We last saw Frank Turner when he descended upon The Cavern in Exeter to play a solo show during Independent Venue Week which was a tremendous event and so good to see him back at venues like this that played host t him and his many visits throughout the past years. We managed to steal a few words with him at the bar as he threw a shot of tequila down his neck prior to swiftly exiting the venue and heading back to his hotel to try and manage a few hours of sleep prior to a gruelling trip back to London where he would board a flight to Germany to meet up with The Sleeping Souls and continue the dates in the country. As he left us, he said that he looked forward to being back in Exeter in March where he was going to play The Lemongrove as part of his UK solo tour, last words indeed!

Fast forward a couple of months and with the arrival of the Corona Virus, the UK was forced into ‘lockdown’ preventing any social gatherings and events from taking place and you only being allowed out of your abodes for shopping, essential trips to tend for dependents and an hour of exercise per day, things changed, quickly!

We heard that Frank was due to release a live album which captured the mood from a tour of UK venues he did in late 2019 where he and his band played a stripped back acoustic, seated set to a seated audience, a far cry from the usual raucous behaviour seen at a standard FT & TSS show…..

We were offered a chance to chat to Frank and during the 14 minutes we had, we managed to cram in all of the following topics;

• His new ‘Live in Newcastle’ album

• Why it features no tracks from ‘No Mans Land’

• Why it took him so long to put out an official ‘live’ release

• The process of re-imagining some of the more ‘lively’ tracks on the setlist

• How he and his family (wife and cat) are coping during these very testing times

• His fundraising lockdown shows for independent venues throughout the UK

• His favourite live album

• His first ever live show that he attended as a punter

• The rescheduling of Lost Evenings IV

• The rescheduling of his cancelled solo shows (March 2020)

Hit ‘play’ on the widget thingy below to hear the full 15 minute audio interview.