Folk-punk icon Frank Turner
It would be a stretch to categorize Frank Turner as “nomadic,” but he does seem to get a little creeped out by staying in one place for too long. Like now—he’ll depart shortly for a U.S. tour with Social Distortion, which stops in Santa Cruz at the Civic Auditorium this week. But as we speak, on a rare gap in between tours, he’s at home in England.
“I’ve been in the U.K. for a few weeks now and I’m starting to climb up the walls a bit,” he confesses.
Things have changed considerably for Turner since his last tour wrapped. Prior to releasing his latest album, England Keep My Bones,and embarking on a mammoth tour last summer in support of it, he was virtually unknown in the United States. But with the new record garnering the attention of critics all over the English-speaking world, he’s starting to see his star rise steadily in the U.S., the way it did in England about six years ago.
“It was a slow and steady progress—I really couldn’t pinpoint when things started happening,” he says.
And as his fan base grows in size, it’s growing in fervor, judging from live performances “It’s cool to see people going crazy over songs on this record, which is better than anything I’ve ever done, in my opinion.
“That tipping point has definitely been reached. My mum was cynical for a long time. And some distant relatives give me the, ‘Oh, so you’re in a band, are you?’” he says (in a haughty, holier-than-thou tone which, to an American ear, is made all the more haughty by his accent).
Though he’s been on the road in the U.S. and elsewhere for the better part of 2011, his fans back home are as enthusiastic as ever. “Things in the U.K. continue to be weird and surreal. It’s beyond what I ever expected to be doing.”
However, he says he tries to remain relatively unfazed.
“I shy away from being established, and settling into the slightly comfortable, everyone-thinks-I’m-great approach to life. I catch myself doing it sometimes and I get annoyed with myself.”
He’s also relatively unfazed by the idea of touring with the much-idolized Social Distortion—and not just because he’s toured with them before. “They’re really, really cool guys…charming, if you like,” he reports.
Turner, however congenial, is also a man haunted by the concept of death and the knowledge that it’s coming; it’s been a common theme since he set out on his own as a songwriter. He’s never made it a secret, in song or in interview, that he’s gripped by a need to make his mark on the world before he departs—a trait that likely informed his career choice, and also his relentless tour schedule.
But all this attention must mean he’s pretty close to achieving his goal of being remembered…right?
He chuckles a little at this suggestion. “It’s theoretical,” he says of his ruminations on death. “Unfortunately, I won’t be around to double-check on that…there are a lot of tattoos of my lyrics out there now though, which is sort of weird and surreal.”
FRANK TURNER with SLEEPING SOULS, SHARKS AND SOCIAL DISTORTION
Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8pm
Civic Auditorium
Tickets $35 at santacruztickets.com
