Frank Turner

[Gazz]

I've been listening to a hell of alot of Frank Turner during my trip round NZ so far (and Gaylist 4, which is burnt to the same CD). Now I was a big fan of Million Dead when they were around (Julia ) but I'm liking Frank's solo work alot more.

So, Frank Turner, Punk Rock Poet/Troubador? or silly man in a silly hat?

?

[YI]

I quite liked Million Dead, but wasn't massively into them. My view on them is "good band" nothing more. Now, Frank Turner as a solo artist is a thing of beauty, one of those guys who is so much superior live as well. Saw him up here early in the year and it was amazing. But he'd just released "Love Ire & Song" (about 2 days earlier) and I had no idea it existed, so was a little out of touch with some of his material. Saw him again at Leeds and he completely blew me away all over again. The "Lockup" was absolutely packed, the biggest crowd in there for a 'non-headlining' act I saw all weekend, with it filling to the outside. Awesome sing along goodness.

What I loved especially about the time I saw him at The Cluny. You had hardcore/emo kids, punkers, indie trendwhores, 'normals' and old 'folk' guys...all singing along...was brilliant. Uniting so many people with his awesomeness.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

I loved Million Dead. There are maybe half a dozen bands/artists from 2000 onwards that I really adore, and they were one of them. The first album is just thirty-five minutes of tearing, screeching anger (with a five minute break for the title track, which is nevertheless still excellent), and that is incredibly rare these days. Political bands wearing their hearts on their sleeves and making few if any concessions to demographic-targeting and cleaning off the edges are a rare thing, as far as I can tell. 'A Song to Ruin' restored my faith in music, in Leftism, in... life, generally, I think. Cor.

Some of their stuff that pre-dates ASTR is also surprisingly awesome, incidentally (the 'There are Ghosts' cover, 'Mute Group', 'Reformulating the Challenge...', 'Gnostic Front'). Though some of it, like any band's first recordings, suffers from ropey production.

Their second album left me with a huge feeling of disappointment after the first few listens. It just sounded so full of filler. I heard that, at the time, they would compose their set-lists by writing down not the name of the song, but the artist that the song 'reminded them of'. To me, that sums up a lot of what was wrong with HNH: incredibly ersatz. Many of the most obvious tributes (Black Flag aping on 'Plan B' most notably) were miles wide of the mark due to production that didn't even attempt to recreate the relevant band's sound. Much more mellow, too, which was obviously a conscious attempt to make a 'change of direction'. I can see the thinking behind that, no-one wants to stand still creatively, but to me MD were so distinctive that more of the same would have been absolutely welcome.

I have gotten into the album more recently, and there are a lot of good tracks in hindsight. It just wasn't what I was looking for at the time at all.

Anyway, Franksolo. I remember being really excited after hearing his first few tracks. 'Harmony No Harmony' (the song) was already a fantastic omen, and 'The Real Damage' and 'Worse Things Happen at Sea' proved that he could take on new subject matter whilst remaining amusingly grounded and/or bitter and pissed off. At the same time, the 'After the Rush Hour' 'cover' and 'Nashville, Tennessee' proved that he could transfer his politics into a new sound. I remember having a chat with a mate at that point (also an ex-MD fan) and remarking that the lyrics to the first few songs were as good as anything from ASTR (my mate responded with, 'uh... if you say so...'). I continued to check out his new stuff now and then, and felt that 'Father's Day' (or 'My Dad's a Cunt' depending on which version you got) was the zenith of his marrying folk musicianship to gutsy politicised ranting. (His lyrics became more quasi-political and obviously personal at this point, but I kind of expected that, and didn't see it as necessarily a bad thing).

I saw him live for the first time at roughly the time he released 'Campfire Punkrock'. Tiny venue, great atmosphere, broadness of crowd composition that YI mentioned. Excellent gig. Except... as his encore he played a cover of 'Dancing Queen' (and didn't play 'Father's Day' at any point). This, I felt, was a bad omen. The self-satisfied, 'look what I'm doing' irony of the song choice aside, it was kind of a warning that he was now very much just 'doing what he wanted to do' / pissing about. That's fine; good luck to him. But the scene needs musically proficient, angry musicians. He could be that if he so chose. I was disappointed.

I checked out some of the stuff released in between CP and the album, and then went to see him again before the release of 'Sleep is for the Week'. He was playing with Dive Dive this time, which completely shot the intimacy factor to shit. And the songs were just... bland. The extra instruments were a case of subtraction by addition, and it was just an incredibly boring experience. One of his songs ('We Were Anarchists', I think) has the lyric, "I've got friends who are bankers / and it'd be an easy rhyme to call them wankers / but in truth I admire how they live." I mean... just fuck off. If you're experiencing some kind of regretful guilt about your youthful extremism then fine, whatever, but the catharsis doesn't need to be public. The only bright spot I can remember was 'Thatcher Fucked the Kids', and I think that was more for the shouty chorus than anything else.

I kind of got off the train at that point. Bought the album and was underwhelmed, which at that point I expected. I haven't acquired 'Love Song and Ire' by any means. He's welcome to do whatever he likes, obviously, and he seems like a nice enough bloke. But his tastes for anthemic self-referentiality are coming to the fore now, and it's at the expense of his creativity and, more broadly speaking, his work. There was an interview with him that I read not long after MD split in which he said he doubted he would form another 'hardcore' band, because he was 'bored of shouting at people'. Fine, mellow out, good luck to you. But I won't be around to watch it: the world already has one Badly Drawn Boy.

EDIT: Accidentally described ASTR as 'the fist album'. Must've been Freudian...

Edited November 11, 2008 by Emperor Fuckshit

[Rich]

Love the guy, makes me smile, makes me think and generally makes good music. Million Dead were good but Frank solo is a thing of beauty.

I also wouldn't read too much in to him playing "Dancing Queen" as I saw him do it in October 2005 as an encore in a really small bar in Cambridge when he was just selling demos he copied himself and had written on himself, I now have no idea where that demo is, but must find it!

[Cactus Drags]

Does he do any Million Dead covers in his solo gigs?

I have a soft spot for Million Dead, they were one of the first British acts I really got into after seeing them support Funeral For a Friend. I was at their last ever gig at the Joiners in Southampton.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Does he do any Million Dead covers in his solo gigs?

He used to do quite a lot when he first started. I've seen/heard him play, at one time or another, 'After the Rush Hour', 'A Song to Ruin', 'Smiling at Strangers on Trains', 'Medicine' and 'Harmony No Harmony'. I'm sure I'm forgetting some; I have vague recollections of a version of 'Margot Kidder' or 'Achilles Lung' or maybe both.

I doubt he does so anymore. I last saw him about 18 months ago, and there were no MD songs in the set. I don't think he'd be re-incorporating any, because of everything he's said about moving away from that style. I think the covers came from necessity more than anything, due to his paucity of material.

I also wouldn't read too much in to him playing "Dancing Queen" as I saw him do it in October 2005 as an encore in a really small bar in Cambridge

I know it is/was a regular thing. He used to do 'We are the Champions' as well at times. I don't see how that mitigates it.

[Cactus Drags]

Fair enough. Have you heard the other MD-related sideproject, Who Owns Death TV? featuring the lovely Julia? They're alright, far closer to the MD sound.

[Rich]

It's just a bit of fun when he does it? And music doesn't always have to have a rhyme or reason all the time, it could just be because he and the crowd gets a kick out of it. I personally loved it when he did it, always room for a laugh at live shows, doesn't have to be all frowny serious or head banging/bashing or moshtastic.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Fair enough. Have you heard the other MD-related sideproject, Who Owns Death TV? featuring the lovely Julia? They're alright, far closer to the MD sound.

I listened to some of the Myspace uploads when they were 'The Quiet Kill'. They were all instrumentals at that point, and we're very one-note 'DUH-DUH-DUH-DUHDUHDUH'-type abortions. Haven't checked them out in a while though. Is it worth it? Do they have a vocalist these days?

Oh, and have you been to Million-dead.org (recently)? They have a lot of early, hard-to-find stuff, but also unreleased songs which were demos for a never-released-or-even-anywhere-close-to-finished third album. No vocals, but still kind of interesting to get a glimpse of what might have been. (Link).

I remember them being not that good, but I only gave them a quick listen, and that was a while ago.

[Cactus Drags]

It's been a while since I checked them out, but I'm pretty sure I recall vocals and not so much DUH-DUH'ing. Not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but I bookmarked their Myspace as one to keep a quiet eye on.

Cheers for the site tip.

[probablyoliver]

Wow and damn, I was coming in here to say pretty much exactly what Fuckshit said. I'm a huge Million Dead fan, and until the day I die I'll always have fond memories of 'I Am The Party', 'I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder', 'Medicine', 'After The Rush Hour' (a lyric of which has been set as my Location for what? 4 years now?) and many other MD tracks, but Frank as a solo artist just has no flare or panache. Some stuff is alright, and the aforementioned 'Worse Things Happen At Sea' will remain one of my favourite songs of all time ever, but the rest just sounds so out of touch with what Frank should be about. Million Dead were fresh, new, violent and all round shockingly good, Frank on his own is just dull as shit.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

...but the rest just sounds so out of touch with what Frank should be about. Million Dead were fresh, new, violent and all round shockingly good, Frank on his own is just dull as shit.

That's what it comes down to, I think. FT fans who weren't that into Million Dead will say, "well, he's just a proficient folk artist, good for a sing along, he shouldn't have to be 'angry'". But people who really loved MD will feel... not quite 'betrayed', but... disappointed, I suppose is the word. I get the feeling that Frank could've been so much more. Sure, he might be a good acoustic folk-y singalong artist (and I'd dispute even that, really -- he's no Billy Bragg or Johnny Cash or anything; 'dull' is quite judicious), but there are loads of people who can do that. Frank circa MD was special.

And that doesn't imply that MD fans 'could never have been happy' with solo Frank or anything as glib as that. Like I said, I enjoyed a lot of the early stuff. But since CP, he's just another bloke with a guitar.

It'd be like if Steve Albini had disbanded Big Black and started a fairly good Polka band. Not bad for what it is but, come on... it's Steve Albini.

Edited November 12, 2008 by Emperor Fuckshit

[METALMAN]

I went to see him last month. I didn't really pay attention but it seemed not bad at all. Though I wasn't paying attention of course so for all I know he could have been scratching his nails on blackboard(he wasn't though). Not bad at all. Not bad for a free gig at least. I may well pursue one of his albums in future.

I see someone here has an innerpartysystem sig. That's cool. I think I'm going to see them soon too. Cool.