Turnstile drummer Daniel Fang revealed via Instagram that he was in the hospital as of March 31. Turns out Fang came down with a case of rhabdomyolysis, which is when your muscle fibers die and release their contents into your blood. This can cause kidney failure if not properly treated, but Fang is thus far doing well. At least well enough to play Turnstile's Time & Space album release show on April 5 in Washington D.C.
Fang tells Revolver that he got out of the hospital shortly thereafter, but things were far from over.
So I got out of the hospital Saturday night and spent all of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday drinking just a prescribed amount of liquids, which was crazy. Monday, I went to get my blood taken, and there was a band practice that night — we played, it kind of hurt, but I was down. At that point, the doctor was confident that I would be good for the record release show on Thursday and the tour starting next Monday. I drank a lot of fluids and did not take it too hard.
Thursday morning the day of the show I woke up and I got an email from the doctor who said that my CPK level was still greater than 20,000, the maximum amount that the facility can read. I would need to come back to Urgent Care immediately. I get back to the hospital, and now my new doctor — because I'm now in Urgent Care and not with my primary care doctor — my new doctor takes a look at my CPK levels and says I need to chill for a week.
I am pretty annoyed, but I came back and stated my case plainly. "I need to play this show tonight at least — it's not really an option. So give me the best advice possible to manage what I have considering I'm going to go through this kind of intensive physical activity with playing drums."
"Well, as a doctor, I can't allow you to play drums and put yourself at risk. Either stay in the hospital or at least stay at home and rest."
Fang added that nobody should assume that his doctors or nurses wanted him to play this show – they absolutely did not. Fang says he spoke to both his medical professionals for hours on end, at which point they told him the following: "As your doctor, I'm telling you not to play the show tonight. I'm telling you to not go on tour, also. I really can't keep you here. I cannot change you." Obviously Fang opted to play the show, and he says it was still pretty magical.
I drove there myself and I fell asleep at the stoplight. It was then that I realized how hungry I was — not eating and just drinking and drinking and everything running through you to where you're going to the bathroom every half an hour.
I was pretty messed up, but eventually got there and realized I had my hospital gown on. I was wearing pants and a hoodie and a jacket and just sort of tucked my gown up. But it was really funny because there were people outside just chillin' and here I am walking up, super stiff, and I hear people, "Yo … Is that … Daniel?" [Laughs]
It turns out that Red Death were playing right before us and that I got there in the nick of time. It felt like a movie. It was basically a room that had, like, 600 plus people and as I walked in the door, I felt the back row of people look at me with astonishment in their eyes. My stomach dropped like a first grader on the first day of school. And then after a few seconds, I realized where I was and how many friends were around me. And just the magnitude of the whole show, which was very significant and very magical … I was like, "Damn, I'm home."
You can check out some footage of that show below, and Fang says he's going to be on the road with the band on their upcoming tour. Personally, I wish the guy all the best of health and an incredibly successful tour, but this sounds like it might be a little bit of a dangerous decision. Oh, and Turnstile will also be appearing at the July 29 stop of Warped Tour, which was just announced!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNuT82H7EK/
VANS WARPED TOUR x @TURNSTILEHC
Turnstile will be joining us for a special guest performance!⠀
?️ 7/29 COLUMBIA, MD
?️ https://t.co/LyjhFdfT8Z#vanswarpedtour #warpedtour #turnstile #foreverwarped pic.twitter.com/Z0QSv8NZQP— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) April 10, 2018
