One of the performers I was most excited to see was UK rocker Frank Turner. A friend of mine is a huge fan and has been raving about him all summer long so I was stoked to get to experience him live at Osheaga.
And after chatting with him and seeing his set, I've gotta say, I'm a fan. His passion and energy is so awesome and I love how you can just tell how much he loves what he does.
Christina: This
is your second time at Osheaga, what’s in store for this year?
Frank Turner: It’s
nice to be here with my band The Sleeping Souls. I’m excited for us to do our
thing. We’re a good live band and we’ve done so many festivals in our time – I
remember one summer we did 27 festivals in the UK alone – we know how to do
festivals. Festivals are great because it’s an opportunity to make new friends.
You get people who maybe wouldn’t pay $20 to see your headline show, it’ll be
like oh I’ll check them out and then the idea is that you wow them. Hopefully
we’ll make some new friends today.
C: What
would be the highlight of your career so far?
FT: I
spent my teenage years telling everyone I was going to be in a band and
everybody laughed at me. I’ve been touring since ’98 and this is my fifth album
as a solo act. Lots and lots of people want to be a musician but not that many
of them get to make a long-time career out of it. I’m still slightly hesitant
to say whether I’ll be able to do this for the rest of my life but it kind of
feels like it’s getting that way now. I’m proud of it because it’s a hard thing
to do and everyone, from my school friends to my parents, thought I would
eventually give up and get a normal job. And I haven’t, yet.
C: When
you were a teenager, did you ever think you’d be where you are today?
FT: There’s
a difference between daydreaming and rational expectations. One of the weird
things about the station I have in life nowadays is that my musical field of
reference growing up were bands like Refused, Voiceless Fire, the Descendants,
and that was like the summit of my musical ambition growing up as a kid. When
we played Wembley, I’ve never actually been there before because I wasn’t
really into that kind of bands at that status. What that means is that it’s not
that I’m not ambitious; it’s all just so hilariously unlikely that I feel like
you might as well try everything because fuck it. If you come across a door,
just push it and see if it’s open. We’re doing an arena tour next year in the
UK – we haven’t announced that yet, oh fuck it, doesn’t matter – and I’ve never
done that before. So we’ll see how it goes. If I like it, then we’ll do it
again. If I don’t, then we’ll move on.
C: Over
the years, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned?
FT: Self-reliance
is probably the main thing that being on tour has taught me. The ability to
just land on your feet pretty much anywhere and don’t depend on safety nets or
other people. I like the way that on tour if there’s a problem, you have to
solve it now. You can’t just go call your mum. It kind of amazes me in a way
when I see my friends who complain about the smallest things.
Another
thing, my friend Josh who runs a club in DC called the 930 club once told
me the best piece of advice I’ve ever
been given. “Try and make sure your head is above your ass at all times.”
That’s a life motto to live by.
C: What
advice do you have for aspiring musicians?
Work
hard and expect nothing from it other than the love of music and you might be
pleasantly surprised. But if you’re getting into this game to get rich or
famous or laid or whatever, you’re an idiot. You’re also doing it for the wrong
reasons, f*ck off and leave it to the people who actually care about the music.
C: What
are some of the craziest requests you’ve had from fans?
FT: There
are a lot of people who know about my music and some of them are eccentric and
some of them are very very into what I do, but at any point, I don’t want to
sit here and sound like I’m mocking anyone who’s into my music. They are
essentially good people paying me a compliment and enabling me to live the life
that I lead. I get given amazing presents on tour by fans, like truly amazing and
humbling stuff. From brownies, people give me a lot of brownies. I love chocolate
brownies, they’re great. I collect Saint Christophers, this one was given to me
by a guy named Dave Kelly who’s a lovely guy in New York. People have given me
crazy stuff and I’m always humbled by it. I always have to end up shipping
boxes of cool shit back home.
C: And
there are a lot of people who are starting to get Frank Turner tattoos…
FT: Yeah
that’s kind of a thing now, which initially I was kind of ho-hum about and I
just wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I have tons of band tattoos and I think
the thing is that I just don’t automatically hold myself in the same head space
as Black Flag or The Hold steady or whatever. But I guess people do think that
about what I do and I’ll probably get comfortable with it eventually one day. It’s
cool because it’s a community thing now. It’s nice.
C: What’s
up next for you?
FT: Well
I’m a workaholic. We’re on tour for the rest of this year and probably the
first half of next year as well, just making sure everyone knows about Tape
Deck Heart. I’ve kind of written another album already, which is great, but all
the way through my career to date has been bam bam bam. Part of me thinks I
should possibly put it on ice and just think about it for a little while rather
than diving straight into it. But then again, maybe not. We’ll see.
Keep an eye out for my article on www.faze.ca and check out http://frank-turner.com for more Frank Turner updates. Be sure to take a listen to his newest album, Tape Deck Heart!
- Christina
Follow my adventures on Twitter: @christinaaa28
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