www.frank-turner.com

Isabel Video / T In The Park

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:15:00 +0000

I have, you'll be ecstatic to hear, just about recovered from my lurgy. Still a little creaky on the voice, but I can feel that I'm pretty much over the worst of it. Apologies again to the Motor City, I will be back when I can.

Today I am pleased to announce that, on Sunday 11th July, I will be playing at T In The Park festival in Scotland. This is one I haven't done yet, and that I had to pull last year because of the whole Offspring debacle, so it's great to have it in the diary again. See you there!

Also, we finally have the video for "Isabel" finished and ready to go. The single is released in the UK on April 12th.

Detroit Apology

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck, fuck (have I broken your spam filter yet?) fuck. If there's one thing in this universe I fucking hate, that drives me to utter fucking despair, it's canceling shows. Alas, after a few days of feeling under the weather, last night's show in Cleveland was a really painful strain on me and my voice. I woke up this morning not feeling much better, and it's been decided that we're going to pull tonight's show at The Filmore in Detroit.

I want to apologize to everyone who had tickets to see me play, and to Flogging Molly and The Architects. I fucking suck. I think I have some kind of viral infection. Hopefully this way I can keep all the other shows in the diary on the books. I'll do my best to book a make-up show in Detroit over the summer. Sorry.

Blog Fever

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:19:00 +0000

The psychosis of being ill is starting to do my head in, to the extent that I'm blogging again today, ye gods. Actually, I'm not really feverish any more, it just feels like I have a fucking Nazi in my throat. No fun, when you're on tour. To compensate, tonight is the big night: "Hello Cleveland!" It's a big moment in any young boy's life.

News about singles! The video for "Isabel" is done and dusted, and will be premiering on Monday over at Paste Magazine. I'll post the direct link when I have it. The song has also been chosen to be XFM's Single Of The Week next week. This is great in and of itself, but if you guys felt minded to email or text the station and let them know how appreciative you are, that always goes down a storm. Many thanks.

More international shows! I'm pleased as punch to say that I'll be appearing at the Calgary Folk Festival this year, which runs July 22nd-25th. More details soon. And on my way home from Australia, it only seemed fair to put in some shows in New Zealand - 4th May in Auckland, 5th May in Wellington. Another country to add to my list, I'm excited about coming over. There are also a bunch more festival dates for the summer to be announced soon, all over the world, so watch this space.

Finally, for the shoppers among you, we've been streamlining my online store. You can check it here: www.frankturnerstore.com. Happy shopping. Oh, and my friends Paul and Sophia just had their second kid, Dmitri, today. Congratulations guys!

Pittsburgh Sickbay

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:23:00 +0000

Ah, being ill on tour, my favourite fucking thing in the world. I'm in Pittsburgh right now, played an awesome house show last night, but it seems like I've got a fever of some kind. I guess the upside is that crazy dreams and feverish imaginings have helped me break through some logjams on lyrics for new songs, haha. Ah well. Today we hit Ohio. Tomorrow I get to say "Hello Cleveland" with a straight face to a couple of thousand people. Sweet.

A great bit of news for you. I can confirm that I will be headlining Wood Festival this year, on Sunday 23rd May. It's a great little folk festival, run by the people behind Truck. You can get tickets here. It;ll be a solo show. This is my first ever festival headline appearance, and I'm pleased as punch. See you there.

I Am Tarrant, Hear Me Roar

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:18:00 +0000

Good evening from the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, USA. Frank is out front selling merch and has made the mistake of leaving his laptop open in our backstage room. Naturally I have taken the opportunity to seize control of his online world. Think of the possibilities… And yet I can’t quite bring myself to indulge the orgy of comedic defamation that such an occasion seems to require. I must be getting old.

We’re 18 shows into our US tour with Flogging Molly and The Architects, and having had only one day off and average drives of 6 hours between shows, we’re starting to feel the burn. The last week has seen some great gigs though. We’ve played to over 10,000 people, did a crazy gig in a bowling alley (thank you Asbury Lanes), driven through 2 snow storms, played next to an alligator farm in South Carolina, visited Baltimore (we’re all big fans of The Wire), and got ill and then well again.

The big news this week is that we’ve announced a UK headline show at the Brixton Academy in London on 12th December, 2010 (you can get tickets here). It will be Frank’s biggest headline show to date and feels like it will mark real milestone - kind of nuts huh!

The London and Bristol shows on the UK tour starting next month have now sold out. Most of the other shows aren’t too far behind, so if you want to come along and witness my excellent bass playing and you haven’t got a ticket yet then go here. Frank and the rest of the band are OK too. I only have to carry them on a handful of the songs these days...

Tarrant (Frank’s bass player, naturally...)

Singing Drunken Lullabies

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:21:00 +0000

Good morning from North Carolina. I'm the first to wake (as usual) in our shared motel room, so I'm getting some work done early. The Flogging Molly tour is going swimmingly, we're making lots of new friends, the FM guys are great (and one hell of a live band), and we love the Architects boys as well. We're heading north up the coast right now, but thankfully the apocalyptic snow storms seem to be receding before us. Tonight we hit Myrtle Beach, and tomorrow we have another headliner in Richmond, VA. Good times.

I've just confirmed and announced a free instore show in New York City on March 2nd at 5pm sharp in Generation Records, before the show at the Hammerstein with Molly. Be there or be square.

A non-news-related musing, while I'm here (hey, this is a blog after all). Being on the Flogging Molly tour, we're in the midst of an Irish, or maybe Irish American, or even more broadly Celtic American, carnival of sorts. It's a lot of fun - the melodies, themes, and commitment to drinking that come with Irish culture and traditions are a hell of a blast, and I've been raising my Jameson at the merch stand every night shouting "And we'll never see the likes of you again!". But here's a thought for you. I'm English, and a small but vocal minority of people I speak to at the shows say things like: "I liked your set, even though you're English." Or: "Are you sure you're not Irish? Your music sounds Irish."

It's not a massive deal, but I'm not Irish, and, actually, my music sounds pretty English, I think. Case in point: the song "Sons Of Liberty" is based around a traditional English melody. Now, because of the culture of rebelliousness that brings Irish music and punk together so well, people are less inclined to know about English traditional music at these shows; which is fine, there's no reason they should know about it. But if you're unversed in the complexities of something, don't hold forth on it. And to address the first point, personally, I think that any kind of collectivist blanket labeling of individuals, by race, gender, class or whatever, is bullshit. Or to put it another way, I'm bored of lazy soft-liberal tolerance of some kinds of racism (anti-English), while the self-same people shout loud to condemn other kinds (anti-Irish). Even putting aside the fact that the war finished almost 90 years ago, and the fact that it has nothing to do with me personally, it's still a (mild) form of racism.

End rant. Like I say, I'm having a blast at these shows, Flogging Molly and their crowds are the best, and tonight I shall be an Englishman drinking Guinness.

Snow in Texas

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:33:00 +0000

Hello from the little town of Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Casey (my tour manager) and I survived the mammoth 25-hour drive from Santa Barbara to Austin TX in one piece, complete with rain in the desert, 3D leopard pictures (don't ask) and a brief sojourn at Jim Ward's house, to meet a tired band at the airport. An evening of settling in and fighting their jetlag was followed by an awesome headline show at Emos. The next day we met up with Flogging Molly and Architects in Dallas, and had great shows there and in Houston, making a lot of new friends along the way. Today we drove here from Houston, which took twice as long as it should have done because we hit a torrential blizzard. I'd been looking forward to sending smarmy emails back to my freezing countrymen about the balmy Texan weather. That'll show me. Tomorrow, Memphis, and we're hoping the snow isn't going to stop us from visiting Graceland en route.

Lots of big announcements about this, that and the other brewing at the moment, but for now, try this one on for size. On Friday 16th July I'll be headlining at 2000 Trees Festival. I'm really happy about this, partly because the people running the show are good friends, partly because of the fiasco last year (no repeat I promise), but mainly because it's my favourite smaller festival and just a great time all round. The line-up for my day is also going to be awesome, though I don't think I'm allowed to issue details just yet. Tickets are onsale now. It's going to be a good summer.

Selling Out For Fun And Profit

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:27:00 +0000

Ah California. Some deep-rooted post-colonial grudge makes me loathe to admit it, but this really is an idyllic part of the world. To have breakfast on the edge of the beach in the sunshine in February (in the northern hemisphere to boot) is a luxury. So it's nice to spend a few days here, not least considering I was in Dalston the other day, in the post-snow sludge. Contrasts, contrasts.

I've been running around doing press, sorting out tour logistics, shooting a new video (for Isabel, since you ask, which will be the next single, in March), that kind of thing. The video shoot ended up with me ankle-deep in the sea in pitch darkness singing into a flashlight. Which was interesting. The show last night at Hotel Cafe was a blast as well. Tonight is Riverside. Looking forward to it.

News on the DVD. The good folks at Xtra Mile Recordings are currently running a pre-order offer on it that will get the DVD to your door 2 weeks before the official release date. More information can be found here. There are also a very limited number of the print posters from Union Chapel for sale as well. Check it out.

Lastly, for today, the news that the London Roundhouse show (March 24th) has now officially sold out. Most of the rest of the UK tour looks set to follow suite in the next few weeks. I'm kind of running out of hyperbole when it comes to playing bigger shows than I ever expected to play, but at the same time I don't want to come across as complacent about the madness of it all. So let's just say "gosh". See you there.

DVD News

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:55:00 +0000

The wonders of modern technology, eh? I'm sat in a (very uncomfortable, actually) seat on train snaking its way along the shores of Lake Ontario in the snow, which is pretty cool. The lake is almost unimaginably huge. I'm on my way to Montreal for one night, and thence to Los Angeles for fun, games and decadence (I'd imagine). Toronto was a blast, four very cool shows in total, lots of new friends made, too much Jagermeister drunk. To paraphrase Radiohead, I do it to myself, I do, and it really hurts when I do too much. Ah well.

I'm also going to take this moment for a quick shout-out to my friend Michael, with whom I've been staying. Michael is a friend of a tenuous friend, but he's consistently put me up and looked after me in Toronto and is an all round diamond geezer. So, thanks and kudos to him. But more to the point, the man is representative right now of all the people who put me up around the world. They are many, they are good people, and they know who they are, but they enable me to do what I do with my sanity in tact. They puncture my fashionable haze of misanthropy with their warmth and generosity. So, thanks guys.

To business! First of all, my very good friends Look Mexico have a new album coming, and it features yours truly guesting on a song, which was an honour - they fucking rule. It's also out as a 7 inch, and you can find out more / preorder the thing right here. Comes highly recommended.

Finally, DVD news! It's been a few years since we did the first DVD, and it feels like the time is ripe for another. So, we've been collecting material in the last few months, and I'm pleased to say that Take To The Road will be released in March. Full details of the release can be found in next month's Rock Sound magazine. Just to whet your appetites a little more, here's a taster...

Extra Shows

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:49:00 +0000

I'm at home in Winchester right now, but I'm surrounded by the weird aftermath of packing - everything was chaos an hour ago or so, but now it's all been condensed into two bags and a guitar. I'm leaving here for 4 months today, and I'm pretty sure I have everything. I mean, I have some practice at this now, right? Anyways. I'm sure I'll forget something crucial, but such is life.

I've got some big news coming for Monday, but for today, here's a heads up about a few extra shows I've been adding to tours here and there.

24th February @ Asbury Lanes, Asbury, NJ, USA. This is a full band headline show, with The Architects and Dave Hause (from the Loved Ones). Should be awesome. Tickets here.
7th March @ Mac's Bar, Lansing, MI, USA. Another full band headliner. Tickets here.
8th April @ La Peniche Du Pianiste, Lille, France. Headline full band show, an addition to the European tour. Ticket link coming soon.

Speaking of the European Tour, I'm pleased to say that the good folks in Crazy Arm will be coming with us, which is good news for you, Europe.

Right, to the airport.

Long Roads

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:37:00 +0000

Just a quick stop-off update about shows selling out or getting close to, which is my favourite kind of quick stop-off update, if someone were to force me to choose. Firstly, the show in Los Angeles on 2nd February at Hotel Cafe has sold out of advance tickets. Apparently there will be a handful available on the door if you get down early, but there's no further way of reserving them. While this is a shame for some, it makes me want to say "Hell Yeah!" and punch my fist in the air like the guy at the end of the Breakfast Club.

In similar news, I remain slightly gob-smacked to report that the London Roundhouse show on 24th March essentially sold out on Friday. As it goes the powers that be have decided to release a further 350 ish tickets, but you can now only purchase them direct from the venue, by following this link. Once they're gone, that's it. It's already the biggest show I've booked. Scary times. Incidentally, while London is leading the way, the rest of the shows for the UK tour are all doing swift business as well, so you might want to get your tickets sooner rather than later, if you're, y'know, currently playing the waiting game or whatever.

Finally, just a quick aside about postcards from the last UK tour. A number of people have got in touch with me to say they never received the cards. Basically, we definitely posted all the cards people bought the next day. The problem, I suspect, was that we did this in the middle of the postal strike last year. Some people have gone on to say they've received them recently (in what can only be described as a damning verdict on our postal service), so I guess there is hope, but if there are people who don't ever see them, well, I want to apologize. Sorry people.

Is this the best thing on the net right now? Probably. I'm going to keep practicing for Kingston and packing for the other side of the Atlantic.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:53:00 +0000

2010, a new decade, blah blah blah, Christ, our collective cultural bed-wetting at what is, essentially, the milometer ticking over two columns at once is pretty damning. Humbug. Anyways, it's good to be back in the saddle, well rested and ready to take on the world in the new year / decade / whatever. Lots to talk about today, so let's get cracking.

First of all, I'm pleased to say that American denizens of the internet can now buy my merch online from the good people at Kings Road. The store can be found here. Even better news is the fact that, to celebrate the launch, we've finally got the first pressing of Love Ire & Song on Vinyl! Yes! 2 colours (black and red), 1000 pressed to start off with, so get them while they're hot. We have plans to get everything else done soon enough as well. Good times.

Speaking of the North American landmass, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be returning to Montreal on January 28th for a solo show at Chez Baptiste. More details of supports and ticket links to follow shortly.

Another one-off show for you. My very good old friends at Banquet Records have had some problems of late with their regular (and excellent) club night, New Slang. They've now moved to a new venue (the Hippodrome), and I'll be playing a show there on January 21st. Tickets are £5 and onsale now from this link, and going fast.

Next up. One of my favourite discoveries of recent years has been The Dawn Chorus, an excellent country band from the Portsmouth area. Last summer I went down to the studio to sing on a song of theirs, "Carnivalesque". You can now vote that song up on BBC 6 Music's Rebel Playlist, right over here. Check the song out on their myspace and show them some love.

Finally, the European headline full-band tour in March / April this year has now been unveiled in all its glory. The full dates are:

28th March @ Exil, Zurich, Switzerland
29th March @ Universum, Stuttgart, Germany (Tickets)
30th March @ Raucherkammer, Wiesbaden, Germany (Tickets)
31st March @ Zakk, Dusseldorf, Germany (Tickets)
1st April @ Uebel & Gafahrlich, Hamburg, Germany (Tickets)
3rd April @ Lagerhaus, Bremen, Germany (Tickets)
4th April @ AB Club, Brussels, Belgium (Tickets)
6th April @ Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands
7th April @ Vera, Groningen, Netherlands
9th April @ Boule Noire, Paris, France

More details, including full ticket links and tour support acts, to follow as soon as possible. For those who we're missing this time round, we'll be back in Europe in the summer and then again later in the year. And just to round things off nicely, here's the final installment of the tour diary from last time I was out on the continent:

New Year's Eve

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:32:00 +0000

I'm back in Winchester, and the year is officially done for me. I went out in style, typically, with a totally insane race against time to make the Union Chapel show, after the weather destroyed pretty much all cross-channel links. In a weird way, it seemed kind of appropriate, to have a heart-attack of a day followed by an amazing show. Hm.

My last actual show of the year will be in Gloucester on New Year's Eve. There are still some tickets left, which you can get from here. It's a full band show, an end of year party, and a champagne hangover-to-be, all rolled into one. See you there.

And here's part II of the European Tour Diary. Happy Christmas.

Journal Of A Plague Week

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000

We're back in Munich, on a day off, after what can best be described as an eventful trip to Austria. After amazing shows in Berlin and Munich, we made it to Vienna, which was beautiful but mind-crushingly cold. At last, we'd found the snow, and the moon boots and longjohns that we'd all brought with us came in handy. Whilst ample protection for the cold, they could not, however, prevent an outbreak of Ebola (sic) among the band and crew. After a great show, a massive total of 5 (from 8) members of the touring party came down with a virus that meant a lot of violent retching, shitting, and quality time in the toilet. Not at all nice. Thankfully I was spared (though I was constantly paranoid about the state of my guts). Yesterday for the Graz show, after much considering of options, Matt and I drove across with the promoter, Silvio, and played a duo show, which actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Now everyone is tired but on the mend, and we seem to have weathered the storm. Still, no fun.

News, news, and more news of shows. Firstly, this year, the band and I will be celebrating New Year's Eve with a show in Gloucester, at the Spiegeltent. The extremely limited tickets are available now, so if you're up for a champagne-fuelled end-of-year shindig, come on down.

Next, to the North American landmass! I'm very pleased to say that I'll be returning to Toronto to kick off 2010. I'll be busy around the town a fair bit for a few days, but chiefly I'm playing a free show at the Horseshoe Tavern on January 26th. I had a great time last time I was in that neck of the woods, and am hoping for a rerun.

After Canada, I'll be in Los Angeles, where I'm playing a solo acoustic showcase type show at the famous Hotel Cafe at 9.30pm on February 2nd. Again, limited tickets are available now, and hopefully we'll have a great evening together.

Shortly thereafter, and just before the Flogging Molly tour kicks off, my band and I will be playing a special warm-up show for that tour in my favourite town, Austin TX. We're playing Emo's on February 8th, and I'm over the moon to say that the amazing Possessed By Paul James will be playing too. Tickets for this one can be found here.

Christ, is that enough info for you yet? Haha. To keep you all happy, and to give you an insight into the madness and stupidity of the current European tour, here's a first installment of a tour diary for you.

Die Deutschemonsterblog!

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Molotow Club in Germany is a cool basement-type place on the Reeperbahn. We're soundchecking as I write. This place is cool, but with ll 300 tickets sold for tonight, looking around, I;m finding it hard to see exactly where all the people are going to go. It's going to be tight. Chuck Ragan warned me that this was one of the hottest shows going, and I think I can see why. Hm, a night for sweating some then.

My Helsinki-Manchester-Copenhagen adventure went off OK, although I managed to gather a massive total of 4 hours' sleep over two nights, which wasn't much fun. Nevertheless the shows themselves were all top notch. Now we're back in Germany again, which brings me to today's business. Lots of stuff to get through.

First up, Germany. This has been my first headline tour here, and I'm frankly gobsmacked to report that the whole thing has been sold out. The shows have all been amazing, and I and everyone in the band are now fully engaged in a love affair with Germany. So the good news is that I have 5 more German shows announced for next year:

29th March @ Universum, Stuttgart, Germany
30th March @ Raucherkammer, Wiesbaden, Germany
31st March @ Zakk, Dusseldorf, Germany
1st April @ Uebel & Gafahrlich, Hamburg, Germany
3rd April @ Lagerhaus, Bremen, Germany

The tickets will be onsale on Monday, and I'll post links then. We also have a bunch more European shows coming together around that run, but more on them later.

Speaking of tours, the UK run in March is selling insanely well right now. The Norwich show on March 22nd at the Waterfront has now sold out... So we've moved the show up to the UEA instead. All tickets still valid, obviously, but there's a whole bunch more now onsale. The other shows are getting busy too, with London about two-thirds sold already, which is, actually, barmy. Get involved.

Next up, this week's NME Magazine features an article - a conversation between me and Peter Robinson. It came out pretty good, I think, and it's my first non-review coverage in that magazine, so it'd be good to show some support and pick up a copy. The voting for next year's NME Awards has also opened now, and you can go and vote here. Obviously the choice is yours, but a nod for yours truly would be great.

Finally (for today), we've added a bunch more stock to my online shop for the UK - we have most designs in most sizes now, and it's well worth a look in the run up to Christmas...! Haha, can't believe I actually just wrote that. Anyways, have a look.

I actually have a bunch of other stuff to announce for the USA and Canada, but that, my friends, is going to wait for another day (probably Monday). Peace, love and George Carlin to you all.

Scandinavian Pause

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:45:00 +0000

I sit in a hotel room at the airport in Stockholm. Looking out of the window, it started getting dark at about 2pm. Added to that fact, it's arse-bitingly cold out. It's nice to be back in Sweden, haha. Last time I was here, I got stranded in the city with The Gaslight Anthem boys for four days, and after much exploring decided I really like this place. The show last night was a blast, and I have an expensive hangover to enjoy today.

This European run of shows is going well. It's the first headline tour I've done on the continent, and it's the first full band tour as well. Amsterdam and Brussels were cool, Germany was insanely cool (sold out shows on my first headline tour..! What?). The rest of the run looks great as well - Hamburg and Paris are sold out, most of the others are close to going, and that's a predictably good feeling. Tomorrow we fly to Helsinki for a show (ferry schedules didn't work out, long story), and on Wednesday I'm flying to Manchester for the XFM Christmas bash, which is a tiny bit insane, but what the hell.

We had a band meeting yesterday to discuss the next year or so of our lives. I won't bore you with the details (yes, we are coming to a town near you soon, basically), but it was a thought-provoking evening. First of all, it really hammered home to me how far things have come along in the last few years. I regularly have discussions about international full-band touring, to the extent that after the next album is released (early 2011 hopefully) we're basically looking at a bona fide world tour. That's crazy. It also made me think about the band and crew - the family - I have around me. It's a little daunting, sometimes, asking these people to come with me on my jaunts around the world. It's fine when it's just me booking insane tour schedules, but when there's 7 other people involved, I feel a bit more... responsible, I suppose. But it also made me realize what a great bunch they are, and how lucky I am to tour with them. I try to give them a shout out onstage every night, and I know some people think it's overly long, but fuck that. They're hugely important to what I do. A toast, then, to Matt, Ben, Nigel, Tarrant, Barbs, Graham and Sarah.

I finished a new song yesterday, an overtly political number that is sure to piss a whole bunch of people off. But to hell with it; it's good to stand up for something you believe in every now and again. Watch this space.

Revival, Sin & Soul

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:22:00 +0000

I'm back in London, on my day off. Tomorrow is rehearsals, and the next day we leave for the European tour. Jet lag, coming this way, is a little easier to handle, in my experience, so I've been enjoying crisp winter weather, English newspapers and wandering through London town. I had a bit of a shock when I got to Tottenham Court Road. I played the last show at the Astoria, so was well aware of its passing, but in the time I've been away the actual building has been demolished, and it was only on seeing that that the reality set in. It felt like there was a chunk of the city missing, it was quite emotional in a way. But in the end cities are organic places, they grow and decay, and such is the passing of time. Still, a shame to see a gap in the skyline where once I saw what was, for me, the home of rock 'n' roll.

The Revival tour is done. It was a marathon rather than a sprint, but we made it to the end in good spirits, and the last few shows in Florida were exceptionally ace. New friends made, both at shows and on the bus, and a reminder that Chuck's concept of Revival is one of the best in music right now. Jon Snodgrass and I wrote a song together on the tour, and here it is for your enjoyment:

Finally, tickets for the Paris show on December 18th. If you want to reserve tickets for the show, the person you need to email is my old friend Cham, the promoter. Drop him a line about it. And see you there.

Our Kansas vs Arkansas

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:57:00 +0000

The Revival tour continues to chew up road across the United States. A week ago today we were in San Diego. That seems totally insane to me, it feels like half a lifetime has gone by since then. That's one of the best things about touring, I guess. Now in Arkansas, never been here before. Everyone's a little shady today, on account of having been in a recording studio until 6am last night / this morning. Joey Cape as left the tour, Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass have joined. I'm working on new songs pretty hard right now, this is such an inspirational environment. Things keep rolling forward.

Some quick mentions. My friend Ed is raising money for the Breast Cancer Campaign by growing crazy facial hair, and keeping a blog about it. Check it out, and maybe get involved. Secondly, here's a link to me playing on Beta TV in Los Angeles a little while back. Nice. I have a new favourite blog, which you can read here.

Finally, it's been my pleasure on a few of these Revival shows to be sharing the stage with new friend Konrad, also known as Possessed By Paul James. I can honestly say he bows me away more than almost anyone I've heard in years. Definitely worth checking him out, and I fully plan to bring him to the UK sometime soon.

That's me for today. Hello Little Rock!

Newcastle / The Horror

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. This is something that, in my humble opinion, should be celebrated a damn sight more than it currently is. The fall of the USSR was one of, if not the, most glorious events of the last century, the fall of an unspeakable tyranny. So, celebrate ye.

In other news, I'm pleased to announce that we've added a show in Newcastle to the March tour next year! March 15th 2010 will see me at Northumbria University to kick off the tour. Good times. That's the last addition for the tour, incidentally.

Speaking of UK tours, here's a tour video. Sorry about the, uh, well, you'll see.

UK Supports / Paris

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Two small but wonderful pieces of news, ha. Firstly, I'm very pleased to announce that the supports for my UK tour in March 2010 will be Chuck Ragan and Crazy Arm. Chuck is a legend, a peer and a friend. Crazy Arm are my new favourite band. It's going to be one hell of a tour.

Secondly, I've confirmed a show in Paris in December (finally!). The show will be at La Péniche Alternat on December 18th, along with Assorted Jellybeans. Ticket links when I have them. A bientot!

To The West!

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:21:00 +0000

I am very happy indeed to be able to announce that I am going to be back in the USA early next year, as the main support for Flogging Molly on their Green 17 Tour. Not only that, but for the first time I'll be bringing Ben, Nigel, Matt and Tarrant with me - yes, they will be full band shows! Very pleased. The dates:

9th February @ The House Of Blues, Dallas, TX, USA
10th February @ The House Of Blues, Houston, TX, USA
12th February @ Minglewood Hall, Memphis, TN, USA
13th February @ The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA, USA
14th February @ The Ritz Ybor, Tampa, FL, USA
16th February @ The House Of Blues, Orlando, FL, USA
18th February @ The Music Farm, Charleston, SC, USA
19th February @ The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC, USA
20th February @ The House Of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
22nd February @ The Norva, Norfolk, VA, USA
23rd February @ The Ram's Head, Baltimore, MD, USA
25th February @ The Webster Theatre, Hartford, CT, USA
26th February @ The Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA, USA
27th February @ The House Of Blues, Boston, MA, USA
2nd March @ The Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY, USA
4th March @ LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH, USA
5th March @ The House Of Blues, Cleveland, OH, USA
6th March @ The Fillmore, Detroit, MI, USA
8th March @ The Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN, USA
9th March @ Bogart's, Cincinnati, OH, USA
10th March @ The Pageant, St Louis, MO, USA
12th March @ The Eagles Club, Milwaukee, WI, USA
13th March @ The Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL, USA

Ticket details I'll post up as soon as I have them. Hooray. To celebrate, here's the official video for the next single, "Poetry Of The Deed":

Steinbeck Country

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:37:00 +0000

It always feels a little strange to fly in for a tour and then have a day off as the second day. A little anti-climactic, maybe. Having said that, I was an absolute zombie in Portland (fun show), and am in the middle of a battle of wills with a cold, so it's actually pretty good timing to have a day here where I can just chill out. The schedule for this tour is also pretty insane - no more days off until Florida! - so I need to be shipshape before we roll out. It's great to see Chuck again, Audra Mae and Jim Ward are fantastic, and I finally met Austin Lucas the other night, which was a pleasure.

Some points of business. Firstly, on 8th December I'll be playing at the XFM Winter Wonderland at the Manchester Academy, along with a host of other great bands. I'll be flying in from Helsinki and out to Copenhagen, so it'll be hectic, but a great show. More info, lineups and tickets can be found here.

Secondly, I recently recorded a cover of the song "Sally" by Kerbdog. They were one of my favourite bands growing up, and if you don't know them you should definitely check them out. Anyhoo, that song is being released on a CD called "Memoria: A Tribute To The Alternative 90's". There are loads of other cool people covering great songs on there - more info here. And you can order it from the good folks at Banquet Records too.

Finally, those of you in Germany (or I suppose anyone with a bent for international relations) can vote for The Road on Pop 10 Radio by following this link. Happy voting! As a thanks, here's a little video interview and session I did in Kingston this summer. Enjoy.

A Ship Passing In The Night

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:44:00 +0000

The UK tour is done. It was one hell of an experience, from where I was standing. Thanks again to Fake Problems, Beans On Toast, my band and crew, and of course everyone at the shows. We filmed Shepherd's Bush for a probably DVD release sometime next year (need to see how the sound and footage came out, but it was an incredible show, so should be fine). I enjoyed one day of freedom in England and am now in Atlanta, Georgia, on a 5 hour stop-over en route to Portland to join the Revival Tour. Feeling a little worn out today actually, but I have a hotel at the end of the journey and am fully planning on sleeping in a star-shape. Hello America.

A Million Different Things

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:22:00 +0000

I'll top and tail this manic post with some videos. Above is a little piece that Nigel, my drummer made. Bizarre. Anyways. The tour is going really well, as I'm hoping people who've been at the shows can attest. We had a day off in Oxford, which I unwisely used to spend some more quality time with my old friend Sambucca. Hm. The Nottingham show was mind-blowing. Tonight we're in Cambridge. There are, at time of writing, 15 tickets left for the entire tour (all in Plymouth). Thanks people!

Speaking of tours, the whole of the next UK tour (March) is now onsale, including the show at the Birmingham Academy (21st March). Insanely enough we've done about a quarter of the tickets for London already and we haven't even done Shepherd's Bush yet. You people are (delightfully) crazy. Tickets for the whole tour can be found here.

More stuff. The good people at Paper & Plastick Records, together with AP, are running a competition to win a test-pressing of the First Three Years vinyl. You can find out about it here. Next up, the good people at Epitaph made a little video about me and what I do. If you're here already you might not learn masses, but it's pretty sweet, so check it out.

At the risk of hastening the festive season already (before Halloween! Tch), it's coming round to end-of-year poll times. The people at Kerrang! have theirs up already and you can go vote. So, uh, do! And maybe even vote for me!

Finally, I love the guys in my band. They're integral to what I do, and they're excellent musicians to boot. To prove this, check this out, mofo's...

Feet On Firm Ground

noreply@blogger.com (frank) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:31:00 +0000

This morning finds me in Glasgow, at the QMU, for day 3 of the UK / Ireland tour (and the first mainland show). Dublin was intimate but awesome, Belfast was raucous and sold out. It feels great to be playing with my band again, and the size and reaction of the crowds has been humbling so far. Much of the rest of the tour is sold out. I'm doing my level best to keep my eyes open all the time and take it all in, savour it, enjoy it. We hve a tour bus for the tour as well (hilariously, we booked the cheapest shittiest one they had, and then because of Spandau Ballet fucking around their bus bookings we ended up with the plushest of the lot! Ha!). It takes an awful lot of the edges off touring. I've been on buses many times before, but this is the first time where it's for me, rather than me cotching on someone else's ride. I feel manly.

Last night, old friend Zane Lowe played 2 of 3 tracks from a session we did for him back in August. The third track is being played tonight. If you missed it, you can listen again on the BBC Radio One website. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Also, the good folks at Hurley.com had me do an acoustic session for them in Orange County last month, and they've been posting the tracks on their website. Check it out.

Right, I now have a million interviews to do. Onwards!