Words and interview by: Kyra Jade
Coming up very soon in May, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls will be joining long time buddies Bowling For Soup on their Bowl Your Bones Australian Tour. Frank Turner graciously jumped on to chat with HEAVY MAG before making the long journey to our shores!
Luckily this isn’t Frank’s first time visiting us, he's played some great shows and festivals in Australia over the years. We spoke about playing the iconic Byron Bay Bluesfest in particular taking a moment to reminisce on what it was like and being a part of the artist community. According to Frank the news about Bluesfest collapsing, AKA another tombstone added to Australia's 'festival graveyard', has been shared and felt all around the world. It’s nice to hear that our little Byron Bay festival had such a positive impact on international visitors and I hope one day we can fill those shoes again with a new music haven.
This particular interview was so much fun to research. When looking up what Frank Turner has been up to, I was hit with some crazy stats. Things like casually travelling to 50 states in 50 days in the US, 15 cities played in 24-hours and 24 shows in 24-hours in London. Along with having his own annual festival Lost Evenings that’s a force in itself and massive accomplishment, he’s also checked off playing Wembley and Alexandra Palace to an enormous amount of adoring fans.
What I was most impressed about was finding out that Frank actively donates his time and fundraise for charities close to his heart like protecting grass root venues, mental and community health support and taking on a massive project to restore housing in Sierra Leone after being destroyed by floods. Yeah I know, I’m wondering what the fuck I’ve been doing with my life too. Remind me never to play two truths and a lie with this guy! All jokes aside, Frank is an amazing person. It’s very rare to see people put their money where their mouth is and I have huge respect for the work he’s done.
There’s plenty of Easter Eggs in the full interview, you’ll just have to watch it yourself to find them. Yes, I left my stuttering ass in there because although I’m an embarrassment to myself; I’m only human. I get nervous and sometimes can’t get my words out but it’s important to be real in a world where people only want you to see them through their ‘curated lens of perfection.’ Luckily this time I had Frank Turner sitting there with a kind smile on his face while casually rocking his bath robe. Dress for the job you want, right?! Genius. I took a leaf out of his book, if he’s giving off the ‘zero fucks’ chill vibe, then I am too.
Humans aren’t perfect and we should all be a little kinder to ourselves.
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