Turnstile feared ex-guitarist years before attempted murder arrest, audio reveals

Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates told a judge in 2022 that his childhood friend and bandmate Brady Ebert was “creeping around my father’s house at 8 in the morning.”

Yates made that statement as he and his other bandmates in the Baltimore hardcore band sought restraining orders against Ebert because they feared for their safety. Their requests were ultimately denied.

Last week, Montgomery County Police arrested Ebert, 33, of Silver Spring, on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault. They allege he intentionally struck William Yates, Brendan Yates’ father, with a car, leaving the 79-year-old with severe leg injuries.

What happened in court in 2022 has long been a source of speculation among fans. The Banner has obtained audio recordings of those hearings, which reveal a fuller picture of the band’s split with the founding guitarist.

One day after members were denied final restraining orders, Turnstile announced that it had parted ways with Ebert, who played on the band’s first three albums, including its 2021 breakthrough record “Glow On.” The group has since reached new peaks, winning two Grammy Awards this year.

Ebert is being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center without bail. His attorney Andy Alpert declined to comment.

Following his arrest, Ebert proclaimed his innocence. He told a district court commissioner that surveillance video would contradict law enforcement’s account of what happened.

“I’m sorry, but this is pure self-defense,” Ebert said. “I was straight-up attacked.”

Turnstile, through a publicist, declined to comment on the recordings. The band will perform for the first time since Ebert’s arrest on Friday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.

In a statement last week, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022 due to a “consistent pattern of harmful behavior affecting himself, the band, and the community.”

“We have no language left for Brady,” the statement read. “Please respect our privacy in this time.”

Members of the band appeared on Aug. 4, 2022, in Eastside District Court to seek the peace orders.

“What happened that has led you all to come here against Mr. Brady?” Baltimore District Judge Jennifer Etheridge asked. “First of all, how do you know Brady Ebert?”

“I’ve grown up with him my whole life, since we were kids, and we play in a band together,” Brendan Yates responded.

“Over the last couple years, his behavior has kind of elevated to a point, including heavy drug use and a lot of factors that have made him pretty unreliable,” he added. “And with recent threats, we feel it’s for our safety to file this peace order just to neutralize potential threats to our physical safety.”

Etheridge said she needed specifics.

Ebert told his bandmates that he or someone else would cause them physical harm if they did not send him $10,000, Yates testified. He added, “there’s also a statement from my father of him creeping around my father’s house at 8 in the morning.”

Yates described text messages from Ebert as “just pretty clear threats based on just the language that he’s kind of used against us.”

Next, drummer Daniel Fang testified that “we collectively decided that he was unfit to play in the band.”

“Our evaluation is that he’s become resentful. He’s been spiraling with his acute drug use,” Fang said. “In a group chat that was addressed to all of us, he threatened our safety.”

Meanwhile, bassist Franz Lyons said he was unsure what Ebert “really will or won’t do,” while guitarist Pat McCrory emphasized that they were taking threats seriously.

After hearing their testimony, Etheridge granted them temporary restraining orders against Ebert and scheduled further court proceedings.

Baltimore District Judge Carol M. Johnson presided over the next hearing, which took place on Aug. 11, 2022.

“So with a peace order, I’m sure there’s a whole history, but it’s really concerned with what has happened in the last 30 days,” Johnson explained. “If necessary, I can consider a little history, but I really need to hear what has happened in the last 30 days that brings you here today.”

Yates testified that in the prior one to two years, the band had “noticeably seen a lack of functionality in relationship and performance.” He said a lot of that was related to “use of substances” that spanned “a long period of time.”

Yates said he and other members were worried about “just basically functionality, health, all that kind of stuff.”

Ebert, he said, had not been touring with the band for eight months.

“The intention was to give him time to decompress,” Yates said. “We were offering help and kind of anything we can to kind of work towards playing together again.”

They remained in contact. Yates said he and the other bandmates went to Ebert’s home to discuss his status in the group and their concerns. Ebert, Yates testified, did not agree that he needed to go to rehab.

At one point, Ebert called him and stated that he was owed money, Yates testified.

Two days later, Yates said, “we received a string of texts that involved just threats to our safety.”

“Our whole reason for this peace order is because we truly just felt it was not safe to communicate any further,” Yates said. “The intention behind it is to kind of make a safe and neutral environment where we can communicate through counsel.”

Fang, Lyons and McCrory testified that they received the same texts but nothing else happened.

Meanwhile, Ebert testified that the only recent interaction he had with his bandmates besides sending them the texts was when he saw Lyons two weeks earlier at a bar.

The two hugged and agreed not to discuss the band, Ebert said.

He offered an explanation to the judge about the messages.

“I was specifically speaking in terms of karma when I was saying, ‘Bad things are going to occur, whether I would like them to or not,’” Ebert testified.

Johnson then denied the requests for final peace orders, explaining that she had to have found that Ebert committed a certain act in the last 30 days and was likely to do so in the future.

Those acts, she said, could have included assault, stalking or harassment.

She noted that nothing had happened since Ebert sent the texts.

“There’s just no history,” Johnson said. “In fact, you guys have known each other for a very long time. It seems like this is in fact just aberrant behavior of someone who was under the influence.”

Johnson said she also could not find that those acts were likely to happen in the future.