CHLOE MAGAZINE
Having started his career as a vocalist in London’s
post-hardcore band, Million Dead, in 2001, before beginning his solo career, he has outlasted nearly all of the
bands he started with. “It’s a blessed way to live, but of
course there are downsides like not being able to have a
normal personal life, you get used to sleeping in crappy
places, life on a bus, all not particularly good for your
health, but music is my passion for living and I’m incredibly grateful for it all. It’s a liberating and liberated
way to live, and it’s what I always wanted.”When asked
what he does consider home he has an answer, but it
hasn’t always been that way. For a long time he didn’t
have anywhere of his own and was living completely
out of his suitcase, crashing at his Mom’s place when he
was in town, or in the hallway of the upstairs of a particular bar in London. “As you get older, though, you
get a bit more fragile, so as I’ve grown more successful
I’ve got my own place in London now. I’m very much
a die-hard Londoner.”Turner is as much a fan of music
as he is a musician, and cites endless bands, albums
and musicians who have influenced him over the years,
including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Johnny
Cash’s American Recordings volumes 1-4. These artists
are a far cry from the punk rock and hardcore music he
grew up eating, sleeping and breathing. When it comes
to that one band though, that band whose album you
listen to on repeat and when you hear it later in life
you are immediately transported back to that place and
time, that band for him is the Postal Service. “I went
to their show a couple of years back when they had a
reunion tour and I almost had to leave, because that
record is what I listened to when I was breaking up
with my first serious girlfriend at the time, so standing
there seeing it and hearing it live was so emotional
for me.”Listening to Turner’s music is like being told
a story, where the songs are acts, considered complete
yet also lending themselves to a bigger story, that is the
album in its entirety. With this, and the way he weaves
beautiful tales with his lyrics and melodies, he is truly
a storyteller in his own right. Toronto has, thus far,
been the only city lucky enough to have hosted a Frank
Turner’s “Storytelling” set show, which, by all accounts,
was a huge success. Taking place at the Garrison, and
hosted by a friend of Turner’s, journalist, storyteller and
stand up comedian, Graham Isador, it was an intimate
evening where Turner spoke candidly about his life
and music, telling the backstory of some of his songs,
and then playing them for the captivated crowd. “I was
initially reluctant slash terrified at the prospect, but I
think you should try to challenge yourself in life, so I
went for it and it was a lot of fun. I’m not sure it’s necessarily something I’m going to be volunteering myself
to do, but if I get asked to do it again I’d probably say
yes a lot more quickly this time.”One reason Turner
loves playing live more than he enjoys recording, and
why fans want to see him again and again, is because
of the dynamic and transitional nature of his material.
“Songs are organic structures for me and they don’t
cease to grow and cease to develop just because you’ve
recorded one version on a record. When I hear something I recorded on one of my first albums it’s worlds
away from what it sounds like when we play it live
now.” On “Song for Josh,” from his 2015 album “Positive Songs for Negative People,” Turner sings about the
loss of his friend, and long-time manager of Washington, D.C.’s famous 9:30 Club, to suicide. He recorded
the song live on stage at the club, which would go on
the album, and thought he would never play the song
again, due to the emotional and intense nature of it.
Sadly, however, most of us have had a “Josh” in our
lives, so unsurprisingly Turner gets asked about it a lot,
and it’s come to be an oft-requested song. While it’s not
a regular song on the set list, if the moment is right, it
will sometimes come out, difficult though it may be to
get through.As for what is next for the always-evolving
artist, Frank Turner fans can rejoice in the fact that
he has a big pile of songs that he has already written.
Though they have not yet been recorded, and the shape
of his next album is relatively unknown, if there’s one
thing we know about Turner it’s that he’s not afraid of a
little hard work.