Frank Turner 'Positive Songs For Negative People' Interview

Singer-songwriter, Frank Turner, returns with his sixth studio album, ‘Positive Songs For Negative People’ on 7th August, so we thought it was about time we caught up with the man himself.
You release ‘Positive Songs For Negative People’ on 7th August; with such a thought-provoking title, what’s the drive behind the album?
A big part of the record and content overall is a reaction to the previous album that I made, which was a break up record about the end of a relationship and a pretty disastrous point in my personal life. I wrote a record about that and it was very cathartic, and it was really liberating when I started writing for this record to move beyond that and that formed a lot of the spirit and content of the songs.
So is this your closure album?
Yeah, kind of, it’s my picking myself up and dusting myself off after a fall. I always have a problem with songs that are don’t-worry-be-happy, because it strikes me as a transparently bulls**t statement. This is saying worry, but get up and try and fight back.
Does your music help you move on and forward?
Yeah, definitely. Art is about communication and empathy and if I’m having a bad day there are certain records that I’ll listen to from other people, that’s a role that music plays in my life and I write autobiographically and honestly.
How was recording the album? Is it true you did it all in nine days?
Yes, it is! Partly, I didn’t feel like I’d ever successfully captured the feel and energy of the live show that I do with The Sleeping Souls, but also, bands make really exciting debut albums because they’re borderline live records, you rehearse the songs in front of an audience and then you essentially go into a studio and bash out your live set and then go off on tour. Obviously I can’t pretend that this is my first album, but I wanted to borrow that methodology. The Sleeping Souls and I have been rehearsing these songs and playing them live for two years in some cases before we got into the studio, that meant that when we sat in front of the microphones, we just hammered them out.

You do tour so much, so is it important for you to include the live sound with your band?
Obviously recording and performing are two separate things and they should be considered so, and this isn’t a live record, but I much prefer being on stage than I do being in the studio. There’s an energy and a spontaneity to it that I really enjoy. If I can say this without looking like I’m up my own arse, I think we’re a really good live band and a lot of people have remarked about how the older songs we have come alive in a live setting when they don’t on record, and it’s the million dollar question: how do you get that feeling onto a recording?
But you do have acoustic sets as well…
Yeah, I do. The paradigm of one man with a guitar is timeless and remains at the centre of what I do in a structural way. I write the songs with just men and a guitar and then I take them to the band and we arrange them. There are two songs on this record that are solo-acoustic songs, and I don’t want to lose that, but at the same time, this album is a band album, a rock record, The Sleeping Souls are a huge part of it and that’s how I want to present it right now. Having said that, on the deluxe edition, there’s another disc with all of the songs just me and my guitar.
The European festival season is now well under way. What have been your favourite shows so far and what do you have coming up?
Well, there’s politics in here… My favourite show so far has been Glastonbury Festival. I’ve had ups and downs with Glasto over the years, but they invited me back this year, and if I can say myself, we smashed it. There was something quite vindicating about it; we showed up, we did our thing and I think we made some new friends. But, coming up, we’ve got Reading and Leeds, and the reason I mention politics is because, growing up, there was always a divide between Reading kids and Glastonbury kids, and I was always the Reading kid and that will always be my home.
Is there an album tour planned?
At the start of September I’m going to be going on an international tour for two years, so we will be going everywhere.
Does that everywhere include Australia?
Yes, I hope so. We were there in April this year and we had an amazing time! The Sydney show we had was just over and above for me. Every now and again, you have a show that really comes together, and that Sydney show really felt like me and my band firing on all cylinders. It had been two years since we came to Australia, and I want to come back sooner than that this time.
You’re no stranger to our southern shores; so have you been able to take advantage of the travel experiences you can get?
Not massively; with what I do, I spend a lot of my time travelling around the world and seeing dressing rooms and car parks. I’m working rather than travelling, but I do get moments where I manage to get out there. I was in Australia in 2012/13, where I managed to get out to do a show in Alice Springs, Darwin, Townsville, and that was really fantastic. We did a festival two hours outside of Alice Springs and it was the most remote place I’ve ever been in my life. No phone signal – which was a great relief!
Is there anywhere that you haven’t played that you’d really like to tick off?
Yeah, anywhere I haven’t played I’d love to. But the big one that looms for me is South America. I’ve never been south of the Texas border, and I get tonnes of emails from fans in Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, who are very enthusiastic. I’m working on it, it’s not the easiest place to tour, and it’s still a little bit Wild West, but it’s definitely on my list.
By Charlotte Mellor
@cmellor_03
‘Positive Songs For Negative People’ is out 7th August.