“That’s not really my scene”: Frank Turner picked his favourite club anthem
There aren’t many artists who are truly singular, but Frank Turner is undoubtedly one of them. Throughout his career, the punk troubadour has whittled out an anthemic space in music by blending it with hearty folk elements. While he started out as the vocalist of the post-hardcore group Million Dead, as a solo artist, he has earned a diehard cult following with his rousing numbers.
He’s a true punk in that he has always followed his inclinations and championed vital cultural components such as independent venues and a DIY ethic. Musically, he blends the influence of Black Flag, Nirvana, The Clash and, most importantly, the definitive hero of the little man, Bruce Springsteen, to create an authentic sonic character.
In addition to his musical nouse and knack for catchy melodies, it is Turner’s continued sincerity in a world that is increasingly less so that has made him a favourite of so many from different walks of life. For all of the criticisms you might level at his sound for its IPA and flannel shirt appeal, the honesty with which he addresses his complicated upbringing and other factors has seen him stand up and be counted when the zeitgeist heads further into the belly of a highly stylised and conceptual epoch. In a technology-reliant age, where the spectre of AI becomes all the more prominent, he is a distinctly human force. Regardless of personal taste, this counts for a lot.
In a candid conversation with Far Out about his most personal album yet, Undefeated, Turner characterised his position as a “square peg in a round hole”. Never fitting in with a scene, despite personal associations, has been a paradoxical experience for him, as he has watched them come and go from the outside, but it’s also led to longevity.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days when I was envious of people that I know, getting very famous very quickly or becoming very successful very quickly because of genre and journalistic associations, and indeed, social associations,” he explained. “At the same time, those ties then tend to break and to take people down with them. And that hasn’t happened to me in quite the same way, which I’m grateful for.”
A true punk flagbearer, Turner knows what he is and isn’t. Like many who subscribe to the punk ethos, regardless of what subgenre they inhabit, he loves guitar music in most forms. He has always been deeply ensconced in the creative possibilities it offers. This dedication to the six-string and the traditional band configuration also means he is not one for going out clubbing, getting mangled by disco biscuits and dancing himself into the ground to a soundtrack of pulsating electronic textures.
This was something that came to the fore when speaking to Shortlist in 2013. Asked to name his favourite club anthem, the punk stalwart offered an alternative answer, swapping out heady techno for an indie floor filler: ‘The Rat’ by The Walkmen. He said: “I don’t really go to clubs much. I did once hear ‘The Rat’ by The Walkmen in a club, and it blew me away. But that’s not really my scene.”
Although it’s hard to imagine Turner losing it in the darkness of a sweaty techno club, the thought of him pogoing with glee to the 2004 post-punk revival classic appears vividly.
