Chicken Soup For The Folk-Punks Soul

Chicken soup for the Folk-Punks soul
Matt Winters


In this day and age it is rare to hear anyone to come out and say exactly what they mean. This is particularly rare in the arena of rock stars. Lost in bad metaphors, story lines that make sci-fi novel seem easy to read, and, with many, a super-sized sense of entitlement, many bands lose what made them love music in the first place.

Frank Turner has been there. He was the leader of now defunct rock/hardcore act Million Dead, who in their brief tenure in the scene gained acclaim from legendary British DJ John Peel and made some headway into the states. Then they broke up and it was back to the pub for Frank Turner.

He quickly fired back with a two albums, an EP and a split with Jonah Mantranga (Ex- Far, onelinedrawing, Gratitude, New End Original) all in the space of three years. His newest album, 2008's "Love, Ire and Song," is by far the best of his material.

Starting off with the rousing "I Knew Prufrock Before He Was Famous," an ode to being a second string celebrity and trying to start something anew from the friends you trust in the scene and ending with "The Ballad of Me And My Friends" a quick folk song about failing with grace, recorded live with a chorus shouting the final lines "We are definitely going to hell/But we will have the best stories to tell," and covering in between topics like failed love, failed life, alcohol and friends.

It sounds like depressing fare, but in reality it is all told by a forceful, yet honest storyteller all with the charm of small pub on a rainy night. "Love, Ire and Song" is exactly what modern music should be: quick, thoughtful and spoken from the heart of experience.

Originally Published in The WSU Signpost 10/3/08