Frank Turner has let slip his future plans – including a duet on his upcoming sixth album and a punk record in the vein of Rancid.
As he prepares to appear on the Apollo Stage at Sonisphere today, Turner tells TeamRock Radio that he may even call Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem to help with his planned punk record.
He says: “I want to make a punk album like Rancid or the Gaslight Anthem maybe. Tom Petty is floating around my head. That kind of short and sharp sound.
“I could call Brian Fallon if I wanted to. I spent an entire year on tour with The Gaslight Anthem – they’re awesome people and I miss them, so maybe I should call them. We’ll see.
“There’s a song on the record which is written to be a duet, as it’s a conversation between a man and a woman, and some really exciting people are on the table and old friends I’d love to play with. I’ve definitely said too much.”
Turner’s band Mongol Horde is heavier than his solo work – but despite the warm reception the band has received, he admits it is not his priority and that he isn’t as professional over that work as he is when in solo mode.
He says: “Mongol Horde is the side-project I do with my friends; it’s not my primary focus with my time. We found two weeks in my year when we could do it. We dropped the album and the video and the tour in a short period of time.
“For the Mongol Horde tour I was basically drunk for the entire tour, just chain smoking and staying up all night – none of which I normally do on tour, so now I’m back in professional mode again. There are more people here today than at all the Mongol Horde shows put together so I have a duty to put on the best show I possibly can rather than fall around drunk.”
Today’s punk scene is very different to that which inspired a young Turner. He reflects: “Punk rock belongs in a front room with a fucking bed pushed up against the wall and a drum and vocals going through the stereo and a lookout for the cops.
“I grew up going to shows like that and I haven’t been to any for years, until recently. I’ve got some friends down in Peckham who are putting on house shows and I’ve been going to those.”
