Through unbridled emotion and a straightforward lyrical style, English folk-punk artist Frank Turner has a genuine heart-on-sleeve aesthetic that’s a bit of a modern-day rarity. He can write an uplifting anthem that raises the soul while also possessing the ability to relate to heartbreak and sorrow in the most honest of ways. It’s why Turner has a tenaciously loyal fan base to go along with his contagious energy on stage, making him a must see live act whenever he goes on tour. Joined with his backing band The Sleeping Souls, Turner will be heading into Providence tonight for an experience that promises to be a memorable one.
Taking over the ballroom at Fete Music Hall with Boston punks Rebuilder and the moniker of Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Derek Zanetti known as The Homeless Gospel Choir, Turner and crew plan on curing those early in the week blues. Ahead of this evening’s show, Vanyaland and Turner had a chat about his most recent album Positive Songs For Negative People which dropped in August, working with acclaimed producer Butch Walker, his new side project Möngöl Hörde and what his plans are for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Rob Duguay: Positive Songs For Negative People has a triumphant tone to it while your previous release Tape Deck Heart dealt with heartbreak and failure. What made you want to go this route lyrically?
Frank Turner: Well, I think the first thing for me is that I’m not interested in repeating myself. With Tape Deck Heart, once that record was finished that whole idea of having it all coming from a breakup that I went through was done and I wanted to move on from that both artistically and personally. I try not to direct myself too much when I write, I just kind of let it flow. With that in mind I started to write songs that were about surviving a rough patch and about crawling out from underneath something bad. Sooner or later the album started to assume itself in a coherent way and the rest is history.
From listening to tracks like “Glorious You” and “Get Better” you can definitely sense a feeling of jubilance. Songs like that can give you a jolt when times are pretty bleak.
Thanks.
You made the album in Nashville around a year ago with Butch Walker, who people might know as the frontman for the ’90s rock act Marvelous 3. He’s worked with a lot of different types of musicians, including a lot of pop acts. He’s produced records with the likes of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Pink. So while you were working with Butch in the studio was his approach different than previous producers you’ve worked with?
A little different. I think that he’s an enormously talented guy. The story with Butch is that I had a vision of how I wanted to make the album and how I wanted it to sound and feel. With a lot of bands’ debut records, I feel the reason they have a coherent and systemic side to them is that the material has been effectively rehearsed live over a long period of time. Sometimes what happens afterwards is that for the next record you’ll be trying to write songs in the confines of the studio and if you do that then you’ll have different end results. I wrote the record and rehearsed it with The Sleeping Souls and we’ve been playing the songs live for a long time.
What I needed was someone who was going to capture that image and that experience in a room and I talked to a bunch of different producers and I tried to find someone who could either grasp what I was trying to do or agree with it. I sort of reached a point where I hit a brick wall and I had this idea of asking Butch who I didn’t know was a producer prior to this, I knew him as a songwriter. I had his solo albums and I didn’t know that he had done any production work. I eventually got in touch with the guy and asked if he’d be interested and within the first minute that we started talking we had this complete connection about music generally, about methodology and those kind of things. It very quickly was apparent that he was the right guy to make the record with and he did a phenomenal job.
The entire album has a pristine quality and a complete body of sound to it so I have to agree with you about Butch’s production skills. Along with what you’ve been doing lately as a solo artist recently you’ve gotten back to your punk roots with the side project Möngöl Hörde with former Million Dead drummer Ben Dawson and Sleeping Souls guitarist Matt Nasir. You can notice a mix of noise, thrash and grindcore influences in the band’s sound, so what made you want to start the project?
A bunch of things. The main thing is that it’s fun, I grew up listening to heavy music and listening to heavy bands. With the solo stuff nowadays it’s what the music I want to make is and the sound I want to communicate to the world but there’s a little part of me that misses the intensity, the physicality of playing very heavy music. I just wanted to scratch that itch. I think the other thing is that Ben Dawson and I grew up together and we were playing in bands together from between the ages of 10 and 11 through to age 23. I hadn’t played in a band with him for a time and I really missed it so we both decided to play in a band again.
It’s great that you’re getting back with an old friend who was part of your formative years as a musician and playing together again. It’s been 10 years since Million Dead officially broke up, do you ever see the band getting back together or are you completely past that notion?
No, that would never happen. It’s not interesting to me, the idea of going backwards. For a long time I wasn’t on the best terms with a couple of people in that band, we’re all fine now but I can’t see any reason why I would do that again.
Since they’re both fast approaching, what are your plans for Christmas and New Year’s Eve?
I have a deal with my mom that every year I have to spend Christmas at my mom’s place because I’m away so much and I don’t see her very often. There’s a cast iron guarantee that I’ll always spend Christmas at home so I’m going to see my mom and see my family. My sister has kids now so Christmas is sort of getting kind of fun again. On New Year’s, I’ll be in London celebrating my birthday and I’ll be catching up with my friends around the city. I’m actually going to be doing a DJ set at The Underworld in Camden that night which will be a lot of fun and I’ll probably won’t be very sober.
FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS + REBUILDER + THE HOMELESS GOSPEL CHOIR :: Tuesday, December 15 at Fete Music Hall, 103 Dike St. in Providence, RI :: 6:30 p.m., all ages, $30 :: Advance tickets :: Facebook event page :: Bowery event page