Frank Turner discusses 'upbeat' new material for next abum

Frank Turner has spoken out about what fans can expect from his new material - adding that it will be more upbeat, a message to 'judgemental c***s' and will be released around February 2015. 

The punk-folk hero has just dropped an album with hardcore side-project, Mongol Horde, but has promised that progress is well underway on his next solo record.

"With Tape Deck Heart, I'm just at a point where I can get a bit of hindsight on that record," he said. "It's a strange beast and it's a lot darker than I thought it was when I was writing it. A lot of people were like 'fuck me dude, are you really going to say that on the record?' and I was like 'yeah' but now it's quite surprising. It's definitely a record that I needed to make, on a creative as well as a personal level.

"In the future, I suspect that it will be seen as a transitional record of a kind. I'm writing quite upbeat songs at the moment, by my standards anyway - they're still about the long dark night of the soul."

When asked what had inspired his slightly brighter outlook, Turner told us that it was in pride and defiance against critics - especially after outlets like The Guardian attacked his Libertarian outlook in recent years.  

"It's not so much to do with career stuff, but just to do with that fact that I was in quite a shitty place and I managed to pull myself out of it and I feel good about that," said Turner. "There's a deree of defiance as well because I think one of the things was that while we were recording the last album, I had my moment of getting a kicking in the press and copped an awful lot of shit from an awful lot of arseholes."

He continued: "Something I'm quite proud of is that I really stood my ground on it. I didn't back down and kiss anybody's boots or apologise for who I am. I just went 'you know what, fuck yourself'. Interestingly, I've had a couple of people who gave me shit at the time acknowledge me for that. It's defiance I suppose, and that is what punk rock was supposed to be about. Fuck you, this is me, and if you don't like it go fuck yourself.

"That's what went down with all of that Guardian shit, punk was my response. Fuck off you stupid, ignorant, judgemental c***s. I wanted to write some songs about standing your ground and fucking everyone else."

When asked when to expect the next album, Turner replied: "February, I'll put money on it. There'll be 18 month world tour starting in January. We're going to destroy the world in bitesize chunks."