Frank Turner: 

The TVD Interview

BY MICHELLE EVANS | SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

I was able to sit down for a few minutes before the Ottobar show last Friday to talk with Frank Turner. I found him to be just as his songs portray him: funny, outspoken, passionate, and sincere. His good taste in music and his lack of pretention about it was something I found particularly endearing and refreshing, as well. Among other things, we discuss some of his favorite bands, his bringing Lucero to the U.K., and what it’s like to play increasingly larger venues. Oh, and guess what, y’all? He totally gets what it’s like to be a fan. He’s even got a band tattoo himself.

Click link for full interview.

(Source: dearbennichols.com, via dearbennichols)

TVD Live: Frank Turner & The Sleepless Souls at Ottobar, 9/23

BY MICHELLE EVANS | SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

I walked into the Ottobar in Baltimore knowing exactly what to expect from a Frank Turner show, for I had seen him about a year before as support for the Lucero and Social Distortiontour. That didn’t stave off my excitement any, though.  If nothing else, it kind of intimidated me, because I was walking in off only eight hours sleep in three days, and I wasn’t at all sure I had the energy for it. (Turns out a couple of Jameson on the rocks cured that very nicely.)

Frank’s shows are notoriously high-energy, sweaty, and interactive, and this past Friday night’s show was no exception. With all the clapping, stomping, and dancing, I can’t help but be reminded of my church-going days as a child. To me, Frank’s shows have a revival-esque quality to them, right down to all the screaming, gyrating folks up front. I half expected to see some fainting or speaking in tongues.

Downright humorous, I think, considering neither Frank nor I believe in god (“Glory Hallelujah”).

Frank opened the set with “Eulogy”, a new one off England Keep My Bones, and played three of my other favorites off that album, “English Curse,” “Peggy Sang the Blues,” and the oft-overlooked “One Foot Before the Other.” Standards like “The Road” and “Substitute” also made an appearance, as well as Counting Crows’ “Raining in Baltimore,” the first song he “ever learned to play on guitar” and an obvious ode to the city in which he was performing and its current weather.

He closed the set with what I believe was the highlight of the evening: a cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” He returned with three songs for the encore: Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” “The Ballad of Me and My Friends,” and my favorite song by him of all time, “Photosynthesis.”

Charismatic. Charming. Talented. Ultimate showman. To me, these are the things about Frank Turner that make him so great. Yes, the lyrics are inspiring and thought-provoking, and the music definitely makes one want to “get up and get outside” and live life to the fullest, but to me, it’s those qualities – charisma, charm, talent, and showmanship – that have earned him such an incredibly loyal and passionate fan-base.

The best thing about Frank Turner is Frank Turner.

Photos: Clayton Carlson.

(Source: dearbennichols.com, via dearbennichols)

Frank Turner, Photosynthesis

You make me want to be a better person.

The Road, Frank Turner

You won’t find your precious answers now

Staying in one place

By giving up the chase

Frank Turner, Jet Lag

You always ask if I’m okay
But it’s not the same as being happy

(Source: y0uthquaker)

Oh, hello.

(Source: musicitsmysubstituteforlove)

I would like to take you home, to the places I go.

Frank Turner in America end 2009 by David Bergman.

(via orgyoflego and fuckyeahfthc)

(via korben-dallas and headrollsoff)

(via korben-dallas and headrollsoff)

I Still Believe (Live At Bonnaroo) - Frank Turner

Who’d have though, that after all,
Something as simple as rock and roll could save us all?

(via korben-dallas and headrollsoff)

Pass It Along (Live In Session) - Frank Turner

Sing for the records you played ‘til they broke,
For the parts where you insisted that nobody spoke.
Sing for the words that you knew but they still made you choke.

(via korben-dallas and headrollsoff)

Frank Turner - I Still Believe

(via valderie and korben-dallas)

The only part of this song I can’t relate to is the first line.  Other than that….

A free house, a sound-system and a fridge full of beer;
I’ve known how this story ends for a good few years.
The night lays out before my eyes, there’s no new faces, no surprises.
This town is growing old with me, so I’m making a move.
Everybody round here’s been out with everybody else,
Which makes talking to girls hazardous to my health.
They’ve been in this genepool so long they’ve got wrinkled toes;
I don’t want all her exes to be people I know.
There’s millions more fish in the sea, so I’m making a move.

I’m bored of this town, bored of this scene, bored of these people, yeah.
I’m an expert at pretending that everything is OK,
But I’m just a kid and it seems as if I’ve signed my life away.
I need to get out and see what the rest of the world is about.
This toen ain’t big enough for the one of me, I’m making a move.

Every guy with long hair round here is a star,
Accorinding to his girlfriend and the way that he holds his guitar.
If anyone gets out they stick in the knife, I don’t want to get stuck here for the rest of my life.
I’m sick of these fuckers, I’m moving on.
I still want to be buried here, just like I said, but I’d prefer it if you’d wait until I’m actually dead.
It’s easy to get caught inside a town that seems to have a hive-mind,
But I’m packing up and moving on,
When I move out from my parents’ house I’m gone, yeah fuck you guys I’m gone.

This town ain’t big enough for the one of me,
So why don’t you get from in front of me?
We’re all going to move to London anyway, so I’ll see you in town.

But oh

What I would give

Not to stumble

But to really fall in love