Frank Turner won the hearts and minds of punters on his recent Australian tour and with a recent performance at the Olympics that fan base looks like it's soaring again. Live Music Adelaide spoke to Frank about his Australian tour, playing the Olympics and a possible return to our shores in the not to distant future.
Do you look back on your Australian tour just gone with some fond memories?
“Absolutely! Australia has, on the few occasions I've been there, always been very good to me. It was great to finally be able to bring my band out with me, and indeed to hit some new towns like Darwin.”
Are you surprised by how much support you have down here? People I know are still talking about how brilliant your Adelaide show was.
“Uh, yeah, kind of. The first time I came down under, with the Revival Tour, I was expecting to be completely unknown as I'd never visited before. It was amazing and slightly disarming to see a lot of people even on that tour knowing my stuff. The fact that we played the size of shows we just did on our third ever visit is pretty crazy. In a good way.”
What were some of the stand out shows or moments from the tour?
“The Melbourne and Sydney shows were pretty ace, but then again they all were. It was amazing visiting Alice Springs as well, not sure I've ever been anywhere that remote before. It was awesome to hang with the Smith Street Band guys as well, amazing players.”
Did you have a good time in Adelaide?
“For the very short time that I was there, yes. I had just enough time to catch up with old friends over a whisky or two, and to make some new ones.”
Your tour was quite long, do you think you would tour longer next time?
“Ha, I had a conversation with Chris Moses from Blue Murder about 52-date Australian tours. I'd love to do that some day. Right now it's a question of how much time I have in general. Luckily for me, there are lots of parts of the world that want me to visit right now, so I have to work out the best use of my time. But I'm always keen to go to new places and meet new people.”
Was playing at the Olympics a pretty amazing moment?
“It was. The actual gig itself was pretty weird as we were playing to an ersatz field full of sheep, it wasn't really like a normal gig at all. But it was an amazing opportunity to spread the word, and kind of a privilege to be part of something like that as well.”
Are you staggered by the TV viewing audience?
“Yes. We knew about it beforehand of course, but did our best not to think about it whilst playing, haha.”
Do you find with these sorts of things that more people buy the album (or illegally download it) or come to your shows?
“Yeah, we sold a bunch of records after the event, which is cool.”
Has there been much thought about the next album and how that may sound?
“Yes, I'll be in the studio in the month of October. I can't wait actually, I have a ton of new material and I want to get it out there. I don't like to say which 'direction' things are going til I get there, haha. We will see. I'm excited about it.”
Any plans to come back to Australia this year?
“Not sure it'll be in 2012 alas, but 2013, hell yeah, with a new album, that'd be great.”
Interview by Rob Lyon
Do you look back on your Australian tour just gone with some fond memories?
“Absolutely! Australia has, on the few occasions I've been there, always been very good to me. It was great to finally be able to bring my band out with me, and indeed to hit some new towns like Darwin.”
Are you surprised by how much support you have down here? People I know are still talking about how brilliant your Adelaide show was.
“Uh, yeah, kind of. The first time I came down under, with the Revival Tour, I was expecting to be completely unknown as I'd never visited before. It was amazing and slightly disarming to see a lot of people even on that tour knowing my stuff. The fact that we played the size of shows we just did on our third ever visit is pretty crazy. In a good way.”
What were some of the stand out shows or moments from the tour?
“The Melbourne and Sydney shows were pretty ace, but then again they all were. It was amazing visiting Alice Springs as well, not sure I've ever been anywhere that remote before. It was awesome to hang with the Smith Street Band guys as well, amazing players.”
Did you have a good time in Adelaide?
“For the very short time that I was there, yes. I had just enough time to catch up with old friends over a whisky or two, and to make some new ones.”
Your tour was quite long, do you think you would tour longer next time?
“Ha, I had a conversation with Chris Moses from Blue Murder about 52-date Australian tours. I'd love to do that some day. Right now it's a question of how much time I have in general. Luckily for me, there are lots of parts of the world that want me to visit right now, so I have to work out the best use of my time. But I'm always keen to go to new places and meet new people.”
Was playing at the Olympics a pretty amazing moment?
“It was. The actual gig itself was pretty weird as we were playing to an ersatz field full of sheep, it wasn't really like a normal gig at all. But it was an amazing opportunity to spread the word, and kind of a privilege to be part of something like that as well.”
Are you staggered by the TV viewing audience?
“Yes. We knew about it beforehand of course, but did our best not to think about it whilst playing, haha.”
Do you find with these sorts of things that more people buy the album (or illegally download it) or come to your shows?
“Yeah, we sold a bunch of records after the event, which is cool.”
Has there been much thought about the next album and how that may sound?
“Yes, I'll be in the studio in the month of October. I can't wait actually, I have a ton of new material and I want to get it out there. I don't like to say which 'direction' things are going til I get there, haha. We will see. I'm excited about it.”
Any plans to come back to Australia this year?
“Not sure it'll be in 2012 alas, but 2013, hell yeah, with a new album, that'd be great.”
Interview by Rob Lyon
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