Ambitious and unapologetic, punk-rock singer Frank Turner says he’s exhilarated about getting to work on his sixth album, despite finding the studio terrifying: "My next album will be fuzzy, raw and fresh".
It’s 8:45am London time when Frank Turner picks up the phone. He says he’s “just getting his shit together”.
It raises a smile, but isn’t hugely surprising coming from a singer who has been deemed ‘too sweary’ for radio in his UK homeland. There’s one F-word that he won’t use though — fan. “I’ve never been a fan of the word fan,” he says, clearing his throat to make his point through his husky, morning voice.
“There’s something so dismissive and Marie Antoinette about the way musicians talk about their audience, their fans. I think ‘fuck off, these are people’. Do you know what I mean? I consider myself on a level with my audience and if I didn’t I’m not sure how interested I would be in what I do.”
“I got a bunch of emails from people in Australia saying: ‘What the fuck man, why aren’t you here?’. It made me feel loved.”
Right now he’s dedicating plenty of time to connecting with his audience. “We’re in the middle of a UK tour,” Frank says. “We’re playing off the beaten track in smaller venues, which is something I really wanted to do. It’s a mark of respect and more interesting. It’s exhilarating, energising and exhausting but I’d rather go to bed exhausted, at least I feel I’ve done something good with the day.”
Frank Turner And The Sleeping SoulsSo, it’s another couple of weeks on the road before Frank turns his sights to the studio to smash out his sixth album. “I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about this next album. I mean, there’s nothing monumental or inherently exciting about a sixth album. It’s going to be a punk-rock album and I don’t want to spend very long recording it. I want it to be fuzzy, raw and fresh, on its toes. My last album was very much a studio album. I don’t want that feel for this next one.”
Australian fans can look forward to hearing the next album live when he plays Bluesfest next year. “I’m really happy we’ve got it in the diary. I played Bluesfest two years ago and had a wonderful time. The crowd was great and I got to meet Counting Crows, which is something I’d had on my to-do list for some time. I’ve had a very magical time playing in Australia generally.
"For four years in a row I was over in April. This year I wasn’t over in April and I got a bunch of emails from people in Australia saying, ‘What the fuck man, why aren’t you here?’. It made me feel loved. We’ll do a whole bunch of side shows too, not just in the big cities.”
He’s been solo for ten years since leaving hardcore quartet Million Dead. “I thought about giving up early on, very much so. With Million Dead we would play to maybe 500 people at a show. I went from that to maybe three people at a gig — on a good day. I wondered if it was worth it.”
One label he is very happy to accept is single. “I’m very happily single. I certainly wasn’t in that space when I wrote ‘Tape Deck Heart’ last year, I can tell you that. I have a doomed romantic streak in me. I live a lifestyle which is focused on independence. Part of me wants to surrender some of that, but there’s also a part of me that’s terrified to do so.
“I have one song that I don’t play live, ‘Anymore’. It’s a good song and it says the things it needs to say but it’s not a kind song. It’s a pretty dark moment in my writing and I don’t feel great about singing it so it doesn’t come out very often.”
Written by Corrine Barraclough
Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls play Bluesfest 2015, which takes place 2nd April to the 6th April.
