I’m pleased, today. Not just because I’m in Germany, which is always nice – and the shows in Hamburg and Giessen were both great fun. Today I am mostly pleased because the album I made with my good friend Jon Snodgrass is now available for pre-order! Yay! To recap (for those not paying attention at the back), Jon and I wrote the 10-song album one day and recorded it the next earlier this year. The record is on 10″ vinyl and you can pre-order a copy right here – it’ll be shipped at the start of November. At the moment, it’s being pressed and released in the UK. We are looking to get a US release organized in the very near future, but for now you can get in at the link above. Exciting times!

In other release-related news, the EP recording went swimmingly. We’re just tweaking mixes now, and we’re on track for a late November release.

Next up, show news. We’ve added a headline show in Toronto, at the Horseshoe Tavern on October 22nd. I’m excited to be heading back there. That’s the last show addition for the fall run in North America. Speaking of which, both the DC and Minneapolis shows are now sold out. As, for that matter, is the Berlin show next week. Huzzah!

Finally, two bits of plugging for you. First of all, I was recently part of a photography project called “A-Z Of London Singer-Songwriters”, shot by Dylan Walker. The project is being exhibited at City Hall from September 28th to October 15th. Worth checking out, I think. Also, my friend Jon Spira (who shot the “Photosynthesis” video) has recently finished his documentary about the history of Oxford music, which features interviews with Nigel and others. You can view the trailer here. Enjoy.

I write from day 3 in the studio, in North London. We’re recording 5 new songs for an EP, to be released in late November. We’re working with the lovely Mr Tristan Ivemy (who mixed Love Ire & Song) and everything is going swimmingly. I’m really, really pleased with how the new material is sounding, and I hope you will be too when it hits the streets. For the record, the tracklisting for the EP will be: “I Still Believe”, “Pass It Along”, “To Absent Friends”, “Rock & Roll Romance” and “The Next Round”.

In other release news, I’m pleased to say that you can now pre-order the CentrePoint “Key To Change” album right here. It’s a charity covers compilation, featuring me and many others, and the proceeds go to young homeless people in London – a worthy cause, I’m sure you’ll agree. I contributed a cover of the classic Foundations tune, “Build Me Up Buttercup”. While we’re on the subject of releases, I’m pleased to say that my record with Jon Snodgrass is edging closer to the public domain – I should have more news on the release date very soon.

In show news, we have added a couple more shows to the Social Distortion run – a headline show in Albuquerque NM (October 12th) and a show with Lucero in New Haven CT (November 3rd). Check the gigs page for more information. That’s nearly it for added North American shows – though the people of Toronto should look out for an update in the next few days.

Finally, I have no idea if people really are using the Ping thing on iTunes 10 just yet, but I have myself an artist profile on there, and as of yet precisely zero “friends”. I’m crying myself to sleep every night, really. Come say hello?

I’m back in Winchester, after a great few days on the West Coast of the USA, and one in Dekalb IL. Good times were had by all. Right now I’m working on two different piles of new material: firstly, there’s the EP, which we’re recording next week in London. It will feature “I Still Believe” and 4 other new songs, and will be out on CD and vinyl at the end of November – watch this space for more information. Secondly, I’ve been thundering through new songs and demos for the new album, which I’ll be recording in January, for a release next spring. I’m feeling very positive about new songs right now, so it’s fun to be at the grindstone, tracking out new arrangements, swapping words around and so on.

A few pieces of business. First of all, merch for the UK. As many people noticed, when we inaugurated the new merch store last week (see below), there was a teething problem with delivery prices to the UK. This is because the warehouse is based in Germany. After much humming and haaing, here’s how it’s going to work. For the time being, UK customers can enter the promotional code “FTHC” to get a £5 discount on the (overpriced) shipping. This will stay in effect until we have properly sorted the situation. Apologies to anyone who got annoyed at all of this, we’re working to try and rectify things as fast as we can.

Next up, a new show and a new country as well, huzzah! On October 3rd I’ll be playing a solo show in Poznan, in Poland, at Meskalina. Tickets are on the door. Spread the word, and I’ll see you there for my first ever Polish show.

Speaking of shows, in the UK ticket sales for December are motoring along healthily. The shows in Sheffield and Aberdeen are nearly sold out now, and the London show isn’t too far behind either, so if you’re planning on coming down and don’t yet have a ticket, I’d do something about that sooner rather than later. Further afield, the Social Distortion shows in Asheville NC and Cleveland OH are also sold out. Incidentally, if you’re coming to one of those shows to see yours truly, you’d do well to get down to the show early as we’re first on.

Next up, something a little more serious. I’ve been in touch recently with a group called The Belarus Free Theatre Company. Belarus remains an oppressive communist dictatorship, under the aegis of President Alexander Lukashenko. All media is state owned, opposition parties are harrassed and intimidated (if they exist at all), and strict artistic censorship pervades all levels of society. This group are trying to do something about that, very much in the mould of Havel in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s. They take real risks with what they do – they’re banned in their home country, and have recently had friends dying in suspicious circumstances.

There are a few reasons I mention this. Firstly, they’re working on coming to the UK to stage a production next year sometime, and I’d like to help spread the word. Secondly, more generally, they deserve international recognition and support; they are fighting the last vestiges of the plague that enslaved Europe for half a century, and are braver people than you and I. Freedom is something we often take for granted in this country; let’s try and help spread the love. (Incidentally, everyone should read this for inspiring and heart-breaking tales of liberation).

Finally, I’m selling some shit on eBay. Check it out.

California is fun, although it’s slightly cold and overcast here right now, which slightly makes me want to ask for my money back.. I mean, sunshine is the whole point of this place, right? Right?

…

Joke. Anyways, nice to be here, and I’m very much looking forward to the Trouadour show tomorrow.

In slightly more relevant news, I’m very pleased to announce an overhaul of my online merch store. The good people at Kings Road merch are now looking after me worldwide, and to celebrate we have a selection of new designs, available everywhere. Please do take the time to head to www.frankturnerstore.com and see what’s there. Things should run much more smoothly from now on.

Next up, I’ve been doing a bunch of covers work recently. Today I finished off a Bad Religion cover (“My Poor Friend Me”), that will be part of the Spin Magazine 30th Anniversary Tribute record. Also, I did a cover of a Fake Problems song from their new record, which you can check out right here. I’m pretty proud of it, they fucking rule.

Finally some friends of mine are still doing their firetruck-round-the-world thing, and they’re still awesome. You should check them out, and help with the fundraising thing if you can. Just saying.

Right, bed time, thence to Los Angeles!

A pit-stop of a day today – back from holiday, to Winchester, for some frenzied shopping, laundry, accounting, unpacking and repacking for different continents with different currencies and plug sockets, that kind of thing. A collection of bits and pieces that seemed worthy of mention accrued in my inbox, so here’s a slightly directionless blog post. Hurrah!

Firstly, the whole NOFX thing. It was awesome, I still can’t quite believed it happened, but guess what, there’s video proof – here, for example. There are other versions floating around on YouTube, I’m sure you can find them if you want to.

Secondly, I’ve been trying to keep the tattoo gallery that I have on my myspace page up to date, but I keep catching glimpses of other ones that I haven’t seen before. So, if you or anyone you know has a tattoo using any of my imagery or lyrics, well, first up you (they) fucking rule, and secondly, it’d be great if you could email me a picture sometime. Thanks.

Thirdly, I did an interview with some new friends I made in Colorado recently, and I really like how it came out, so go have a read of it here. The whole website is well worth a gander.

Finally, I’m pleased to say that the people at the BBC have deemed me worthy to be included in Reading Festival highlights, to be broadcast on BBC2 tonight at 11.50pm. Alas, once again it’s UK only, but for those of you here, turn on, tune in, convince your granny I’m real, etc. etc.

Next up, I’m off to the west coast of the fine American continent once more, and I have to say I’m really looking forward to it. The Los Angeles show is nearly sold out now, so if you’re planning on coming along, I’d get tickets ASAP. See you there.

It’s like clockwork, as dependable as the seasons, or at least more dependable than the English summer weather – Reading and Leeds weekend was a blast. The highlights of the set from Reading are viewable here (UK only, I’m afraid, sorry, blame the BBC). To top it off, later on the Saturday I was asked to guest on a song by some of my heroes – I got up during NOFX‘s secret set on the Lock Up Stage to play guitar on “The Decline”. I could pretty much die happy right now.

I’m actually off on holiday for a couple of days now, but I have a few bits and pieces to mention before I go off radar. First of all, we’re starting to confirm and announce filler headline shows on the Social Distortion tour in the USA in the autumn (fall?). For now I’m happy to mention the following:

• 25th October @ Brillobox, Pittsburgh, PA
• 31st October @ The Fest, Gainesville FL (more details TBC)
• 7th November @ The Camel, Richmond, VA

There will probably be a few more confirmed soon. Watch this space.

Also, talking of US shows, my next jaunt over to that side of the world (next week) sees me in California. The Los Angeles show at the Troubadour is going to be great, tickets are selling fast, and I’m pleased to say that both Andrew Jackson Jihad and Cheap Girls will be on the bill as well.

Right, I’m off to work on my tan. See you soon.

Hopefully even the least observant among you will have noticed that the blog layout has changed from the tedious, post-hack, paint-drying yawnfest it was before. Now it is a splendiferous cornucopia of awesomeness, as I’m sure you’ll agree. I’m pretty sure that everything is working and in the right place, but if you do happen to happen across any glitches, please do let me know.

The design was done by Ryan Raplee of New York, and a fine job he did too, as well as being a lovely chap. I’d heartily recommend his services in the world of WordPress theme designs.

In other internet-related news, the old RSS feed is still extant, but I’ve also got it running through FeedBurner now, which you can subscribe to using the RSS button above. Update accordingly.

Finally, on this whole riff, the “merchandize” button currently links to the US store. Come September 1st we are launching a new webstore and merch service for Europe, which will basically be the same as the US version, so all the awesome designs will be available everywhere all the time. Which is nice.

We had a great weekend in Europe, particularly enjoying enthusiastic Germans and friendly Swiss people. Tomorrow we hit sold out warm-up shows in Derby and Kendall, before the annual victory parade that is Reading and Leeds. Then it’s a short run in the States, followed by studio time to record the new EP (due for release in November). See you soon!

Right, further to my post below, as far as I can tell the redirect hacks were to be found in the template I was using. Though I’m not sure. As it goes I have a great guy currently working on a brand new website / wordpress template for me. So for the moment, the site is going to look even more budget. That fucking sucks, but think of it like I have the painters in or whatever to do up the place – the end result will look better. For the moment, please be patient, and I’m leaving this up here so that the essential information (blog, gigs and so on) are still in the public domain. Thanks for your understanding.

PS hackers are fucking *cunts* and no mistake. It’s not like I don’t have enough shit to do already. Grr.

I write from Ottawa, having just played the Folk Festival here. It was a great time, I got to share the stage with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott at one point, which was beyond insane, met a lot of cool new people and made some new friends. Whilst drinking with the festival organizer last night he pledged to get me back next year, with Loudon Wainwright as well, thereby making my day. Later today I’m getting on a plane and flying home for a day or two, before heading to Germany for more festival action. No rest for the wicked.

Last week I was in Colorado. My buddy Jon Snodgrass and I went through with our pledge to write and record an album in 2 days. We made this plan last fall when we met on the Revival Tour in the USA and wrote a song together in an evening. The session went surprisingly well, and we’re both pretty excited about getting the songs out there as soon as we can, in keeping with the general spirit of the project. As soon as I know how it’ll be being unleashed on the world, I will let you know.

Talking of the USA, I’m pleased to say I’ve added a Seattle show to my schedule. I’ll be playing El Corazon Lounge on September 10th. Tickets can be found here.

A quick request for help. I seem to have some kind of hack going on with my WordPress installation, which is affecting IE browsers. I’ve been doing my best to clear it up but to be honest with you PHP coding is beyond my meagre internet skills. If anyone has any tips on how to get rid of this, it’d be much appreciated.

Finally, for today, I recorded a version of the song “Build Me Up Buttercup” for the charity Centre Point, which works with helping homeless young people in London. You can find out more right here.

I’m in New York, drinking coffee, eating bagels and reading blogs. I feel like a real American today, haha. Some bits and bobs for you all today. First of all, as I should have mentioned earlier, this week the Try This At Home 7″ is out! You can get yours from Xtra Mile Recordings (UK) or Epitaph (rest of the world). The vinyl is a split, with competition winners the Retrospective Soundtrack Players and Isaac Graham, with artwork by Annie Olander. Check it out!

Next up, I recently did a cool interview for The Owl Magazine. You lucky people can read it here. Also, at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival I did a secret second show in the Wheat Thins Lounge (yup). There’s a video of it right here for your enjoyment.

Finally, I just found out about Me Without You. Why did no one tell me before? They rule! Also, Koo Koo Kanga Roo are rocking my world right now. Seriously. Enjoy.