TOTALLY Frank
He went to school with royalty, but Mr Turner’s social conscience still hits all the right notes
Frank Turner could have given his new album a number of titles but settled on Be More Kind. As well as being the name of one of the best tracks on his seventh studio album, it reflected his mindset after some personal upheavals and his view of the world as a whole. The Old Etonian, who was in the same year as Prince William, has often been derided for making politically aware ‘folk-punk’ music. But he professes to be well-used to the slights after a 12-year solo career.
Given the current climate, it’s not surprising that Be More Kind is actually more political than previous releases, but he also felt the need this time to present his views in different musical make-up.
‘I had read Simon Reynolds’s book Rip It Up And Start Again about the post-punk era and that opened my mind to some new approaches,’ he says.
‘There was this discussion or argument at that time, that if your music had a strong message then perhaps the best way to get that across was within the type of music that will have an appeal which is as broad as possible, as opposed to something more confrontational musically. I was also thinking it would be nice to make songs that could be played in a dance club, so all those things contributed to our approach.’
The extensive tour on which Turner embarked before he recorded Be More Kind included many dates in the US. He was there for portions of the run-up to the 2016 election and also its aftermath. Songs such as 1933 and Make America Great Again are informed by those experiences.
‘1933 is called that specifically because I don’t believe in the circle of inevitability,’ he says of a song whose title refers to the year Adolf Hitler came to power.
‘It’s not called 1939 or 1941 for that reason. Bad things were put in train in 1933 and we know what it led to, but I don’t believe we are inevitably f ***ed. There are things happening in society that we must change and we have to look at ways to do that.’
The track Make America Great Again, he concedes, has a provocative title but it is not the polemical tract that the title might suggest.
‘I didn’t want to write a song that would make people who voted for Trump last time feel immediately attacked,’ he says. ‘I think it is extremely important to engage with people that you fundamentally disagree with. If you don’t want the people who voted for Trump in 2016 to do so again in 2020, you have to engage with them in a civil way.’
He says his more generous outlook is in part to do with finding love again. ‘Many songs on my last two albums also referred to my romantic ineptitude,’ he laughs.
‘It may come as a relief to my listeners that I have written an album that is not full of songs that talk of me f ***** g up relationships. It is great to say that I have finally found a partner that I love and who, I hope, I can spend the rest of my life with.’
Frank’s privileged background has led some to contend he has a brass neck singing of society’s ills, but he says his background should not preclude him from singing of a desire to see a fairer society.
‘Of course, I get sick of people saying the like of that about me, but I don’t think personal attacks on me have much in the way of intellectual value,’ he says.
‘I do my very best to be as aware of the facts as I can when I make the comments that I do or write certain lyrics. I am fully aware of the good fortune that my background, skin colour and gender have afforded me. If people attack what I say because of my background that would suggest to me that is because they haven’t got a good counter-argument.’
We will have to wait to see if Frank Turner’s detractors have it in them to be more kind to him.
Frank Turner – Be More Kind was released on Friday.
‘I have finally found a partner I love and who, I hope, I can spend the rest of my life with’