The One You Feed - Frank Turner

Episode Date: April 22, 2014

This week on The One You Feed we have Frank Turner.This is a big episode for me. When I came up with the concept of the show, Frank Turner was the first person I thought of that I wanted to have as a guest. His music is hugely important to me. He feeds my good wolf on a regular basis.Frank was a singer in a hardcore band, Million Dead. When they broke up he started out on his own with an acoustic guitar. He has released  five solo albums, two rarities compilation albums, one split album and five EPs. His fifth studio album, Tape Deck Heart was released just over a year ago.In This Interview Frank and I Discuss...The One You Feed parable.The feeling that there is never enough time.The importance of friendship in feeding your good wolf.His role as a CALM Ambassador.Building a community around music.What punk rock meant to him as a kid.Staying connected to his values of openness and community as he gets more famousMusic as a refuge for those that don't fit in.Music that he turns to to feed his good wolf.Writing the press release for John K Samson's latest record.The challenges of alcohol and drugs.Getting older and the changes in identity that come with that.His love of dogs and his amazing "dog policy" at showsHis forthcoming record.Frank Turner LinksFrank Turner HomepageBuy Frank Turner music on AmazonFrank Turner on TwitterSome of our most popular interviews you might also enjoy:Mike Scott of the WaterboysRich RollTodd Henry- author of Die EmptyRandy Scott HydeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I definitely have a balance personally between the desire to kind of get up and write songs and do things and go out and engage with the world versus the desire to sit on my sofa and eat crisps and watch boring telly and hate the world. Welcome to The One You Feed. Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have. Quotes like, garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think, ring true. And yet, for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't have instead of what we do. We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit.

But it's not just about thinking. Our actions matter. It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living. This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction. How they feed their good wolf. I'm Jason Alexander and I'm Peter Tilden. And together our mission on the Really No Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure? And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer.

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. The Really No Really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the show. Our guest today is a singer-songwriter from England named Frank Turner. To date, Turner has released five solo albums, two rarities compilation albums, one split album, and five EPs. Turner's fifth and most recent studio album, Tape Deck Heart, was released on April 22, 2013. In addition to playing the Olympics opening ceremony, Frank sold out Wembley Stadium, which for those of you who don't know, is extremely large.

And so, Eric, why did you want to have Frank on the show? Because Frank is one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters. I love his music. When we came up with the idea for the show, he was probably the first person that I thought of that I wanted to have on the show. Let's check out the interview. Here it is. Hi, Frank, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Thanks for joining us. I'm really excited to have you on today because your music for me is one of those places that I turn to pretty regularly for comfort and inspiration. And I think you're writing some of the, the music these days that probably talks most about the, you know, the challenges of being

human in a really honest, sometimes painful, and yet ultimately sort of life-affirming way. I'm angry, underweight and sketching out. I'm building bonfires on my vanities and doubts to get warm just like everybody else. So why are you sad at home? You're not designed to be alone. You just got used to saying no. So get up and get down and get outside Cause it's a lovely sunny day But you hide yourself away You've only got yourself to blame

Get up and get down and get outside I think you're a great guest for what we're doing and then I'll stop the love parade in a second and ask you questions. The one other thing that I really like about your music is I've got two teenage boys, and listeners of this show will know that I'm always looking for ways for us to connect. And your music is one of those things where we all really love your your music and so it gives us a way to connect and one of the boys and i recently drove to cincinnati to see you play and i got really good memories of that you know the drive down the drive back the show uh even though you did uh say fuck i think about 40 times in about 25 seconds but it's a you know my mother complains that I have a dirty mouth, and she's right. But, I mean, that Cincinnati show.

First of all, very kind words. Thank you very much. And I'm glad to have been of some sort of positive use in this wretched world. But, like, that Cincinnati show was a funny one because, yeah, I did have a bit of an issue with a heckler that night, and I let my tongue run away with me. But that aside, I thought it was a fun show. It was a great show, and it's certainly memorable, memorable given that. It's funny

because my one son, a lot of his friends don't really know who you are. They're into a lot of hip hop and stuff. And he always refers to you. They're like, what is that? And he's like, that's Big Frankie T. So that's your nickname over here, I guess, in Ohio, Big Frankie T. So our show is called The One You Feed, and it's based on the old parable of two wolves where there's a grandfather and he's talking to his grandson and he says, in life there are two wolves inside of us. One is a good wolf and represents things like kindness and bravery and love, and the other is a bad wolf, which represents things like hatred and jealousy and fear. And the grandson stops and thinks, and he says, well, grandfather, which one wins? And the grandfather says, the one you feed.

So I'd like to start off the podcast by asking you, what does that parable mean to you in your life and in your work? Well, I mean, I think it's a good good one it's a classical parable i mean for me yeah i definitely kind of have um a balance personally between kind of um creative urges and and destructive urges and self-destructive urges and and between i mean to put it more kind of prosaically the desire to kind of get up and write songs and do things and go out and engage with the world uh versus the desire to sit on my sofa and eat crisps and watch boring telly and hate the world,

you know, wrapped up in a sleeping bag. And, yeah, you know, there are days when one's doing better than the other, but I do my best to kind of lean on my better instincts if I can. You know, I am generally possessed by this feeling that there's not enough time and that there's more that I could personally do creatively and personally and all the rest of it. So that is something that kind of burns inside me, definitely.

Yeah, exactly. I was having a conversation with a friend last night, and we were talking about how long we wanted to live. And he was like, oh, I don't know. It doesn't matter if it's that much longer. And I was thinking, I've got so much I want to get done. I hope I've got plenty of time ahead of me. Friendship comes up in a lot of your songs and talking about how other people help you to be that best version of yourself. On the most recent record, The Way I Tend to Be is a pretty straightforward example of that. You could save me from the way I tend to be The way I tend to be

How important are your friends and the people around you in being the person that's out doing things and not the one curled up on the sofa? Very important. I mean, the thing is, it's something that I kind of, it's something that's kind of central to the way that I kind of look at the world. And it amazes me that there are people who don't feel like this,

but apparently there are. But for me, I don't have an enormously high opinion of myself in my heart of hearts. You know what I mean? And I certainly think that most of my kind of friends and associates are kind of better, more inspiring people than I am, you know,

in that sort of cold, dark night of the soul or whatever. And I love being around the people that I choose to be around because I find them inspiring and they inspire me to try and kind of not give up on myself, you know, and to sort of work and try to better myself. And yeah, that's hugely important to me. And plus also, I mean, you know, just from a practical sort of historical point of view for me personally, I've had some kind of rough patches of my life,

and it's always been friends rather than family that's kind of come to me in those situations. So, yeah, it's something that's very important. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really Know Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer.

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you. And the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Brian Cranston is with us today.

How are you, too? Hello, my friend. Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to Really No Really, sir. Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really?

That's the opening? Really No Really. Yeah, really. No really. Go to reallynoreally.com. And register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or. Yeah, really. No, really. Go to really, no, really.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. It's called really, no, really. And you can find it on the I heart radio app on Apple podcasts or

wherever you get your podcasts. As a follow on to that, you know, talking about rough patches, you, you know, the most recent record, you've got some pretty graphic descriptions in there on, you know, telltale signs around, you know, cutting yourself when you were younger. You also are an ambassador for something called CALM, C-A-L-M. Can you tell me a little bit more about what that is? Yeah, that's a campaign against living miserably. It's a UK-based charity that deals with mental health issues. And the kind of the main thing that about sort of mental health, I think, generally speaking, is stigma. And it's just the fact that, you know, in some corners of

society, it's still kind of something that people are ashamed of and embarrassed about, and therefore reluctant to talk about. And the worst thing in my experience and in my opinion for people who have mental health issues is isolation and that feeling that you've gotten there's no one you can talk to there's no one who's going to understand all that kind of thing and i think that the world could be quite rapidly made a better place you know uh from that point of view on the issues of mental health that people are just more comfortable about talking about it and that's the main thing that calm is working towards. And hopefully, I can help them. Yeah, I think that's really back to the idea of friendship and all that, but getting out and talking to people. And I agree a lot about the stigma there. And I don't

know if it's just the sort of people I'm following and the places that I pay attention. It seems that that really is starting to lift to some degree. But I never know, am I seeing a bigger pattern? Or am I just seeing what part of the world I'm focusing on? Well, and I think the other thing for me that I find can be quite deceptive in my own life is the fact of getting older. If you and your friendship group get older and hopefully get a little wiser,

sometimes it's tempting to think that, hey, you know, the world's turning into a better place and everybody's figuring this out. But you've got to remember that, you know, how you were when you were 16 is how 16-year-olds are now. And there's always going to be that kind of like drive to educate sort of new people coming through or whatever. And yeah, I'm often reminded that there's still a lot of work to do on these kind of things with sort of conversations you see between other people who aren't necessarily part of your own friendship group or peer group or whatever. Yeah, exactly.

of your own friendship group or peer group or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And it's important for me to remember that, having teenage boys trying to remember, like, they just can't. They're incapable of seeing the world the way I see it with the years of experience and maturity. But I can relate. I can be like, oh, yeah, I remember feeling exactly that way. And I think that's important.

One of the other things that you're really known for and that I like is you bring a real sense of community to your music. I know you've talked a lot about your background in the punk rock hardcore scene. At the same time, you also really have this thing where you say that you don't only say it, but you sort of act out that you're no different than your fans. You're just another person. You know, you've got that line in Try This at Home that everybody really seems to resonate with that really hits both of those topics. I guess my question would be, as you're getting increasingly more famous, because it seems to be happening, I don't think you're an overnight success by any stretch of the imagination, but the last couple years seem like there's a real acceleration there. How is it hard to keep both those things that I think are really important to you, the community and the sense that you aren't different from your fans? that seems like it's got to be getting harder to maintain. You know, it is and it isn't.

I mean, it's a funny thing. I often feel like the world is expecting me to kind of give up on those things just because. Do you know what I mean? Just because that would sort of seem like now would seem like the time to do it or whatever. And I'm kind of like, well, you know, I need more specific reason for that.

I mean, for example, like, you know, my email address on my website and the whole time somebody somewhere goes oh now it's time to take that down you can't keep that going can't spend all day kind of replying to family and stuff which i do and and it's like well why not i mean you know i can if i want to which i do so i will um but i mean i think that you know i mean i have i hopefully have various kind of measures to keep me grounded i mean the guys in my band all rip on me endlessly. That's everybody's favorite topic is taking the mickey out of me. And I just kind of try my best not to think very hard about things like success and prestige and all that sort of thing. I like to just kind of concentrate on playing a good show and being a good musician and a good performer and all that kind of thing,

which is what I've always been trying to do. being a good musician and a good performer and all that kind of thing, which is what I've always been trying to do. I think the other thing to say as well is that, um, you know, I've, I've, I've got a bit of beer in my body about this lately.

The word punk means a million different things and it's utterly boring to get into arguments over what punk rock actually means or what its definition is. I, I've wasted my life arguing about that and I'm not going to bother doing it anymore. However, the thing is, the thing that I kind of remind myself of and that is still really important to me is when I was a kid, punk was sold

to me as, Hey, you, you hate everybody around you. You feel totally socially alienated and removed from, from your peers and your peer group come to us and you can be anybody you want. You can be, well, it's safe and it's kind and it's nonjudgmental. And it's just this place where you can just be you. And that was so important to me when I was a kid. It was the idea of punk rock as a refuge. And that kind of vibe sometimes in various punk scenes, I think that gets kind of forgotten or put aside or lost in favor of whether it be sort of politics or aggression or sarcasm or whatever. But for me, that's the most important thing about punk.

And I hope that a sense of that maintains at my shows in the sense that it's not music for hip people. it's not music for a certain kind of demographic or social scene or kind of fashion trend or anything like that i love the fact there's people from all walks of life who come to my show i don't consider myself to be cool i never have done and i don't want to make music for cool people cool people are welcome to come but do you know what i mean it's like it's supposed to be this kind of this community in the sense of it just being kind of like, hey, it's cool. You can be here and you can just be whoever you want to be and nobody's going to point anything at anybody. And that's the kind of vibe I want to get on my show.

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you

and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us today. How are you, too? Hello, my friend. Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to Really No Really, sir.

Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really? That's the opening? Really No Really. Yeah, really. No really. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. It's called Really No Really, and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Yeah, and I think you do. I've got it probably about 10 years on you, so I was really more involved kind of directly in those days when punk and hardcore was sort of the DIY scene was breaking here in the U.S. And so I remember those things very clearly. And the truth is I haven't felt anything close to that since some of your recent shows that I've been at here. So I think you're doing a great job of keeping that together. You're doing a great job of keeping that together. Thank you. I know for me, one of the things that feeds my good wolf is music,

and I mentioned earlier that your music is something that I turn to a lot. I don't think there's been a song written that I can remember that is more direct about sort of the redemptive power of rock and roll than I Still Believe. I still believe. I still believe I would have thought That after all Something as simple as rock and roll would save us all I would have thought?

After all, something so simple, something so small. Who'd have thought? After all, it's rock and roll My question for you would be, what do you listen to? What are the things that you turn to when you really need that sort of, that lift or that affirmation of life, those sort of things? Well, I mean, you know, we could get very specific on different kind of flavors of life affirmation that are required and what I would go to for my recipe for the records. You know, I mean, I listen to music a lot.

It's kind of I'm kind of a boring person. That's all I really care about is music, you know, rock and roll specifically. My absolutely go-to band that I couldn't live without is a Canadian indie band called The Weak of Ants, who I just adore and worship and love. There's a warmth and a friendliness to their... I mean, it's intelligent, complex music, but there's just a welcoming, forgiving vibe to what they do that I love.

There's a line in one of their earlier songs where John, the singer, says, we're talented and bright, which means we're lonely and uptight. And I always thought that was such a wonderful line. And there's just so many great lines in that song. It's like, we've got this still-bought way of saying that we're okay, and we've learned how to cry in total silence. And it's glorious. I could go on about the Wicked Ants forever. But yeah, they're definitely my go-to band. Excellent. Yeah, I think he released a solo record a couple years ago that was really good, that I liked a lot.

He did. Well, you know, the funny thing about that, I actually ended up writing the press release for a solo record because John sent me an advance copy of the album to see what I thought about the mix, I seem to remember. And I was like, whatever to the mix, man. This is some of the best songs I've heard in years. And yeah, I was really excited about it. And he asked me to write the press release for the record. So a great piece of work. like whatever to the mix man this is some of the best songs i've heard in years and um and yeah i was really excited about it and he asked me to write the press release for the record so a great

piece of work yeah it it is it is excellent you you touched on it earlier a little bit um this this this self-destructive side of you know and you've you've talked about it in various songs, Imperfect Tense is one, Recovery is another, the self-destructive tendencies. And there is a balance in that, right, between the drinking and drugs. There's always a risk there. And you've certainly shown signs of regret or concern. How do you feel? Do you feel like you're in an okay place with all that stuff now? Um, yeah, mostly. I mean, it's always a bit of a balancing act. Um,

I've certainly, I've certainly had my kind of my, uh, my times with, with drinking drugs in particular. And it's a funny thing because there's that kind of weird kind of half-flight where it's supposed to be something that's fun, but at same time I know that it's something that's quite damaging to me as a person and also more specifically I think one of the things is you know I make my living from my voice I think anybody who's a singer is very very conscious about their voice at all times and all that stuff destroys my voice that you wouldn't believe and there are times you know if I get off a long tour and I'm feeling really really pent up where that kind of stuff part of it is getting out of your head and sort of that release or whatever, but part of it is actually kind of a sort of subconscious or conscious attempt to kind of damage the part

of me that makes my living. Do you know what I mean? And yeah, I've had my kind of ups and downs with it, but I'm feeling pretty good at the minute. So happy days. Excellent. You've had challenges, the latest tour with your back, the song Losing Days. Certainly as I'm getting older, I recognize that more and more time is just,

it is completely getting away from me. Keep losing days that used to take a lifetime In the blinking of an eye And all these small ideas are suddenly commitments Greatness that's on by Greatness that lets on by. Greatness lets on by. Yeah, I mean, I think something, an idea that I'm kind of intrigued by,

and I think Losing Days was a first attempt to examine, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it comes up again. It's just this idea that after a while, for me the definition of youth is that point in your life when there are no limits to possibility. You could be anything. Do you know what I mean? There's still time to be an astronaut or a ice hockey player or an archaeologist

or whatever. And then there's that kind of, I think the part of kind of getting older is you suddenly realize that there is no way now in my life that I will ever be an astronaut. It seems that that avenue is closed to me. I'm too old, you know, to even start training on that idea. And that's a sort of, that's an intriguing point to reach because suddenly that's the moment where self-definition becomes irrevocable.

Do you know what I mean? It's like you are the person you are, and that's who you're going to be full stop, and there's no going back now. And there's a line in Losing Days about small ideas become commitments, and things that perhaps even at the time when you were kind of getting into them, you weren't really thinking about them all that much, and you suddenly realize that's you, that it's never going to change.

And I don't want to be overly pessimistic about it, because, I mean, at the same time, it's a question of discovering who you are and who the person you'll be remembered as is. But it's an interesting moment in life to have that thing where you suddenly kind of go, yeah, you know, I'm in the meat of the sandwich now. I'm no longer in the bread. Like, this is it. This is life. Exactly.

I agree with that. I still think at any point that we are in life, we've still got some latitude, but that latitude does shrink. And when you said that, it actually just hit me because when I talk to my kids about, you know, I push them on getting good grades and all that boring parent shit. And when we talk about it, the reason I say is I feel like my job as a parent is to keep all of your options as open as long as I can so that you can make whatever choice you want to make when that time comes. And I hadn't realized until you just said that why I sort of feel so passionate about that is because mine are certainly, you know, a lot of them have closed given where I'm at age-wise. That's an interesting concept.

Yeah, I agree. You've got perhaps my favorite rider in your contract that I've ever heard of, which is you have a dog rider, which means that if anybody at the venue you're playing at has a dog, they need to bring them into work that day so you can play with them. Yeah, as long as they're cool and comfortable with it. I know some people aren't comfortable with their dogs around other people or being in the live music environment and all that kind of thing.

But yeah, I grew up with a lot of dogs in my life and i absolutely adore dogs and um it's just there's no way that i could have my own dog with the way that i live at the moment you know i'm away months at a time most of the year it just doesn't make any sense um i mean i've got a few friends who have dogs and i'm a regular visitor around theirs when i get home but um it was kind of a cool idea that my tour manager had. And it's wicked because quite a lot of the time I get to hang out with those dogs. They're very cute. Yeah, that's great. My partner here and I, between us, we've got five of them in our houses. So if you come to Columbus again, we can shower you in dogs, I imagine. Okay, excellent. That sounds delightful.

One last question. You're working on a new record. Any idea when we might see that? Yeah, I'm hoping to get the new record finished by the end of this year and out at the very start of next is the idea. I mean, I'm very excited about it, actually. We've got a lot of, kind of, in my opinion, really strong material together. The guys in the Sleeping Souls, my band,

we're kind of, yeah, we're sort of working up new songs and soundtracks right now. That's what I was doing just for this conversation. It's an exciting time, I think it's going to be a strong record. It's a relief to me that I still have things that I'm really excited and passionate about saying. There's no sense in me forcing myself to bother to write new songs or whatever. I'm excited, I'm pumped for it. Hopefully beginning of next year with another record, and it'll be a good one, I'm excited. I'm pumped for it. So, yeah, I mean, hopefully beginning of next year with another record,

and it'll be a good one, I hope. Well, I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'll let you get back to working on that. That's probably more important than yapping with me. If you do one thing, tell Nigel that I think he's the best drummer in rock and roll today for me. I would appreciate that. I happen to agree, and I will tell him that.

All right. Well, thank you very much, Frank. It's been a pleasure having you on. Yeah, thanks, man. Thanks for chatting to me. Okay, take care. All right, take care. Bye.

Bye. you can learn more about frank turner and this podcast in our show notes at one you feed.net slash frank turner