Frank Turner Tickets

Frank Turner was born in Muharraq, Bahrain, in late 1981. He started playing in bands aged about 12 after he got into Iron Maiden because he thought the posters were cool. When it became apparent that the music also rocked face, he got a guitar and started nerding away. His teenage years were a typically embarrassing catalogue of musical errors, but he did play in some bands that some other people cared about. First there was a school-based hardcore / emo outfit called Kneejerk, which came to an unceremonious end in around 2000.

After that Turner got involved in a punk band called Million Dead. They were around for four years, from 2001-2005, and in that time released two albums to 'critical acclaim' and 'underground success' (i.e. they weren't exactly U2). Nevertheless, they made a lot of friends and played a lot of shows, wrote a lot of songs and learnt an awful lot about playing music and making a living out of it. In the end the band decided it would be best to part ways before they fell out and while they still had a chance of being a wicked underground band that no one liked at the time a decade hence (see: Slint).

Whilst in Million Dead, Turner started to do some shows on his own - sometimes out of necessity, say for a radio session - and started rediscovering a lot of the music I grew up with, like the Counting Crows, Johnny Cash, Weezer and so on, as well as getting more and more into country and folk. He started out with folky versions of MD songs and graduated to his own compositions (often bits and pieces that were a little too light for the band). When the 'Deadz came to an end, it seemed like the logical thing to do to try his hand at playing these songs more publicly and more concertedly than before. He also didn't want to stop touring, so he kept going.

Thus the 'never-ending tour of everywhere' started in October 2005, and hasn't really stopped since. Turner shared stages with everyone from Getcape via Gabby Young to The Automatic, clocking up nearly 200 shows thus far, much of it done travelling on the train and sleeping on the floor. Releasewise, he kicked off with a split with his good friends Reuben, moved through to a CDEP ("Campfire Punkrock") in May, released through Xtra Mile Recordings, and even found time for a split with legendary US singer Jonah Matranga.

The next chapter began on 15 January 2007, when his debut album was released in the UK. Entitled "Sleep Is For The Week", it features 13 tracks of pure sex and has been favourably received by everyone from Drownedinsound to The Sun (which covers pretty much the entire world population). A full UK tour with backing band (comprising members of Oxford's Dive Dive) was followed by a first jaunt over to the States for SXSW and a tour with the legendary Jonah Matrangah. "The Real Damage" EP followed in early May, and the summer is all about festivals. See you there.

The second album, Love Ire & Song was released to further dancing in the streets on 31 March 2008. More touring followed, and then a ridiculous summer of festivals. Later, single "Long Live The Queen" raised a ton of cash for Breast Cancer Campaign and stormed the airwaves, while he was in American on the Revival Tour. 2008 finished with a Levellers tour and an early years compilation (The First Three Years), and 2009 starts with Gaslight Anthem and Anti-Flag across Europe, followed by more American shenanigans.