Turnstile
ListenPressure to Succeed · 2011
Turnstile — “Pressure to Succeed,” from the debut EP, 2011.
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2011 · Reaper Records
Pressure to Succeed
Brendan Yates was already playing drums in Trapped Under Ice when Turnstile gave him a different role: singing. Pressure to Succeed introduced that voice in 2011, with songs that brought private doubts and vulnerability into the force of a hardcore record. [1] [2]
| Accession | OMMA-0109 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Turnstile |
| Release | 2011 · United States |
| Label | Reaper Records · RR43 |
| Format | 7-inch vinyl EP · 45 rpm |
| Issue | Blue vinyl · standard sleeve |
| Runouts | Not documented |
| Recorded grade | NM |
Release history and significance
Looking back on the title song, Yates described feeling pulled between music and what he thought of as the real world. He loved playing, but imagined work and creative life as separate futures. The song grew from the anxiety of being expected to choose a path. [1]
“Death Grip,” the opening track, was another attempt to lower his guard. New to fronting a band, Yates wanted to sing about something personal; the hardcore musicians he admired had shown him that aggression and emotional openness could coexist. [1]
Reaper issued the six-song EP as RR43. Its pressing archive records 830 copies with the standard sleeve in the first pressing, alongside a separate preorder edition. The blue-vinyl reference entry lists “Death Grip,” “The Dream” and “New Rules” on side A, with “Pressure to Succeed,” “The Things You Do” and “Heavy Hand” on side B. [2] [3]
Market context
Discogs records sales for the blue-vinyl first-press reference edition from US$17.44 to US$75, with a median of US$52, as listed on 13 September 2026. The latest recorded sale was 24 April 2026. [3]
Physical Description
Translucent blue vinyl in the standard illustrated sleeve. The photograph shows the concert-image cover beside the record, with a photographic label and the Reaper Records logo. The seller identified it as a first pressing.
Condition
Graded Near Mint. Kevin, the seller, described the record as unplayed and in beautiful condition.
Provenance
Acquired on 2 May 2026 through eBay from Kevin, selling as iamdfw. In correspondence supplied with the record, he initially remembered buying it at the Sidebar in Baltimore. After checking further, he thought it was probably purchased either there on 28 January 2011 or at the Ethical Humanist Society in New York on 17 December 2011. He recalled living in Baltimore from 2010 to 2012.
Kevin had discovered Turnstile through Brendan Yates, whom he had followed in Trapped Under Ice since 2007. That earlier connection made him excited for the new band: “I knew anything he touched would be worth paying attention to.”
Sources
- Norman Brannon interviews Brendan Yates, Anti-Matter, 4 January 2024. Yates’s account of the title song and “Death Grip.”
- Reaper Records, RR43 pressing archive. Publisher’s documentation of the first and later pressings.
- Discogs, Turnstile, release 4521940. Blue-vinyl first-press reference, track listing and sales history.
Catalogue text reviewed 13 September 2026.