Along for the Ride

If you watch one music video from a San Francisco band this year, make it Spiritual Cramp’s “At My Funeral.” It begins with gold-toothed singer Michael Bingham strutting through Clarion Alley toting a block rocker boombox. He then hauls it along to dance his ass off with punk panache to frenetic riffs and sinister drums in front of the Painted Ladies, the Ocean Beach seawall, Bernal Hill, a wedding on the City Hall steps, Kilowatt, Green Apple Books and the Brian Wilson plaque at Oracle Park.

While the lyrics are self-deprecating (“At my funeral, nobody came / They all had plans, couldn’t remember my name”) the video resoundingly celebrates the city where the band was formed. San Francisco’s culture and soul are embedded in Bingham’s heart and exalted throughout the band’s new album, Rude.

But the thing is, Bingham has been living in Los Angeles since 2021, when his wife, who is a hairstylist, followed a big career opportunity. (“She’s hitting grand slams,” he says.) And while the move has also been a boon for the band, Bingham still grapples with impostor syndrome. “What if I went back home to the Bay where I belong?” he sings on “True Love (Is Hard To Find),” the key question to the album.

“That question plays in my head every day,” Bingham says on a Zoom call from his Los Angeles apartment. “Eventually I want to make my way back to Frisco, but everything’s going so good it’s infuriating. I have all these problems and they’re problems I begged to God for.”

Now on their second album (out Oct. 24), Spiritual Cramp have a lot of elements in place for a proper blow up. Rude is produced by John Congleton, noted for his guiding hand on breakout records from the likes of St. Vincent, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and Sharon Van Etten. The album is mixed by Paramore producer Carlos de La Garza, features a duet with Van Etten (“You’ve Got My Number”) and comes out on the Blue Grape Music label, founded by alums of trailblazing hard rock label Roadrunner Records.

Spiritual Cramp recently graced the cover of Alternative Press magazine (who’ll be presenting the band’s U.S. tour in early 2026), and are co-managed by San Francisco’s Brilliant Corners, which also has Death Cab For Cutie and Toro y Moi on its roster. A few weeks after the album drops, the band is headed to Europe for a tour with decorated Swedish punk band The Hives.

It’s an impressive laundry list of accomplishments, especially for a band from San Francisco. Rude is forged on elated new wave punk, with hardcore and dancehall brushstrokes — somewhere between The Clash and Turnstile. The album plays like a ride or die homage to SF and leaves no question what scene Bingham and company represent. “Just another warm San Francisco night, where every day is the best day of my life,” Bingham sings on “Young Offenders.”

Often heard more frequently in hip-hop circles, the term “loyal to the soil” comes to mind when talking to Bingham. His allegiance isn’t much different from Pinole rapper P-Lo, who also calls LA home, but reps Bay Area culture everywhere he goes, Warriors games and concert appearances alike.

“I’d love to say that it hasn’t improved the business of the band,” Bingham says. “But it’s not true. Living in LA is good for business.”

The members of Spiritual Cramp met in and around the San Francisco punk scene in 2017, yet the six-piece is now fully spread out geographically. Drummer Julian Smith and guitarist Orville Neeley also live in Los Angeles, guitarist Nate Punty is in the Mission, bassist Nate Fenton is in Mendocino County, and percussionist Jose Luna lives in New York. Welcome to being in a band in 2025.

Sessions with Congleton happened at the producer’s studio in LA. Bingham had acted as the band’s producer until this point, but he credits Congleton’s “any idea is worth exploring” approach. “He challenged me in every way and forced me to stand by my decisions,” Bingham says.

Bingham and Van Etten forged a friendship in LA over the years that led to her appearance on “You’ve Got My Number,” a pop-polished waxing on constantly being on the road and incessantly missing someone. Rhythmically, it’s a dynamic foil to “Violence In The Supermarket,” which calls to mind The Specials’ ska-dub classic “Ghost Town” and rings in disgust at yuppies on a shopping run complaining about minutiae — one of the album’s many not-so-subtle jabs at certain LA denizens.

There’s a palpable push-pull on Rude; San Francisco tugs at Bingham’s heartstrings even as he and the band experience growth (amid his own discomfort) in LA. Sometimes, he gets the best of both worlds. He describes being in his element on sunny walks through the Mission from his friend’s apartment above Kilowatt to Different Fur Studios for Rude’s pre-production sessions. Then back in LA, he bumped into Tim Armstrong at an LA coffee shop, where the Rancid frontman commended Spiritual Cramp’s recent success.

The balance of it all never escapes him. Still, it’s clear to Bingham which city is truly fueling the band’s ascent.

“When we started the band, everyone lived here and we came together in the punk scene in the most SF way,” Bingham says. “We practiced at Polk and Bush, our first show was at the Hemlock. I want to project images of that place that’s still in my heart.”