F. Scott Fitzgerald has always been over-rated. It isn’t exactly his fault as much as a result of the inertia that grips High School English teachers after six months on the job. Among the more foolish of his statements is the claim that, “In America, there are no second acts.” English post punk musician turned solo artist Frank Turner not only disagrees but also has gone about intently proving Fitzgerald wrong. First achieving notice in the band Million Dead, with its political lyrics and thrash, Turner has embraced the acoustic center stage approach to music.  Turner dismisses his chance to refute Fitzgerald with the modest claim that Million Dead were “never that big on your side of the pond.” Nonetheless, he has re-invented himself in a very deliberate and apolitical fashion. This fall he is embarking on a tour with label mates Social Distortion to bring his brand of literate musings on love, jet lag and pub-crawls to the United States. It is just another step forward in a career that has been anything but stagnant.

Francis Turner was born in Bahrain where his father was working at the time, but the return to the United Kingdom after six months left little Francis with very few memories of his foreign birthplace. Nonetheless, Turner was a world traveler from birth, an occupation that would serve his future career very well. Young Francis received the typical punk rock musician’s education, getting a degree in Politics from the London School of Economics before finding his home among the community of musicians.  Drawn early to the metal rock of the United States, Turner grew up playing along to his American heroes.

“When I first picked up guitar, it was to play Maiden, Metallica and so on, so I had an electric. But at the time I was learning, my older sister, who was into stuff like The Levellers and Counting Crows, kinda bugged me into learning how to play a few of those kind of songs as well. Over time I got into that and learned a lot of tunes, and me, my sister and our friends would sit around with an acoustic guitar and play songs and sing.”

Million Dead released two records together before declaring that creative differences made it impossible to continue on. When the Million Dead guys went their separate ways, it was natural for Turner to keep playing and singing. He embarked on what appears to be an endless tour supporting his ever-growing solo catalog. Having released an EP, a split EP and a few other odds and ends, Turner’s first full length solo release Sleep is for the Week hit shelves in 2008. This record represents the starkest of the departures from his former band. It is filled with musings on love, disappointment and fatigue. Built around fan favorites “Ballad of Me and My Friends” and the softer “Worse Things Happen at Sea,” the Frank Turner of Sleep is for the Week sounds more like an emerging Elliot Smith or Jules Shear than a reformed and resolute punk rocker. Despite being chock full of great songs, in retrospect it sounds a bit like an artist still in search of his new sound.  What the record did prove is that Turner could be a compelling songwriter and performer on his own.

Turner then took those songs on the festival circuit where the material gathered some serious momentum. The warm welcome that Turner gets at the many festivals he continues to play is an interesting phenomenon. While many artists play daytime festivals regretfully but because the money is right, Turner genuinely seems to enjoy the festival environment.

“I’m not sure I go out of my way for it (festival shows), but it is a great way to spread the word, and I have an attachment to festivals, more as a punter than a performer, but the whole thing appeals. One thing we do better than most in the UK is festivals – there’s a peculiar flavour of chaos you get at Glastonbury, which I haven’t found elsewhere. It’s all quite liberated, which I suppose also has something to do with us being all uptight the rest of the year,” says Turner.

The release of Turner’s sophomore solo effort along with another performance at the legendary SXSW festival in Austin, Texas further enhanced his status in the states. The releases were well timed but it was the road warrior mentality that Turner brought to the table that seemed to make a genuine difference. In addition to allowing him to reach a wider audience, the constant touring also continued to provide ample fodder for his writing. Love  Ire & Song was a massive leap forward for Turner as a solo artist. The record is a witty deconstruction of all sorts of adoration. Additionally, Turner doesn’t blink when the lens is turned on him. Most notably on the track “Substitute,” Turner is quick to dissect his own shortcomings as well as his   ambitions. Turner reveals himself to be a singer–songwriter with a sense of humor. While his lyrics are salient and thoughtful, their own self-importance doesn’t weigh them down. Part of what separates Frank Turner from some of his peers as well as fans expectations is his refusal to take aim at the obvious political targets and instead to make the album a personal experience.

“I got thoroughly bored of politics in music, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it removes the focus from the music and most public regard becomes a boring game of people trying to catch you out. Secondly, when people say “politics” they pretty much mean only one, narrow, ill-thought out brand of soft-left populism, which personally I find pretty abhorrent – I’d describe myself as a libertarian, if pushed, but then most people have no idea what that means, so I usually don’t bother. In person I’m a passionate political anorak type, but at the end of the day I’m trying to be a musician, and the music is the focus.”

Love Ire & Song does indulge in bringing along some of the usual suspects. A listen reveals no less than five songs with references to time on the road and the opportunity costs that come with it. In America, Turner found a tour schedule that could truly keep him busy for once;

On America Turner says, “From a business point of view, it’s the largest music market in the world – there’s quite a few of you, you know! It’s great because you can tour pretty much endlessly, whereas it’s easily possible to over tour the UK, and to a lesser extent Europe. Then there’s the cultural ties – rock n roll is basically an American phenomenon at heart, and there’s something deliciously iconic about being on the road in the States that, for an English boy, never gets old.”

Touring slots with The Gaslight Anthem, Green Day and Offspring led to Turner signing with Epitaph Records in the United States. When asked what it was that landed Turner with Epitaph, he downplays the punk significance. But you can’t help but think that a part of the pleasure of being on the label is an appeasement to the Million Dead version of Frank Turner that came of age listening to records with that imprint on them.

In 2010, Frank Turner released Poetry of the Deed. Despite a torrential pace of a record a year, Poetry of the Deed is a great album from start to finish. It achieves the balance between the personal and universal that his previous efforts, while compelling nonetheless, did not quite reach. Musically, it sounds more like a band record than a solo effort and that sound has led Turner to tour with a band again. Along with a fascination over all themes American, Turner is also compelled by the role of the bandleader and it seems natural to see him re-assume that role on the road.

As fall approaches, Frank Turner prepares for what is sure to be his biggest tour ever. Venturing out with Americana’s Whiskey priest’s Lucero and the inimitable Social Distortion, Turner will play every nook and cranny of America. For a man who draws his material from travel, exhilaration and exhaustion and for his fans, this is nothing but good news. Turner has gone from punk rock front man to soulful solo artist and has done so without an ounce of growing pains.  He is very much the signal of what the genre should become in a post-political musical world. Perhaps Million Dead realized that you couldn’t change the State with a song. If that is the case, then surely Frank Turner has learned that you can change the state of the mind with one. Either way, it is hard to dispute that Turner’s second act hasn’t been a success.

Be Sociable, Share!

•