

Over the last decade, Frank Turner has earned a reputation as one of the UK's most well respected singer-songwriters. He released the intimate Tape Deck Heart in 2013 and now he's back with his optimistic new album Positive Songs for Negative People.

We spoke to Frank about life on the road, working with Butch Walker in Nashville and paying tribute to his late friend on album number six.

Congrats on the new record Positive Songs for Negative People. First off, could you talk us through what inspired the title?

"I was having a late night drunk conversation with one of my best friends about what it is that I do - and not just necessarily about this record, but about everything that I've been doing in my solo career. That phrase just kind of popped out at some point in the evening, and it just felt right. It felt appropriate to this record and my career generally. It's not an openly po-faced title, there's a bit of a knowing smile and a nod and a wink in there. It just feels like it fits, really."

Was first single 'Get Better' a bit of a mission statement for the album? Especially coming off the back of Tape Deck Heart, which is a pretty dark record.

"The general vibe of this record is a continuation of where we left off with Tape Deck Heart. Tape Deck Heart was kind of a downbeat record; it was quite a difficult record to make and to sing and to write. It was about a time in my life... in my personal life. Looking back it seems like something I needed to do. I had to get it out of my system. But there was something really liberating about when I sat down to write songs for this record [and] not having to talk about that stuff anymore and just being in a better place. 'Get Better' came directly out of that. It felt like the right song to release from the record as well; it's a bit of a mission statement for how the album is going to feel, what it's going to be about. But also, what it's going to sound like. This is more of an aggressive rock record I suppose, or punk record, whatever you want to call it - sonically it's kind of in that zone. It felt like a cool way to introduce people to the new music."

It's a harder sound that you're going for on Positive Songs for Negative People, but lyrically and thematically it seems like quite an uplifting record - especially compared to Tape Deck Heart. Is that fair to say?

"The new record is about as upbeat as I get as a person I suppose. It's still not quite 'Don't Worry Be Happy' - but then I never was a fan of that song anyway. Yeah, it's about that idea of picking yourself up after a fall. The song 'The Next Storm' is about this image I had in my head - which again sums up the record - of a storm... a tornado has destroyed the town that you live in, everything's gone and has been destroyed and you're in the storm shelter. And then the clouds part and the sun comes out and you come out the storm shelter. Everything's been destroyed, everything's been ruined, but you're still alive, you're still in one piece. There's an optimism when you start rebuilding. There's a sense of optimism in the ruins, and that's very much the vibe for this album."

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Was that optimism in any way fuelled by writing the book The Road Beneath My Feet this year?

"Not per se. It's interesting thinking about how the book and the record co-exist, because the songs for the album were pretty much written before I was really knee-deep in writing the book. Having said that, we hadn't recorded them yet, so there was definitely a bit of crossover... psychologically, or however you want to put it. It's an interesting one because it meant that I had to sit down and think about everything that I've done, in one go - see what the continuities and the turning points were, and how I got to where I was. It's quite interesting doing that - thinking analytically about your own personal history. So there was an extent to which the way the record sequenced and some of the overall feel of the record... for me it's something of a round up of the previous five records I've done and where I've been. I think that's definitely something to do with having written the book."

What was the experience like going back over old tour diaries and memoirs from the early days when writing the book?

"Mostly good [laughs]. There was definitely a bit of a sense when I was going back through all that stuff, going, 'F**king hell, I've played a lot of shows'. That sounds obvious, but it's a weird thing to do all in one go, in terms of thinking about it like that. There are moments, particularly in the really early days when I was touring on the train and doing it on my own, where some of it feels like it happened to someone else - so much has gone down since then. But at the same time, I think I can be quietly proud. I don't know if I've achieved much in my life but I certainly have done that."

You talk about touring - you must be one of the most hard-working musicians around. You seem to be on the road an awful lot.

"You know, it's a thing that I'm good at in life. I hesitate to call it work, you know, because it's the thing that I enjoy most in life. I'm travelling around the world and I'm playing music, entertaining crowds of people. There are things that are a privilege to do. Obviously, parts of it are work. It's not fantastic living in a submarine with wheels with 14 other smelly dudes. You miss plenty of birthdays and weddings and that kind of thing as well. But that's what you sign up for really, I can't complain about it."



You flew out to Nashville to record the album with Butch Walker, and you wrapped it up in quite a short space of time. It sounds pretty intense - how was that experience?

"Yeah it was pretty intense. I mean, the reason we went to Nashville was to work with Butch as a producer, and that's where his studio is. He really helped me get this record in the place I wanted to. I had this idea about recording it very quickly having rehearsed it a lot. I wanted it to feel like a debut album. You spend however many years writing your songs as a new band, coming up in the clubs, and you then you basically load into a room, turn on your live gear, play a live set, then f**k off back on tour again. And I wanted to borrow that methodology.

"The record label were not overly enamoured with that idea. I had a bit of a fight on my hands trying to persuade them it was a good idea. In the end I had the idea of working with Butch, who's obviously a massive producer. We met up and I explained my ideas to him and he said, 'Yeah, obviously that's how we should do it... leave with me'. He was the record label whisperer on this one and got us in the right place for it. He was fantastic, I mean we didn't go to Nashville to get a Nashville sound particularly, and I don't think we got one. I didn't really see masses of the city during the recording process. I have been there before and it's a great place. But during the actual recording time, the schedule was so intense - we were just up everyday to record, record, record, and then go to sleep again. So I wasn't really there to be a tourist."

This is your sixth album now - why was it important to you to emulate the freshness of a debut record this time around?

"You know, not many bands get to make a sixth record, and by the time they do they're usually treading water a bit or they're at that kind of weird experimental stage - that the die hard fans tolerate before asking for the old songs again. I don't want to fall into any of those traps if I can avoid it. I'm in a weird position in my career - this is my sixth record and there's still people coming on board and I'm still new to a lot of people. But I didn't want it to feel established and kind of lazy and fat and old. I wanted it to feel young and full of pith and vinegar - like a debut album."

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You talk about the album not sounding like a Nashville record. In many ways, it seems to owe more to London musically.

"Yeah I think that's fair to say. I've been living in London... I didn't have my own place for nine years. Around the timing of Tape Deck Heart I got a flat, and a flat mate and everything."

Is that the 'strange flat in East London' that you talk about on 'Recovery'?

"Ha, no no - I'm definitely a North London boy. That was... I was at some f**king weird model's house party. Not usually the sort of place I hang out. Yes, I had a moment of clarity and was thinking, 'Why the f**k am I here?' So that's where that song came from.

"London's where I started out as a musician, and I love the city. It's good to hear, I like to think my music has a London vibe to it. I've been famously itinerant and all over the place, and not had my own place and travelled around the world touring for such a long time. [The new album] is about allowing yourself to feel at home somewhere, which is something that for a long time I felt like I was trying to avoid and run away from. You know, North East London is my home and I do feel when I'm in the place I belong when I am there."

There's one very emotional track on the album, which focuses on the death of a close friend of yours. How important was it for you to be able to pay tribute with 'Song For Josh' and bring a really poignant end to the record?

"Well, my friend Josh Burdette - he was a security guard at the 9:30 club in Washington, DC - he was a very good friend of mine and he took his own life a couple of years ago. When it happened I was fortunate enough to be on tour with a band called Lucero who funnily enough were the guys who introduced me to Josh in the first place. So I was surrounded by people who I could share memories with and share grief with and all that kind of thing. Out of that tour and those days and weeks of hanging out talking about what had happened, the song came out of that.

"You know, I'm a songwriter. The things that bother me tend to emerge sooner or later in the form of songs. Once it was done and out there I was thinking about how and when to record it... should it be on the album, that kind of thing. And in the end, the version on the record we recorded live at the 9:30 club with family and all his workmates there. It was a really moving, special occasion and once it was done, it was just like, 'This has to go on the record'. And there wasn't really anywhere else to put it other than the last song. I don't think you could have had that tune followed by something else - that was it."

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You're heading back on tour again for another eighteen months soon. Do you think you'll ever get to a point where you won't enjoy being on the road?

"Life has taught me the hard way never to say never, so who knows. Certainly I don't feel like that right now. I mean, touring is certainly a lot easier when there's lots of people coming to your shows and singing along to all the songs and buying tickets and giving a s**t. You know, if you told me that I had to go back to touring the way I did in my really early years... I would probably think twice about whether I wanted to do that stuff again. I'm glad I did it, but that was a process that is now complete hopefully. But I love performing, I feel comfortable on stage in a way that I don't at any other time or place in my life. And I love playing music and I love my crew and I love my band - it's a wonderful thing to be in a different city every day."

Just how much has your experience changed since those early days, and since you brought in your band the Sleeping Souls?

"Yeah, it's a different thing in many ways. I mean there are many more crew members... I've got my band that are an integral part of it now… you know, we travel in a tour bus and we sleep in hotels on days off, stuff like this which I never did in the early days.

"One of the things I love about touring is that it's a really focused way of living. The only thing that matters is the show. Everything else is secondary. You have to get on stage and you have to entertain the people who've paid money to come and see you play. There's something really driven and focused about that which I really enjoy."

Looking back over your career for a second, is there anything that really stands out for you as a highpoint? I mean, you've played Wembley Arena, and performed during the Olympic opening ceremony of course - which must have been pretty surreal.

"Yeah that was a weird gig. Yeah it was an odd experience that. No, I mean picking highlights is hard for me because I live a reasonably charmed life. I get to travel and play music and people give a s**t. It sounds like I'm slightly ducking the question, but it's not intended that way: my highlight is that I'm still doing it. When I was a kid I told people I was going to be a professional musician and I wasn't going to have an office job, and it wasn't going to be part-time, it was going to be my life. And everyone kind of laughed and said it was a teenage fantasy - which it was, but I've f**king done it, you know what I mean? And I'm still doing it. Once I finish this album cycle, I don't then have to go back to work in a call centre or some s**t. I can take some time off to write some more songs and do it all again. The simple fact that I'm doing the thing I set out to do is something I'm very proud of and that's definitely my highlight."

Frank Turner's sixth album Positive Songs for Negative People is released on August 7.

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