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Frank Turner announces new album and tour dates

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 30 January 2018

Frank Turner has announced that he will release his seventh solo album, ‘Be More Kind’, on 4 May.

“I wanted to try and get out of my comfort zone and do something different”, says Turner of the new LP. “Somewhere in the record, there’s a convergence of the ideas of personal and political, which is a central theme of the album”.

A particular topic in the lyrics is empathy with your enemies, he adds: “You should at least be able to inhabit the mental universe of the people you disagree with. If you can’t do that, then how do you communicate with people other than through force of arms, which is something we all agree is a bad idea”.

That said, the first track released from the album finds him in staunch opposition to the claim that the alt right movement is somehow punk rock. “That filled me with a mixture of incredulity and anger”, he says. “The idea that Breitbart or Steve Bannon think they have anything to do with punk rock makes me extremely angry. These ideas are surfacing again that collectively as a species we’ve already shot down”.

Have a listen to ‘1933’ here;

Turner will also be touring in support of the album, starting in April. Tickets go on sale on Friday, here are the dates:

13 Apr: Manchester, Academy
15 Apr: Dublin, Academy
18 Apr: Belfast, Limelight
20 Apr: Aberdeen, The Garage
21 Apr: Edinburgh, Liquid Room
22 Apr: Newcastle, Academy
24 Apr: Sheffield, Academy
25 Apr: Liverpool, Academy
27 Apr: Bristol, Academy
28 Apr: Exeter, Great Hall
30 Apr: Cambridge, Corn Exchange
1 May: Southampton, Guildhall
2 May: Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
4 May: Leicester, Academy
5 May: Oxford, Academy
8 May: Hull, City Hall
9 May: Norwich, UEA