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This guy. He’s a star of his own making.


From the hallowed grounds of Eton to the grime of hardcore punk, Frank Turner’s seen it all, and that’s reflected in his ever-evolving and bountiful musical output. He’s a thoughtful, passionate and down to earth musician, who was the warm up act at the London Olympics but hates corporate events, likes to travel by public transport but thought Bob Dylan was rubbish live. Truly a down-to-earth, talented gentleman, who just bloody loves the music. Let’s dig deeper!


Y ou were educated at Eton


and LSE. What made you go into


music as a career? Was it a rebellion against that more traditional lifestyle? I was a scholarship student at Eton so I quite socially removed from my peers; I felt like a fish out of water whilst I was although it gave me an incredible education. I was pretty outraged by a lot of the social side of things there, and the way I escaped it in my head was by discovering punk rock. I’ve always been passionate about music, it’s the only thing I really care about.


You were originally the vocalist with Million Dead. What changed you musical style and how did you decide to go solo rather than create a new band? Million Dead fell to pieces in a depressing way and I felt quite let down with how it went. I felt like I’d run out of things to say in the format of hardcore music and I didn’t want to be in a band again straight away. I wasn’t expecting what has happened to happen…I just thought it would be fun to try playing acoustic guitar and singing, which is very different to shouting with a hardcore band. I tried playing a few shows and they went well, so I kept doing it and here we are now nine years later!


How did your hardcore band Mongol Horde come about? Do you get some fans coming along who expect the Frank Turner Experience rather than Mongol Horde?


I think people have now twigged they are very different beasts. When we did one of our first Mongol Horde shows there was a girl at the front holding a sign that said ‘Wessex Boy’, and I just thought, “Oh god, I’m going to ruin your day!”. Te tour we did in June was great.


Photo by Brantley Gutierrez


How has your music changed as you’ve gone along? What influences you as a musician and a songwriter now? I hope that my writing and songwriting has changed since my first record. People are mind-blowingly conservative about music. Every time I release a new record somebody somewhere says “Oh no, it sounds different to the last one!” But that’s the whole point; I’m trying not to repeat myself. I hope that I’ve improved over time, but that’s not really for me to say. I’m influenced by the music I listen to. At the moment I’ve been listening to Me Without You, Tom Petty and John K Sampson from Te Weakerthans.


You were supported at Wembley in 2012 by Billy Bragg and you busked with him last year. Who do you consider to be the


12 /September 2014/outlineonline.co.uk


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