Frank Turner laughed off his label’s plot to have him collaborate with Taylor Swift as a “fucking rubbish idea.”
Turner will launch sixth album Positive Songs For Negative People on August 6, produced by Butch Walker. It includes Silent Key, a song about schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Turner tells the NME: “I wanted the end to be sung by an American woman pretending to be Christa. The record label were suggesting some of the more famous people that Butch has worked with, like, fucking Taylor Swift.
“No contact was ever made but they were like, ‘Let’s ask Taylor’. I was like, ‘That’s a fucking rubbish idea’.”
Singer-songwriter Esme Patterson was eventually hired to sing the part. Turner has tour dates booked until next March, with UK appearances over the summer and in November:
Jun 22: Zagreb InMusic Festival, Croatia
Jun 23: Milan Circolo Magnolia, Italy
Jun 25: St Gallen Open Air, Switzerland
Jun 27: Glastonbury Festival, UK
Jun 27: West Meon Moenfest, UK
Jul 17: Suffolk Latitude Festival, UK
Jul 18: Costa Benicassim Festival, Spain
Jul 31: Cambridge Folk Festival, UK
Aug 28: Reading Festival, UK
Aug 28: Leeds Festival, UK
Sep 04: Konstanz Rock AM See Festival, Germany
Sep 19: Pittsburgh Mr Smalls, PA
Sep 20: Toronto Riot Fest, Canada
Sep 22: Syracuse Lost Horizon, NY
Sep 23: Burlington Higher Ground, VT
Sep 25: Boston House Of Blues, MA
Sep 26: Boston House Of Blues, MA
Sep 28: New York Irving Plaza, NY
Sep 29: New York Irving Plaza, NY
Sep 30: New York Irving Plaza, NY
Oct 02: Philadelphia The Fillmore, PA
Oct 03: Baltimore Rams Head Live, MD
Oct 04: Washington 930 Club, DC
Oct 06: Chicago House Of Blues, IL
Oct 07: Minneapolis Varsity Theater, MN
Oct 09: Denver Ogden Theatre, CO
Oct 10: Boulder Theater, CO
Oct 12: Salt lake City Urban Lounge, UT
Oct 13: Boise Knitting Factory, ID
Oct 15: Seattle Neptune, WA
Oct 16: Spokane Knitting Factory, WA
Oct 17: Portland Roseland Theatre, OR
Oct 19: Sacramento Ace Of Spades, CA
Oct 20: San Francisco The Fillmore, CA
Oct 22: Los Angeles The Mayan, CA
Oct 23: San Diego House Of Blues, CA
Oct 24: Anaheim House Of Blues, CA
Oct 25: Phoenix The Press Room, AZ
Oct 27: Austin Emo’s, TX
Oct 28: Dallas House Of Blues, TX
Oct 29: Houston House Of Blues, TX
Nov 05: Llandudno Venue Cyrmru, UK
Nov 06: Southampton O2 Guildhall, UK
Nov 09: Falmouth Princess Pavilion, UK
Nov 13: Glasgow Barrowland, UK
Nov 14: Newcastle University, UK
Nov 15: Nottingham Rock City, UK
Nov 18: Birmingham O2 Academy, UK
Nov 19: Sheffield O2 Academy, UK
Nov 21: Bristol Colston Hall, UK
Nov 23: Manchester Academy, UK
Nov 26: London Alexandra Palace, UK
Mar 18: Salty Dog Cruise, FL