Frank Turner | Love Ire & SongEmpty Bottle Evenings

May102014May 10, 2014May 21, 20141 Commentby Bake

Frank Turner | Love Ire & Song

Posted in Music

What is it about British musicians that confuse Americans into thinking that they’re tough? Maybe its just the accent, but it sounds like every songwriter finishes up their 7^th pint at the pub, strolls down the street, and knocks out some guy for giving him a dirty look, before stumbling on stage and strumming away. Clearly not every English rocker is like this. Just look at Freddie Mercury. Or the fine gents in Duran Duran. Yikes. But some musicians hailing from the UK have…grit? Frank Turner, is no Rooster Cogburn, but on Love Ire & Song he makes singing the let downs from music, love, and getting older not sound so sappy like those silly ninny Americans do.

Alright I understand none of that makes any sense. But I’m guessing whatever most Americans can muster up as their representation of the British is ridiculous. So if thinking Frank Turner is a street fighting drunkard helps me enjoy his softer offerings then so be it. I thought if Turner had any grit it was from his supposed roots as a singer in punk band. But then I listened to Million Dead, and realized they were like a toned down British Thursday. They were a lot louder than Turner’s solo stuff, but post-hardcore isn’t exactly gritty. It’s whiny. And it doesn’t sound much like Punk.

I love Punk Rock. Kinda. I love some bands. At the very least I love some songs and like others. I appreciate the energy and admire the rawness, the… grit. But the thing I hate most about punk is the attitude that still persists, the whole self destructive non conformity bullshit. You don’t want to be or sound like everyone else because they all sound the same so you all end up creating a sub-culture that does the exact same bullshit. You act like a dick judging bands for not being punk enough and really shoot yourself in the foot by limiting your musical choices to one or two related genres. I’m not sure if anything Turner ever wrote truly qualifies as punk rock, and I’m not sure if he knows either, but you can’t say his songs are lacking in the real and the raw. From the title track on Love Ire and Song, he sings “But these days I sit at home, known to shout at my TV/ And Punk Rock didn’t live up to what I hoped that it could be/And all the things that I believed with all my heart when I was young/Are now coasters for beers and clean surfaces for drugs/And I packed all my pamphlets with my bibles at the back of the shelf.”

Is it possible that a man and an acoustic is the real no bullshit music that punk idealists crave for? There’s something to said for this with the still going folk-punk movement with recent bands like This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and Defiance Ohio, and current stalwarts Blackbird Raum. And then you have musicians like Chuck Ragan and Tim Barry, former punks now carrying the folk torch as well. Is folk music where punks go to mellow out before they die, or where they grow up and write better songs? I’m hoping people agree its the latter, because I think they’re creating some pretty awesome songs. Frank Turner approves: hey here’s him rocking out on stage with Ragan now!

After performing as a solo act (albeit with backing band the Sleeping Souls) for about a decade and releasing five studio albums it seems Turner has carved out himself a nice career. I’m a big fan of most of his work, but I think the thing that stands out the most about Love Ire & Song, is well nothing; thematically and musically they’re all about the same. I just really like this collection of songs. “Photosynthesis” tells nothing but the obvious truth that growing old sucks and we should fight it. By singing. And it’s pretty damn catchy. “Imperfect Tense” is a straightforward rocker about self destructive behavior, always a crowd pleaser. And “Love Live the Queen” always just tears me up. Nothing sadder than watching someone die in a hospital bed too young, and the person on the way out is the one comforting you. This song honestly brings me to tears. I have no grit. But I am comforted knowing that someone will be there to write songs about these tough moments. Whether it’s a punk song or a folk song, whether American or English, as long as they are this good. So just shut up and listen, sing with all your heart, the Queen is Dead.