Interview: Frank Turner (Part One)

18 July 2011

In the first of two parts of our interview with Frank Turner, the singer-songwriter talks to us about festivals, being friends with his idols, life on the road and his UK tour in November.

-How are you?
Not too bad. I've got some time off, technically speaking.

-To start off, then, how was it headlining Blissfields?
It was good. It was fun. It was nice to be in Hampshire again. I managed to make it to Winchester town during the day, which was nice.

-How were the last few shows with Social Distortion, after the amount you've toured with them?
Yeah, it was good. It's kinda funny. Every time you do a tour, it's a very concentrated way of hanging out with a group of people. It's always slightly disjointed when you spend all day every day hanging out and joking around with the same people, and then suddenly one day you just completely go your separate ways.

We had the American tour, and then it was great to meet up with Social D and their crew again for the European run. It came jarringly to an end again, but it was great to have the opportunity to hang out with them again so soon after the last time.

It was fun, the shows were great. Particularly the last show in Paris, we had a really great show.

-Between [Social D's] Mike Ness and [NOFX's] Fat Mike, are you getting used to being friends with your heroes yet?
No, I don't think I'd say I'm getting used to it. Hanging out with Fat Mike, for example, is always a good time because he's a total maniac.

I do spend a little bit of time occasionally pinching myself going...f****** hell, it's Fat Mike! I'm definitely still not over the fact that he's a friend.

-You mentioned you're on a bit of down-time at the moment. Is it nice getting that time to rest in between touring stints?
Yeah. Between the start of April and last weekend was pretty manic, so it's nice to have a little bit of time to unwind, relax and catch up with my nearest and dearest, that sort of thing.

-We tried to get this interview at Download but there wasn't time. How was the festival for you?
Download was cool. The one shame about Download was the weather on the Sunday afternoon, when it was just torrentially appalling for about three hours.

When it's on the third day of the festival, peoples' stamina for putting up with that kind of thing has generally been depleted. That was a shame, but other than that it was great.

I got to see Twisted Sister, which was cool, and The King Blues. I got to see a bit of GWAR as well, which was insane. I don't know if you saw that, but they brought the Queen on stage and cut her tits off. It was utterly, utterly bonkers.

I was surprised when Download asked me to play, and flattered that they did. It was great, we had a good show.

-Were you pleased with the reaction you got there?
Yeah, it was cool. It was a die-hards kinda crowd, you know, but it was cool for that reason.

-How does it feel that you're going from that, to playing at Cambridge Folk Festival at the end of this month?
I'm quite proud of that, actually. I'd imagine I'm the only person who's done that, played both those festivals in one year, and playing maybe not the same set but a similar batch of songs.

I think that, to me, demonstrates that I'm successfully being diverse in the music that I make. It seems that other people would agree. Cambridge Folk Festival, I love doing.

Download's great, but the vibe at Download is not enormously dissimilar to that of, say, Reading and Leeds. Whereas, I think that Cambridge Folk Festival is a different thing, a different set of people playing and different punters as well.

-Yeah. Is there a different mentality going into festivals rather than your headline shows?
A little bit. There's a slightly different art and skill to successfully pulling it off. I mean, at festival shows, part of the point is playing to a wider group of people than might come to see you at a headline gig.

You're trying to make new friends and that kind of thing. There are nuances, but at the end of the day I do what I do. It's not like I cravenly think about what people may expect of me.

I'll play the set I want to play, but I'm an entertainer at the same time.

-Are you excited for the tour with Against Me! supporting you in November?
I'm still slightly blown away that they said yes! For a long time I've been wondering whether we could tour together, and the last two gigs that we did I asked, and they said they were busy.

This time around I asked again, and I spent some considerable time chatting them up, telling Andrew what a wonderful hair cut he has, trying to talk to them into it, and they said yes.

First of all they're an incredible band and it's going to be great to hang out with them and play shows, but also they're a phenomenal live act.

This is not to belittle anyone else we've toured with, but it's great to know we're going to have a real run for our money in terms of putting on the best show of the night, every night.

-Are you looking forward to playing such big venues?
Again, with the proviso that I like playing anywhere really, and it's nice for any group of people to want to come and see me. It was fun earlier this year doing that tour with the smaller venues.

It was a nice change for me, but then the other thing about that tour that gave me a serious cause for thought was that there were people who couldn't get into the shows because they all sold out.

That saddened me because I think I have a duty as an entertainer to present what I do in such a way that as many people who want to see it, can see it.

So, yeah, these are bigger venues this time round. It'll be fun, we'll do things slightly differently in terms of stage show.

We've got some tricks up our sleeves for the tour which I won't tell you about, because there'll be some surprises. Some little ideas that work better in that environment than it would do in a smaller club show.

-After that solo tour, how is it being back with the band?
It's great, actually. It was a nice change, going out and doing the solo shows, but by the end of it I was very much missing my boys. Recently, we've been playing as well as we've ever played as a group. It feels really good, to know that we do well.

-You've made it passed 1,000 shows. How has your life on the road changed, if it has?
It has, it's more comfortable, to be honest. I don't sleep on the floor much anymore. We generally have tour buses and/or hotels. It's easier in terms of the physicalities of the travel.

At the same time, trying to consistently put on a great show that entertains 2,000 people a night is slightly different from playing in a pub every night.

There are different kind of pressures on it. I tour with a crew now, which I didn't when i started out. I still, occasionally, just veer off and do some shows on my own, going on the train with my guitar. It's fun to get back to the old school again.

Be sure to check back next week for the second part of our interview. Frank discusses England Keep My Bones, his recent chart success, his book and plans for the future.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge