Musician Frank Turner

22nd September 2020

This week guest host Jordan Morris talks to musician Frank Turner, former frontman of the hardcore band Million Dead. Frank talks to Jordan about his new split album with punk legends NOFX, West Coast vs Wessex, the communal experience of singing around an acoustic guitar, and how The Clash inspired him to make a big life decision as a young man. Plus Frank tells us about the coolest thing an 11-year old can order from a catalog. All that and more on the next Bullseye!

Episode notes

Photo Credit  Simone Joyner/Getty Images

Frank Turner on his new album with punk band NOFX, West Coast vs Wessex

Frank Turner is a British singer and songwriter. You could probably call the kind of music he makes folk rock. Or maybe post-new wave folk. Or even indie country. His sound varies from album to album, but always with strong pop sensibilities. But Frank’s music wasn’t always so mellow. He spent the early aughts as frontman for the hardcore band, Million Dead. When the band called it quits in 2005, Frank went solo. Since then he has been writing and performing music that is decidedly different from that of his former band. Instead of Black Flag and The Rites of Spring, he started writing music that sounded more like The Clash, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.

His newest album, West Coast vs Wessex, is a musical marriage of sorts. It’s a split album of cover songs with the legendary punk band NOFX. Frank covers five songs of NOFX’s, and they cover five of his. The album is in the spirit of the underground punk and DIY scene’s tradition of making split albums – common in the 80s and 90s. Among the album’s best tracks is Frank’s cover of NOFX’s 1997 song, Eat the Meek, where he takes what was an upbeat reggae rag and transforms it into an energetic, bass and drum driven anthem.

Frank talks to guest host Jordan Morris about his new album with punk legends NOFX, the communal experience of singing around an acoustic guitar, and how The Clash inspired him to make a big life decision as a young man. Plus, Frank tells us about the coolest thing an 11-year old can order from a catalog!

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

  • Frank Turner

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

If you would like to pitch a guest for Bullseye, please CLICK HERE. You can also follow Bullseye on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. For more about Bullseye and to see a list of stations that carry it, please click here.

Get in touch with the show

People

Senior Producer

Producer

Maximum Fun Producer

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

How to listen

Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!

Share this show

New? Start here...

Liked Musician Frank Turner? Listen to these next...

26th March 2024

22nd March 2024

19th March 2024

15th March 2024

12th March 2024