Video Bonanza

A quick Tuesday morning update for you, some thoughts to share. Firstly, here's a video from the Revival Tour I was on in the States. Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry, Ben Nichols leading the pack, with little bits of me. Enjoy:

REVIVAL ROAD revival tour 08


Secondly, I have got a side project started. Thus:

The Final Reckoning

Hi everyone. Well, the dust is settling on a week of frenzied single promotion, and there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that we didn't, alas, break the Top 40 with the single. I can't pretend that isn't a little disappointing, but there's some serious silver lining here:

• The single came in at number 65. That's well above the Last Shadow Puppets and other major label, physical format singles. We actually rose over 30 places in the chart through the week, which is pretty much unprecedented.
  
• We raised a ton of cash for Breast Cancer Campaign. Exact figures will take a little while to figure out, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.
  

So yeah, thanks very much. The B-Sides should be winging their way to people who bought the single now, and I want to say at this point that all of us (Xtra Mile, BCC etc.) are hugely grateful to everyone who got involved. I think it's really pushed things forward for me personally too (as evidenced by the sold out shows on the tour), so yeah, we win.

Single is Out Today!

You probably know most of this already, but here it is again, all in one place, because the SINGLE IS OUT NOW!

Hi everyone

The single is out today! We're aiming to both break the charts and raise a ton of money for Breast Cancer Campaign. If you can please follow one or all of the links below and get buying! It's less than £1 wherever you go..

http://www.7digital.com/artists/frank-turner/long-live-the-queen/

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=292345771

http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Track/4-/7126838/Long-Live-The-Queen/Product.html?aid=7126838

You need to be careful to buy the single, not the track off the album, but you can do that by following those links, so it should be easy. One you're done, if you send a screenshot of the receipt to longlivethequeen@frank-turner.com we'll send you 2 exclusive b-sides for free.
If you texted to pre-order, today's the day to download your mp3, you get a little message from me too, haha...
And if you want to help more, please copy and paste this bulletin and send it to your friends, do it on Facebook / Myspace as well, whatever you can to help. Thanks everyone.

Frank

Tours / B-Sides

You know, the process of inputting gigs on myspace is almost indescribably boring. So I won't try and describe it here, you'll just have to take my word for it. Anyway. I can now announce that this December I'll be out on the road with my childhood heroes The Levellers around the UK. And after that, in the new year, I'll be back in Europe with my new friends The Gaslight Anthem. Dates for both tours can be found on the gigs page and the myspace, ha.

Also, some news on the B-Side situation for forthcoming single Long Live The Queen (texting / facebook details below). The way it's going to work is this: once you have purchased the single, you need to send a screenshot of your confirmation page / receipt or whatever to longlivethequeen@frank-turner.com, and then you'll get sent a link to download two exclusive songs from the forthcoming "The First Three Years" compilation. I hope that clears it up for everyone..?

Revival Road

I write from Washington DC, where I'm sat in my friend Becky's flat waiting for a taxi to take me to the airport, and thence back to London town. I've been out here a month now, and it's been fantastic. I want to say a special thanks to Fake Problems, and to Chuck, Tim, Ben, Digger, Todd, John, Jimmy, Jason and Matty on the Revival Tour, for having me along. And hats off to everyone at the shows, good times, new friends, colossal hangovers... what more could an Englishman ask for?

And as I prepare to fly home, I learn that Long Live The Queen is to be the Single Of The Week on Sara Cox's show on BBC Radio 1. So here's a toast to Sara too.

Ye Gods, I am Bringing Sexy Back

For your enjoyment...

Also, yes, keep texting FRANK to 81088, details below...

The Grand March Of History

Hello from Connecticut. This place definitely has 3 C's in it, so I'm going to pronounce it as such, and propriety be damned. Anyway. The Revival tour is literally the best thing ever, it's an absolute pleasure to be on the road with such an awesome group of musicians, doing things how they should be done. Long may it continue. I'm sad that I only have two more shows on the run, but if they're anything like the two we just did, they'll be more than memorable.

UK news: the Xtra Mile High Club Vol. 1 is now available on iTunes. It features 12 previously unreleased songs by me, Jonah Matranga and Chris T-T. It's a cracker, if I do say so myself, well worth the asking price. Treat yourself.

Also, Manchester, Leeds and Winchester are now sold out on the tour, and Sara Cox is still playing the single. We're still in the MTV2 chart (keep voting if you want) and life is sweet.


**UPDATE**

We've now set up a thing which means you can pre-order the single right now, rather than having to wait until next Monday (20th). Obviously you can still do that if you want, but this is an action you can take NOW.
The deal works like this:

"To pre-order ‘LONG LIVE THE QUEEN’ for digital download on 20/10

Text FRANK and send to 81088

Texts cost £1.50 plus standard text message cost. UK Only, unavailable to Virgin network subscribers. Texting a correct code is the users responsibility, check your text carefully before sending. Download is via PC/Mac on the specified release date to the URL you receive in the reply SMS. For support or help e-mail support@indie-mobile.com or call 0845 0945 393"

Reflections on the Non-Revolution in America..

..Or something. Three blog posts in three days? I ask you. I'll be saying something meaningful next. Anyways, there are real live reasons for me posting again, which I'll get to, but it strikes me that some musings might be fun in the meantime..

It's an interesting time to be traveling through America, and more interesting still to have traveled through California and the liberal coasts via the conservative heartlands. My first observation would be that people talk about the forthcoming election a lot less here than they do in the UK, which is worrying. Obviously, given that my social milieu out here is punk rock, I tend to be in the company of Obama supporters more often than McCain-ites. The case against McCain and Palin is pretty obvious - Palin in particular, representing a total failure of feminism as a concept, as she does. However, devil's advocate ever, can we all just fucking chill out about Barack for a minute please? Repeat after me: The man is a POLITICIAN. He's been one for some time. He is not the fucking second coming, and he is not going to save America. He is probably the lesser of two evils. Hooray. But the near-messianic fervour surrounding the man out here is positively creepy. He's applying for a job, dammit, stop kissing his arse. More than anything it reminds me of people's regard for Tony Blair in 1996. But much, much more so. Look how that one turned out. I predict mass disillusion on the American left within two years.

Right, to business.

• Apparently I got the US release date confused, at least as far as iTunes goes. It is coming, never fear. And for all the people asking, the US-only bonus tracks are Thatcher Fucked The Kids and a live version of The Real Damage.
  
• Does anyone have any decent footage of my performance at Reading festival 2008? If so, please get in touch.
  
• I did a video with Chris T-T.
  

Bye!

I Will Save America

Look at this, short sharp updates coming atcha, one by one, like a shark with knees... Anyway. Just briefly, for all my American friends... Love Ire & Song comes out in the USA officially today, you can pick it up on iTunes or through the good folks at Arbor Records. The record features all the English songs and 2 US-only bonus tracks as well. Tell all your friends!

The Gathering Storm...

The Winchester show on the tour has now sold out, and I may well have another few to announce before the end of the day (certainly week). Get your tickets while they're hot! Long Live The Queen is still at Number 4 in the MTV2 Myspace chart, and you can join a facebook group promoting the single here. Finally, the good Ms Sara Cox should be playing the single at 12.40pm tomorrow on BBC Radio 1. I'm having a good day.