Interview: Frank Turner

29 November 2011

It's been a few months since we last interviewed Frank Turner, just after the festival season.

We caught up with the folk-punk star in Manchester on Saturday to talk about his huge headlining tour, next year's Wembley gig, producing Beans On Toast's album and much more.

-How is it being back in the UK?
It's lovely, it's like getting into a warm bath after being out in the cold. It's very iconic, touring America, but we play bigger shows in the UK, and it's where I'm from.

It's funny, because we've done shows the size of this tour before, but you forget about it. We were in Birmingham the other day, and I came on stage like..."Oh, f****** hell! That's what 3,000 people look like!" So yes, it's very nice to be back.

-Has it been difficult adjusting to being back over here, after being in the States?
I wouldn't say that "difficult" would be the right word. You have to do a tiny bit of mental re-arrival to get back into the swing of it again. We had a production day in Bournemouth, which was the first show of the tour, so we had a chance to run through the set. It gives you the feel of it, walking round the stage.

Part of it is, on these big gigs, you have to occupy the space, you know what I mean? You have to project, and if you're used to playing to 500 people in a club, then suddenly there's 3,000 people, you have to remember that there's people all over. It took us maybe one show to get back into the swing of it - I think we're there now.

-Has it affected things production-wise, and how rigid the set has to be?
Well, without giving the game away, we've got some real production on this tour. For the first time, we've done a real, proper show. It's cool as well, because for me...I don't want to have a show like a Genesis show, which is totally alienating to the audience, you know what I mean?

At the same time, you can't do the same thing that you do at a Barfly, in front of 5,000 people. The people at the back will just be like...what the f***? For me, the Holy Grail is finding something that is a show, is a production, but is also personal and gets people involved.

I've got a great crew, and I think we've done a great job. It's kinda funny, but there are bells and whistles - I'm not going to ruin it, but it's fun.

-In the past, you've mentioned Springsteen doing shows like the Hyde Park gig, finding that kind of balance. Is that what you're striving to get?
Exactly, yeah. It's funny, I think a lot of people assume that there's a direct linear link between venue size and intimacy. I don't actually think that's true at all, cos I've certainly seen crappy shows to a hundred people, and amazing shows to 6,000.

But then, it's funny - it takes more work to make a bigger show intimate, and also you don't get trial runs at it - whereas you can play the Barfly a million times, and get better at it. For example, we've got the Wembley show next year - we don't have any shows like that coming up.

-You've got a great line-up of bands for this tour, with Against Me! in particular. How is it having someone like that opening for you?
F****** amazing. When I asked them to do the tour, I was kind of kidding. Not kidding in that I wanted them to do the tour, kidding in that I didn't think they'd f****** say yes!

They've been one of my favourite punk bands for a really long time. It's great, because I knew some of them before the tour anyway, and now we get to hang out. I get to see them every day, which is great.

The other thing is, they make me up my f****** game, I'll tell you that much! They absolutely power through their set. They're just this wall of relentless energy. It kind of makes me go...right, must try harder - must put more effort in myself. Just quickly, Emily Barker - amazing! She's great too.

-Has she settled well into the tour? Obviously is quite a diverse line-up.
Yeah, it's pretty funny actually - she's discovering punk-rock on this tour. It's funny, because that's my background, I sort of assume that everyone knows about it. Emily's very, very much from the folk scene.

On the first night, me and her were watching Against Me! together, and she was like "Wow, they're just really energetic, aren't they?" I'm like…[laughing] yeah, they're a punk band! That's what punk bands look like.

She said "They've got lots of tattoos, haven't they?" It's like...yes Emily, they have lots of tattoos. I think Emily's enjoying it. It's great having her out too, because she's a great friend, and her music and band are amazing.

-You're back on the road with Social Distortion and Dropkick Murphys. Are you looking forward to getting back with the Social D guys?
Yeah, definitely. The Social D dates will be great - we'll be back with old friends. The Dropkick shows will be awesome. We're doing their St. Patrick's Day thing in Boston, which will be mad. First of all, it's 8 nights or something at the House of Blues, followed by arena shows. It's just utterly bonkers!

Also, it's maybe slightly interesting because I did the tour with Flogging Molly over there. What was slightly difficult was the whole...bogus Irish nationalism.

Well, bogus is the wrong word - of course there are people of Irish descent, and that's fine. I have an issue with people who wear IRA t-shirts - that's f****** bull***.

Not only do I have an issue with it, but I'm the kind of person who'll call someone up on their shit. The thing is, you talk to these people and 99% of them haven't even got the first understanding of what the conflict in Northern Ireland is about.

I'm an Englishman, I don't feel like I particularly need to have an opinion on what happens in Ireland, but by the same token - the IRA set off a lot of f****** bombs in my country.

I hate the t-shirts that call them freedom fighters, because they're f****** not. So, end rant!

It'll be interesting to be with Dropkick Murpheys, in Boston, on St. Patrick's Day - but, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

-You mentioned the Wembley show. Are there any nerves ahead of something of that size?
F*** yeah, I'm terrified! I was just about dealing with it, and then my manager sent me a photo of Wembley when it's empty because he went their for a production thing. It was like...f*** you, man.

Actually, the day I got back from the US tour, I got to where I was staying and put the TV on and the very first thing that was on was the Michael McIntyre: Live At Wembley. The camera shot was him on the stage, and then it panned out...it was like...oh my god! That place is f****** enormous!

Like I said, the crew that I work with now are all f****** amazing guys. They're really good at what they do, and have experience with these kinds of shows. I think we're gonna pull it off.

-You managed to keep the tickets quite cheap - was that something you fought for?
Yeah. I had to fight quite hard for that actually. There were people in my...organisation, if you like, who were like..."Are you f****** kidding me?" I didn't want it to be one of those things where suddenly a band's made Wembley, and there's no support acts and it's £60 for a ticket.

That's not really my vibe. So, I think we'll have six people in total. We've announced Billy Bragg, which is mad! It's £20, and that's kinda important to me in a way. I'm not shutting anybody out of what I do.

-I know you were originally planning it to be an all-day thing, but something about cost issues stopped that?
This is one of the things about this that is quite interesting for me. I've never had to deal with the logistics of a venue like that, and the views of other people who organise the logistics of a thing like Wembley.

It's a different world, and it's very strange. It turns out for every extra hour we wanted to let people in, it was going to cost me like £10,000 or something ridiculous. It's like...f****** really?! You've got to be kidding! So yeah, doors will be 6, but we're still going to get six people on the bill.

-Rounding off with something a bit different - Beans On Toast's new album. How was it getting back with Jay producing that.
Oh yeah, cool! Well, one of nicest things was cos I tour a lot, there are a lot of my friends who I haven't seen for a while. The main thing was when Jay asked me to produce the album, it was like "Does that mean we get to hang out for a few days? Wicked."

So, we did that. I'd never produced anything before, and I'd never mixed a record before - although I'd set next to a lot of people who were producing my records. It was slightly daunting, but it was great.

I'm really proud...I kinda feel quite paternal about the record. It's classic Jay, but I also tried to lead him down a little further away from the "three chords and a guitar" thing. Yeah, I'm really pleased with it, it was great.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge (Follow me on Twitter @AlistairMcG)

It's been a few months since we last interviewed Frank Turner, just after the festival season.

We caught up with the folk-punk star in Manchester on Saturday to talk about his huge headlining tour, next year's Wembley gig, producing Beans On Toast's album and much more.

I've got a great crew, and I think we've done a great job. It's kinda funny, but there are bells and whistles - I'm not going to ruin it, but it's fun.