There is nothing more exciting than finding an unsigned band that’s making music that I enjoy. The guys of Bigger and Better Things hail from Montreal, Quebec. Their pop punk sound is a sound that I have grown to love throughout my high school years; a genre of music I still indulge in with no regrets. With the band’s growing fan-base – having close to 2,000 fans on Facebook and close to 48,000 friends on MySpace – Bigger and Better Things show no signs of stopping anytime soon. I was privileged enough to connect with Logan from the band via MySpace and email whom provided me with more information about the band.

What is the inspiration for the band’s sound and lyrics?
Logan: There’s a lot of inspiration for lyrics. Girls, hunger for success, elitism, social situations and observations of all kind, partying, movies, other bands/artists just to name a few exterior sources. A lot of inspiration comes within, such as self reflection, over-analyzing everything, moderate paranoia at times. The inspiration for the sound of our music comes from years and years of listening to punk rock. It’s embedded in us. Lately, that’s been changing a lot though.

Are there any plans for an EP and/or tour?
Logan: Our E.P. titled You Wouldn’t Get It is going to be out sometime mid-April, independently. It was actually planned to be released in November but due to many unavoidable factors, we had to postpone the release date a billion times. We’re throwing a release show around that time but no following tour will ensue.
** According to one of their blog posts from September 2009, their EP is recorded and produced by Paul Leavitt. Leavitt has done work for bands such as All Time Low, Moneen, The Bled, From Autumn to Ashes, Circa Survive, The Dangerous Summer and Senses Fail.

How long have you guys been a band? How did the band come together?
Logan: The band has been together for about two years. Ironically the way most of us came together is through a mutual friend that used to be in the band and then got kicked out. One day, I was hanging out with Andrew (ex-vocals) at a mall and from a distance he spotted Luc, pulled him over and said “this guy has to be in the band”. Also, Andrew called me and said “Oh my God! Angel’s Catching Bullets (ex-band) broke up! We need to take their drummer, Matt!”. Once we got Andrew out of the picture, mainly due to some unresolved issues he had going on in his head, he sent me a Facebook message. The message said, “I found your perfect singer, check the video”. Inside the message contained a short clip of Mike, our current vocalist, doing an acoustic rendition of a Boys like Girls song. The choice was made.

Are you guys in school?
Logan: We are all currently out of school, though some members are choosing to resume shortly.

To find out more about Bigger and Better Things, check out their MySpace.
You can also download the three songs from this post from their PureVolume.

Bigger and Better Things – Market the Fun I Have
Bigger and Better Things – Predicaments
Bigger and Better Things – The Excitement and Drama

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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or BRMC as their legions of fans call them, have been around a while so know their way around a studio and a song. This new album, official release date Tuesday (March 9), is the culmination of their many years slogging it out on ProTools. I have to admit to having a passing familiarity with this band so did a lot of reading about them for this review. Seems these guys have four other albums out there that I am now going to have to check out, especially their instrumental album The Effects of 333. I love instrumentals and feel too many bands don’t explore this format. I would think that instrumentals would be a very freeing way to write because you are not bound by the constraints of the verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure. On the other hand doing an instrumental may just show up the lack of musicianship a band has. But I digress.

The one thing that BMRC does not lack is musicianship. These thirteen songs jump out of the speakers, grab you by the lapels, shake you like a rag doll, throw you to the floor and stomp on you. These are best played loud. There is a lot of noise that comes at you so be prepared to feel like someone took hob-nailed boots to you. Conscience Killer, the second song, is as example of this. It comes at you like a sonic boom. It is hard to believe there are just three musicians in the band. These songs are dense, noisy, dynamic, bluesy, dark and dirty. And no song shows this better than River Styx. I loved it. Where this album let me down was with the quieter, sweeter songs such as Sweet Feeling (although I loved the harmonica), The Toll (I do love the harmonies), and the Lennon-ish Long Way Down (although it got better as it rolled along).

The title track, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is such a great song, by far my favourite and it somehow found it’s way in heavy rotation on my iTunes playlist. It’s really sets the tone for the whole album with it’s dire lyrics, “There is no peace here, war is never cheap dear/Love will never meet here, it just gets sold for parts/You cannot fight it, all the world denies it/Open up your eyelids, let your demons run”. You just know that this album isn’t for the faint of heart. And is that a resonator that I hear? If it is it’s really great to hear it outside it’s customary country genre. Certainly there is slide guitar going on in there. It’s kind of American folk on drugs. Funnily one of my favourites is also the one that I like the least. For me, Bad Blood, reminded me of U2, you know before they sucked, and that is never a good thing for me, what with never having been a big fan of U2 (with the exception of Zooropa and Pop). But be that as it may, it is also an incredibly catchy tune that I found myself humming throughout the day. Ah, the irony.

This album was largely influenced by Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories and the title, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, comes from an old phrase meaning the beat of a drum or the bleat of a bugle calling soldiers back to camp after dark. No other song on the album embodies this as much as Shadows Keeper, a shadowy, sexual trip into the abyss of wanting. “You feel the fire burnin’ sweet within your skin.” Half State is a pseudo-psychedelic tune where the layered vocals and guitars assault you like a bad drug habit. It’s a great song that I would think is amazing live. The whole album is filled with well-crafted songs that easily bring up comparisons to the Jesus and Mary Chain, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Depeche Mode. It’s moody. It’s calamitous. It’s sombre. It’s ruthless, and it’s really, really good.

The band consists of Peter Hayes (guitar, bass, vocals, harmonica, keys), Robert Levon Been (bass, guitar, vocals, piano), and Leah Shapiro, ex of the Ravonettes (drums, percussion). Shapiro is a new addition taking over from Nick Jago. You can find out everything you need to know about BRMC on their website (one of the most comprehensive I’ve come across). You can also hear the new songs and pre-order the CD on MySpace. You can pre-order Beat The Devil’s Tattoo as well as their other albums on iTunes, Amazon, and don’t forget to check out your local bricks and mortar retailer.

BRMC – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
BRMC – Conscience Killer

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Give me anything beat heavy and my attraction for the song will most likely be immediate. Said was the case for Leif’s track Timbs. I was first acquainted with Leif through a magazine which touted him as the next ‘it’ guy from New York. In their case, they were most correct.

Timbs is a play on electronic/rap music, and could not have been done any better. Not exactly new to the scene, the song has been around for a few years now. Nonetheless, it’s one of those songs that has an everlasting effect, and no matter your taste in music, this track is unceasingly pleasing and just plain necessary to  the music game.

Leif is also the producer of much of his music, and he also mixes as well. His most notorious songs are Electric Feel My Cool and Little Bit, his suave takes on Indie favorites MGMT (Electric Feel) and Lykke Li (Little Bit.)

Despite relative success, Leif has not really released much new material (to my knowledge). It’s a shame really because his talent is immense, and his ability to entrap with his haunting voice is one to revel at. Exposure for artists like this is necessary, for their genius must not go unnoticed.

Leif- Timbs (Neon Coyote Slow Jam)

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Well now that the sun has made an appearance for 6 solid days I can’t help but think about summer, sitting on the deck just letting the day pass by, drinking beers around the fire, kayaking and jumping off rocks. Canadian summers are the best, which makes the winter suck that much harder.

Little Joy formed in 2007 by Los Hermanos, Rodrigo Amarante, Fabrizio Moretti (drummer for the strokes), and Binki Shapiro. The Brazilian American band really captures the sound of Rio, it reminds me of this bar right in the middle of Ipanema where a great acoustic band would sing through the night, good music and 50 cent beers, really the best bar I have ever been too. The next time you have a day at the beach be sure to include this in your playlist. Call me an alcoholic but to me summer really is about relaxing with cold beers just hanging out, whether on a patio or on the beach. Summer music is supposed to be light, not too overwhelming perfect for the background to conversation.

The Next Time Around- Little Joy
Dead Beat Summer- Neon Indian
Yours to Keep- Teddy Bear Stockholm

Sitting around the fire at night is the staple of any Canadian summer, drinking cold beers just staring into the fire with friends, really the perfect ending to any day. One summer I went camping with friends and at night all you could hear was death metal and linkin park, clearly we didn’t go to the right camping ground. The guy next to us made me film him mosh by him self to linkin park then continued to ask me “you know that feeling when you just need to mosh, YOU KNOW, I HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW, its in meeeee” needless to say I didn’t fit in. For me the campfire is supposed to be relaxing I prefer softer music, something that no matter what kind of music you are into you know the lyrics and kept help but sing along. Oasis’ Wonderwall is exactly that, to me this is the perfect campfire song.
Wonderwall- Oasis

Well summer can’t come soon enough, I am sick of having to wear layers and pants. I am looking forward to going on road trips, sitting around the fire, staying out all night and not complaining about how cold it is.

Little Joy
Teddy Bears
Oasis
Neon Indian

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There are not many singer/songwriters out there who would start an album with a song about a kidnapping (She Had a Name), in this case the kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard, but Tin Can Notes (aka Jack Matranga from Self Against City) does. It’s a brave choice really because it is such a dark song when he could easily have opened with the gorgeous Trails or the haunting California in the Ether. But he didn’t instead you hear “I saw her face on the wall in the shop when I was 6 years old, customers when they come, they would talk ‘Where could she’ve gone’”. This song isn’t totally bleak, however, because the narrative comes to a close with the message that she was found alive.

For those who are familiar with Self Against City, you might find Matranga’s foray into solo-hood a bit disappointing. There are some really great guitar lines and riffs, there is the familiar lushness and smart lyrics but there are really three good songs on this four song EP, She Had a Name, California in the Ether and Trails. For me, I kind of prefer Matranga as part of Self Against City as his voice isn’t the strongest and seems to need the help of a strong backing band. It doesn’t have the depth or colour to really carry these songs on it’s own which is probably why the first three songs work and the last one doesn’t. There is more going on in the first three and they benefit from the good backing vocals, the good melodies, and the great musicianship whereas Maples just tends to float around without any seeming purpose but that could be the intent since it is about a lazy summer day spent sitting on the porch. For me the breathy vocals and simple acoustic melody just fall flat.

You can find Tin Can Notes on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or last.fm. The EP is offered as a free download here or you can buy it for five bucks in CD format there as well. You can also buy it, with the bonus track Rain For Sale on iTunes and Amazon.

Tin Can Notes – She Had A Name
Tin Can Notes – Maples

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Nosaj Thing out of LA is quickly becoming one of my favourites, I first heard of him when Kid Cudi sampled one of his tracks for background on his mixtape, the prayer was one of my faovurite on the album mainly cuz of the beat so Nosaj Thing caught my attention then and just recently reminded me why I was so excited about him. Nosaj Thing’s debut album Drift came out last year around this time and was pretty sick, really surprised that it didn’t get too much attention but somethings just take time.

1685/Bach is heavy and sounds like put together static to make one crazy tune, really like the echoey bass that comes in and adds an element to the song that makes it so complex and exciting to listen too, as I always just listen to it and you will totally get what I mean. Well Nosaj thing isn’t just a crazy producer he can also mix a pretty rad remix, his remix of one of my favourites the XX is some serious next level shit. He takes the cool soft vocals on one of the softer songs on the album and completely does it his way with heavy bass and outer space sounds that just works perfectly, really hope this dubstep trend continues and hope that bands like the xx work with dubstep producers because really music has been kinda lacking lately.
Islands (Nosaj Thing remix)- The XX
1685/Bach-Nosaj Thing

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NeverShoutNever will be touring from mid-March to mid-August, partaking in SXSW, the AP Tour, Bamboozle and Vans Warped Tour.

NeverShoutNever – I Love You 5
NeverShoutNever – Can’t Stand It

For more on NeverShoutNever, check out his MySpace or his official website.

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Ever since little 8th-grade me fell in love with the colorful, uplifting music video for ‘Over The Edge’, The Go Find has held a special place in my heart. Dieter Sermeus’s soothing electronic pop carves out a niche somewhere between The Postal Service and The Stars while managing to not sound generic. The Go Find’s newest release, Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight, is no exception. Take a spin, and you’ll find an album full of simple, laid-back, and effective tunes.

The Go Find does a great job of churning out bouncy but relaxed melodies. Synths and guitars complement each other rather than fighting, and they combine to make catchy riffs that you can both hum along with and fall asleep to. The sound is versatile enough that when I asked a few friends where they could see themselves listening to it, answers ranged from “in bed with my eyes closed” to “driving to LA down the coast in a Ferrari.” Any band that can garner that varied a response has succeeded in making widely appealing music.

Some personal favorites of mine: ‘It’s Automatic’, a simple pop song with a killer melody; ‘Stay’, which sounds like the illegitimate but charming love child of The Cure and Bloc Party; and ‘Running Mates’, a trippy, rolling tune with a strutting bass line and an accordion (or at least a synth that sounds like one).

Of course, the problem with making an album full of relaxed electronic pop is that the songs have a tendency to sound the same. While The Go Find is mostly able to avoid this pit of redundancy, some of the songs bleed together at times. While that helps the relaxing effect of the music, it also makes some songs less memorable.

In all, this is a solid album full of straightforward and soothing tunes. I would definitely recommend this to any Postal Service, Magic Numbers, or Stars fans, or anyone who just wants to relax. To learn more about the band, visit their myspace or website.

The Go Find – It’s Automatic
The Go Find – Stay
The Go Find – Running Mates

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I recently picked up the latest issue of Alternative Press claiming the “100 bands you need to know in 2010.” There are three different covers out for this issue featuring three different bands: The Cab, Hey Monday and Never Shout Never. I have heard of Hey Monday in passing (i.e. on Degrassi Goes Hollywood) but I haven’t really taken the time to check out their stuff aside for a couple of music videos here and there. Anyhow, since the issue of Alternative Press I bought has Hey Monday on the cover, I concluded that it’d a good a time as any to check out this band.

Hey Monday is a power pop/alternative rock band hailing from West Palm Beach Florida. Their debut album, Hold On Tight, was released late October 2008. The band is said to be working on their second album which is rumored to be released summer/fall of 2010. More often that not, when power pop/alternative rock bands are fronted by females pop up in the music scene, immediate comparisons are made to Hayley Williams of Paramore. However, Cassadee Pope, the lead female vocals for Hey Monday, sounds nothing like Hayley Williams. Hey Monday’s Hold On Tight provides listeners with the sound of mainstream popular radio ready hits with strong vocals and heavy riffs. Though musically and lyrically, Hey Monday does not really bring to the table anything new or innovative, I still find the songs catchy and fun. Tour-wise, the band is currently scheduled to tour from mid-March to mid-August, preforming at SXSW, the AP Tour, and the Vans Warped Tour.

Hey Monday – How You Love Me Now
Hey Monday – Homecoming
Hey Monday – Run, Don’t Walk
Hey Monday – Hurricane Streets

To check out more of Hey Monday, visit their official website/MySpace/PureVolume.

P.S. Toronto natives LIGHTS and DD/MM/YYYY also made Alternative Press’ list of 100 bands you need to know in 2010!!

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Sydney Crosby is living the Canadian dream, stanley cup and gold medal in a one year period, fucking ehhh. I know I didn’t stop believing in Canada, hell we could have lost everything but the hockey and I would have been happy. Well we kinda did own the podium in a way, with the most olympic golds in a winter olympic games ever as well as most golds won by a home country. Even people who aren’t huge sport fans were entirely emersed in the games, it opened up a sense of national pride, my friends who are only into fashion and the latest cum stained drawing perez has on his site took a break from the nonsense and joined in with the rest of the country.

We even watched the mens curling and cheered drunkingly as the guy with the shiny head won the gold, and kinda hated the women for loosing. We were glued to the tv watching things we would never normally, curling, my new favourite speed skating, people skiing then shooting targets, and watched the most badass olympian Jon Montgomery chug a beer right after winning his gold medal, really just about anything that a Canadian was doing we were watching. Now that the games are over things will go back to normal, but for these past 3 weeks everyone in Canada was just a bit more Canadian. Well its been a fun time, hopefully someday soon the olympics will be back in Canada so we can experience it again.

Don’t Stop Believing- Journey
We Are the Champions- Queen

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The Clipse have long been one of my favorite rap duos. I can’t even tell you where my affection for them streams from, but everything they do, to me, is just pure brilliance, and that is a strong statement especially for a hip-hop artist to claim. Their sophomore album Lord Willin was really what affected me; hearing Grinding for the first time was like a religious experience. It was one of those songs I was profusely singing everywhere I went, booming in my CD player or simply just telling other people about it.

With that said, I am highly disappointed with their latest effort, Till the Casket Drops. The first thing I did was quickly read reviews. They were mostly favorable and had high praise for the unique departure for the duo. In my opinion, they were wrong.

Till the Casket Drops is exactly what I have been preaching against- artists who have maintained integrity in their music veering towards a more mainstream or pop focus. The Clipse used to be known for their gritty, raw and individualist lyrics/beats. This time around, I was so caught off guard by the bubbly over tone of the tracks, I couldn’t even focus on their, as Malice and Pusha put it, “coke rap” ridden lyrics.

Despite the fact that they rap about things most others do as well, it’s their performance value and execution which makes their music so attractive. Paired with the incandescence of The Neptunes, The Clipse were unstoppable. The thing that killed them on this album was their production team including DJ Khalil and…Diddy.

This is not to say that The Clipse cannot do better. They can. Their last album Hell Hath No Fury was absolutely magnificent and was filled with the past effects which made people love them in the first place. I in no way am saying that artists are not supposed to experiment and take a risk. But when the risk is so over done that it sounds like a plea for mainstream acceptance, there is a problem. The album also had it’s good takes as well; Kinda Like a Big Deal featuring Kanye West, I’m Good and Popular Demand (Popeye’s) featuring Cam’Ron were all standouts for me.

All I have left to say is: next album please.

Clipse featuring Kanye West- Kinda Like a Big Deal
Clipse featuring Pharrell- I’m Good
Clipse- Popular Demand (Popeye’s)

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Colorado based Derek Vincent Smith, better known as pretty lights is set to release his new ep anytime now and if his song Can see it in your face is anything to judge, its going to be the next big thing. What I love about pretty lights is that its really about the music, he doesn’t mess around with stupid gimmicks, he records his shit and then a few seconds later uploads its for all of us to love. I wish more musicians would follow suit. His last two albums Taking Up Your Precious Time and Filling Up the City Skies were amazing, and I’m surprised more people don’t mention him when discussing the best producers because he is right up there with Diplo for me. His new EP Making Up a Changing mind is going hit the internet March 2nd so be sure to check out his website to get the free and amazing downloads.

His style as a producer has many elements that I look for in a song. He samples a lot of gangster rap but not so much so that its not electro in the back with rap layed over. I love how complex his sounds are, so many layers of familar sounds that make something entirely new and so enjoyable to listen to. He has that heavy wowowowow bass that drives me nuts, its all I really need in a song for me to like and he does it so well. His songs are simple and elaborate, its hard to explain just give it a listen and you’ll get it. Disco is coming in, and in a big way cuz that shit is as catchy as aids, and I hope that Pretty Lights philosophy on sharing music as soon as its created begins to catch.

I Can See It In Your Face- Pretty Lights

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I have always been a fan of Robyn since I heard her song “Show me Love” in the nineties. Last year, she debuted a stellar album self titled Robyn and was the driving force behind my love for electronic/pop music.

Ever since then I have been anxiously awaiting the release of her new album. With no certain release date yet, and no configuration, No Hassle is the latest from Robyn, which I am guessing is the first single from her new album, which will be debuting sometime in 2010.

To be honest, this review is slightly biased. Robyn is one of those artists who, no matter what she does, I will always admire and appreciate. No Hassle is a reggae/electronic piece; nothing music changing but it still follows her fun and witty formula with lyrics like “I still run this thing like a dance-hall queen” and “I wind my hips real slow.” Just imagining a 30 year old, pale, bleach blond, short haired, blue eyed girl “wind” her hips makes me laugh, but it is what makes Robyn, Robyn. She is a risk taker, and that’s all we can ask from someone in the music industry is to dive into the deep end.

Nonetheless, Robyn’s album will most likely be one to watch in 2010. When she is on, she’s on, and not to mention that her heartfelt songs really hit the spot. The tone in her voice is so ethereal and she is just overall a cool chick.

Robyn- No Hassle

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“I think that the art of great songwriting is to take something specific and make it feel universal.” – Frank Turner

The back room of the historic Horseshoe Tavern on Queen west is packed to the gills. A veritable sea of plaid spills out into the front room, crowding the bar area, surrounded by pictures and articles profiling the venues storied history. It is a stark comparison to early in the day, when I had come in from the frigid cold of Toronto in January to talk with British singer songwriter Frank Turner, who was just embarking on another year of tireless touring.

A poster hangs on the wall in the Horseshoe. It resembles the cover of Turner’s latest album, Poetry of the Deed, with the album title replaced with the words “Always on Tour”, and to ask Frank Turner, he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“To be honest with you I’ve just had three weeks off in a row, which is the most time I’ve had off in six years and I fucking hated it.” Turner says, calmly sipping a drink, his cool, casual demeanor a stark contrast to the always on the move travelling musician lifestyle. “The first week was bliss, absolutely great, I did shit like cook food for myself which I never get to do, and I had a bath, that was beautiful, but after a week it was like God fucking damn it, get me out of here. It’s really nice to be on the move again.”

The road this time around includes touring through the US with Floggy Molly, before heading back across the pond for more European dates. Turner may relish his time on the road, but it takes a certain mentality to be out, playing music for more than forty weeks of the year.

“You have to re-calibrate how you view your social life,” Turner states matter of factly, “And that takes a fair amount of adjustment. I found it hard at various points because you lose touch with a lot of people essentially, and,” he pauses for a moment, “like I say, I feel like I’ve been doing this long enough now that I sort of re-thought how my friendships work. It’s not really an issue anymore. “

His tone changes slightly, “It must be said that holding down a relationship is a fucking challenge, and I’ve just failed at that one again. The thing about it is, for me personally there’s a lot more discomfort in working a 9-5 job. So I’ll put up with it.”

On stage Turner is as easy going as he is in conversation, setting up his own stage, and exchanging quips with the audience of loyal fans, most of whom know his entire catalogue inside and out.

This dedication to music stems back to his early days on the London Hardcore scene as a member of Million Dead. This was back before hardcore had become a flavour of the month thanks to bands like Underoath garnering international appeal.

“I grew up in the hardcore scene and it would be pretentious of me to say that it’s not there anymore, I think it is, but it’s just different than when I was in it. There are definitely a lot more people involved. There was no one involved, literally like 500 people in the whole country who knew what hardcore was.”

Million Dead released two full lengths, 2003’s Song To Ruin and 2005’s Harmony No Harmony, before calling it quits in 2005, which marked the official beginning of Frank Turner as a solo artist, although he had already begun playing solo shows prior to Million Dead’s official end.

Growing up in that scene and having the chance to perform hardcore, clearly had a profound effect on Turner, and it can still be seen in his lyrics and the power of his live show. But would he ever go back to his first love?

“Hardcore to me, and I’m very emotionally attached to it, is style of music that is very easy to do bad. And when it’s done badly, it’s generally worse than any other style of music. Because, particularly the whole business of screaming your lyrics, if they’re not done with conviction then they’re fucking awful, unlistenable bad, it’s just like “shut up”. To do hardcore well you have to be fucked up at the world in a certain way. And I’m just not fucked up at the world anymore in that way. I was for a long time, but I don’t think I could sustain that kind of anger long enough to make a hardcore band that would be any good. I constantly have drunk conversations with people about putting a band together, even just a one off project, but to be honest I’m busy enough as it is.” He adds with a chuckle, “You know. I’m not sure I need to be scheduling side projects for my two days off a year.”

The passion and commitment that makes good hardcore is still flowing through the man who stands behind the mic in the back room at the Horseshoe, loosely clutching his acoustic guitar. The power and passion flows through his voice as he belts out the line “……Life is about love, last minutes and lost evenings/About fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings/And the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering/And help us with remembering that the only thing that’s left to do is live.” At the end of I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, the power that flowed through him as a hardcore singer is still there, and an acoustic set has never been so loud.

As a solo artist Turner has been nothing short of prolific releasing three full lengths, two EP’s and a rarities collection. Those three full length albums, 2007’s Sleep Is For The Weak, 2008’s Love, Ire and Song and 2009’s Poetry of the Deed coming out in consecutive years, a pace that would be hard to keep up.

“I’m not going to be able to do an album this year, but I’m going to try to put out two next year, one of which will be an album of traditional English songs and the other will just be an album.”

Turner, who holds a history degree from The London School of Economics, is passionate when he talks about his plan to release an album of traditional English music.

“I’m a history buff, and getting involved in traditional music combines my two favorite things. Also I’m culturally English as opposed to British, and there’s this weird thing in the UK right now, where it’s politically acceptable to be into Scottish culture and Welsh culture and Irish Culture but English culture is a little bit taboo. Regularly I hear people say there is no such thing as English culture and it’s like no, you just don’t know about it. Your ignorance does not mean that it doesn’t exist. Particularly, musically there is massive heritage of traditional English tombs that most English people know nothing about, including me until a couple of years ago when I started looking into it. I think it’s a sadness that most people don’t know about these songs, because It means they’ve forgotten about they’re own culture, but also because they’re great songs. They’re funny, they’re heartbreaking, they’re cool they’re catchy.”

A smile breaks across his face, “I think that that’s a worthwhile use of my time.”

The crowd in the back of the Horseshoe got treated to a sneak peak of the forth coming Trad album with a stirring and powerful performance of the vocal only song Barbra Allen, and judging by the reaction of his loyal following, that album will go over well.

As for the official follow up to Poetry of the Deed, Turner ‘s already hard at work on the writing side of things.

“As far as the next record goes, my one criticism of Poetry of The Deed is that I got a little bit carried away about having a band on call in the studio, which means that it’s a bit too band orientated, just a tiny bit. I feel like it could have done with one more solo song, just to balance it out a bit. That’s how I feel about it anyways. So I think that I’m definitely going to try and get back to being a little bit more folky and a little less rocky. I have a lot of new songs coming and I’m really pleased with what they’re gonna add. I think they’re going to be good. I’m very excited about it. Particularly lyrically at the moment, I’m feeling quite in the zone. I have a certain new song about Bob Dylan and Patty Hearst being on a Pirate Ship sailing around and I’m really pleased with how it’s come out.”

For Turner fans, news that the new album is coming together is worth getting excited about, and Franks lyrics have always been a key reason they keep on coming back. For Turner himself, songwriting is natural.

“Things just arrive in dribs and drabs here and there. There is the part of the process where you have to sit down and turn all these little snippets into actual songs. The daunting part for me seems to be writing lyrics to second verses.” He laughs at himself in a casual manner, while considering his actual process. “My whole fucking life I write the first verse and the chorus and then the rest of the song and then you realize you’ve written the same lyrics twice. It’s funny, sometimes bits of music arrive and sometimes bits of lyrics arrive, but it’s when both arrive at the same time that you know that something good is going to happen, in my experience. Its funny when people always ask me what my kind of song writing technique is and I’m Like “technique, what the fuck are you talking about.” I try really hard not to analyze my song writing process, cause I might break it, so it’s best just to leave it alone.”

Watching Turners live show is like hanging out with a friend who just happened to bring along his guitar, and oh yeah, he’s really good with it. That line between friend and performer is one that Turner walks everyday. Every club and bar and concert hall he walks into is filled to the brim with fans who feel they know everything there is to know about him.

As he powers through the personal tack Substitute, and the entire crowd sings along, it’s easy to see where the sense that his fans really do know him comes from. But, how do you manage to walk that line without ending up in a constant litany of awkward situations?

“For me, I have a very fine line between stuff that’s public and stuff that’s private and I need to have that to maintain my sanity and most people get that. I’m a gregarious person, I’ll talk to anybody, but at the same time, I don’t consider myself any different from anybody in my audience, so I don’t mind talking to them about that stuff really, but at the same time like any normal person, I don’t want to share my entire fucking life with them.”

The personal nature of his lyrics aren’t limited to himself though, with others in life making appearances in his songs, sometimes directly like in the track I knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, and sometimes cryptically like in the afore mentioned Substitute.

“I work quite hard at being circumspect of other peoples details. I’m very aware that it’s not my business to reveal anyone else’s. I think that the art of great songwriting is to take something specific and make it feel universal. There have been little things. When the song Substitute came out I got a lot of angry phone calls from girls who either thought they were in the song or who were annoyed because they weren’t in the song.”

Sometimes walking that line can be more difficult than others.

“There’s a song on the new album called Richard Devine that went through a lot of rewrites. It’s about the suicide of someone I know,” he pauses, “knew. I finished the first draft and read it back and realized that I was crossing a line with it. It’s that dichotomy that made it take so long, cause then I did a second version of it, where it was too abstract and it didn’t really mean anything anymore. It’s about striking that balance where it’s going to have that emotional resonance with people, but it’s not going to upset anybody who doesn’t deserve to be upset. So it can be a challenge sometimes, it’s all part of the fun.”

One of the most moving songs in Turners repitoire is Long Live The Queen, which details the death of a close friend of his. You can’t listen to the song without gaining the sense of how much it meant to him, and how hard it must have been to write it.

“The song Long Live The Queen, I spent a lot of time running that past my friend Lex’s family, cause she has kids, and I told them if you don’t want me to do the song I won’t, but they were all about it and they were really supportive, which is cool.”

Turner’s songs aren’t all about friends, loss, love, and women. Politics make an appearance on more than one track, and it’s obvious to anyone who knows his music that it’s something he’s very passionate about.

“I’ve become quite politically energized again in the last few years cause I had a major rethink of my politics. I went back to my first principles, which remain the same, and rethought how those should be applied in my life. I would describe myself as a libertarian as opposed to an anarchist because I’d say my first principle, mistrust of the state remains the same, just rather than sitting around in squads of other kids in balaclavas discussing how we’re going to organize a communist revolution there is other more practical things you can do. I mean talking about revolution and throwing brinks at cops, who fucking cares, it’s really self indulgent if you analyze it. And I’m totally castrating my younger self here, cause I was definitely one of those people for a very ling time. But if you can’t write down in one sentence what your counter action is going to achieve as far as making the world a better place for normal people, you’re essentially masturbating. Check me out, I’m so fucking great cause I have this opinions. I’m too old for that shit.”

In the historic back room of the Horseshoe Tavern sweat runs down Turners face, as he works through a powerful set of songs that stretch from every corner of his discography and a couple of covers, Half Man Half Biscuit and the Weakerthan’s Watermark.

By the time he reaches the end of the set, anyone who wasn’t already wholly and complete enamored with his music at the beginning of the set is now. As he launches into what has come to be his anthem, The Ballad of Me and My Friends, you can tell that he loved playing as much as every soul in that room loved watching him.

“….and we’re definitely going to hell, but we’ll have all the best stories to tell….”

Frank Turner – Sunshine State
Frank Turner – Substitute
Frank Turner – I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous

Listening to Right Now: Neil Young, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ben Marwood
Everyone Should Listen to: Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run, Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
Best Live Show Ever: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Favorite Place To Play: Germany/Bavaria
Artist He’s Never Seen: Louden Wainwright

Interview Transcript

No related posts. Sorry.

I have always enjoyed African tribal music but as you all know I love my electro, so the combination of the two really works. The synthed up tribal drums and chanting make up for one amazing album. My favourite on the album is Julia, its by far the heaviest electro song on the album and despite not being able to understand a word of what they are saying I cant help but sing along. Kamphopo is another one of my favourites, but that could just be beacuse it sampled one of my old favourites from Architecture in Helensiki, and might I say they do it better than anyone I have ever heard.

The Warm Heart of Africa (the song) freaturing Ezra Koeing of Vampire Weekend is another great track, really the entire album is amazing so I’m not going to be able to say anything bad about it. Im sure most of you by now have heard of The Very Best, however, if you have yet to check them out don’t waste another second, they are amazing and I hope will be around for a long time continuing to innovate and make amazing music.

Julia-The Very Best
Warm Heart of Africa- The Very Best feat. Ezra Koeing

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