If given the chance, most people wouldn’t even think twice about trading places with Prince William. Not his former fellow pupil Frank Turner though. With a brand new album under his belt, a busy touring schedule and a highly coveted main stage slot at the upcoming Reading and Leeds Festival, the English folk/punk singer-songwriter couldn’t imagine anything worse and is exactly where he wants to be.

I recently caught up with Frank to pick his brains about Shakespeare, Sweet 16 birthday parties, his musical history and emotional blackmail.

Thanks for taking the time out to chat to me - where are you just now?

I’m just chilling out in London on that rare thing known as a day off before I head to Austria tomorrow.

I imagine this day off is well-deserved, especially since you’ve been quite busy with the release of your latest album England Keep My Bones. Can you tell me a bit about it and how it differs from your previous material?

There’s kind of a boring answer to this question, which is just that this is the latest installment of my ongoing process of songwriting. I didn’t want to make any radical stylistic left-hand turns in this record, but at the same time I wanted to push myself to be a little bit more ambitious within the confines of the ballpark that I’m already working in. Hopefully I was successful in that, although that’s not quite my place to say.

Are there any particular themes or inspirations running through the lyrics? I hear it’s a homage to your homeland, family and friends?

Yes well there are a lot of songs about England on the album but I didn’t mean it to be in any way a nationalist record. It’s asking a lot more questions about England rather than answering them. Thinking about home is a big part of it, and the reason is because I don’t really spend a lot of time in the UK anymore because I’m on tour all the time, and being away from somewhere gives you the distance to think about something in a more abstract fashion. There seems to be a theme of mortality running through the record as well, I’m not entirely sure where that comes from, I don’t write records to a theme I just kind of let them happen, but there seems to be a lot of songs about dying on there (laughs).

The album title is from Shakespeare’s 1595 play ‘Life and Death of King John’, is there any particular reason why you chose that?

It’s kind of weird; every other album I’ve done I’ve had the title all ready to go early on in the process, but this time around I didn’t have a title at all for a very long time, to the point where I actually started getting a little concerned. Deadlines were looming and it was like “you don’t have a title for the album man!” And then basically a good friend of mine is an English literature teacher and threw the title of a Shakespeare play at me as a suggestion. It seemed to wrap up all the themes on the record pretty neatly and it also makes me sound terribly erudite and well-read so I went with that, though I have to admit I haven’t actually read the play that it comes from!

Oh shame on you Frank!

To be fair though, I’ve yet to come across anyone who has either!

Fair point... I’m guilty of not having read it too. Do you have a personal favourite track off the album?

I’m pleased to say that I don’t. I love them all equally!

You’ve had a few guest contributors on the album like Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady) and Andy Yorke (Unbelievable Truth) - what was it like working with them and what did they bring to the table?

Well, it wasn’t so much a my man’s going to call your man and sort our guest appearances thing, pretty much all the people that have guested on the record are friends of mine who I’ve toured with, that I’ve hung around with in London and who I basically emotionally blackmailed into helping me out. With Franz for instance, what actually happened there is that he was touring in the UK when I was recording and after his London show, he ended up staying at my place and in the morning I was like, “You’re coming to the studio with me”, and he said, “Am I?” and I said, “Yes you are!” So I kind of shanghaied him down to the studio and that was it.

In the space of six years, you’ve churned out four solo albums and three EPS plus a compilation disc, which to me seems like a lot in a short space of time. Was that a conscious choice to record and distribute your music so quickly?

Not really! It just felt like the right thing to do. I’ve never been the type to sit on songs, when I get to a certain point of time when I’ve got 15 songs to use for a record I figure I might as well get into the studio and get it all out there. For me the process of actually finishing a song, recording it and getting it released, in a way clears the decks and makes you start thinking about what to do next. Every songwriter runs out of ideas at some point, I mean if Bob Dylan can run out of ideas, than anyone can run out of ideas! So I guess there will be a time where I can’t write songs anymore and I thought while I can then I might as well get on with it y’know?!

That’s a very logical reasoning you’ve got there!

Growing up, were you surrounded and influenced predominantly by punk rock music?

Well no, my mum used to sing in the church choir and I don’t think my dad ever really believed in any music released after 1900 (laughs). I didn’t grow up listening to Dylan and The Beatles or anything like that in the house, but later on I discovered Iron Maiden and it was the first band I fell properly head over heels obsessed with. I got into metal music followed by punk and hardcore, and it was only after playing in a punk hardcore band for a few years that someone gave me a Bob Dylan record, so I kind of did everything back to front.

Is that when you decided to take a more acoustic, folk-inspired direction in your musical career?

Well not instantly, it wasn’t a question of getting a Bob Dylan record and immediately thinking, “ditch hardcore!” But when the last hardcore band I was in came to an unpleasant end, I had some time to think about what I wanted to do next and thought I would broaden my horizons a little and do something other than just stand in front of a bunch of angry people and shout at strangers (laughs).

I hear you studied History at a college in London – what were you planning to do with that degree and when was the turning point when you decided to pursue music instead?

I got into music when I was like 10 or 11 years old and I just wanted to be in a band instantly. I never really thought that hard about anything else. In recent years my parents have kind of come around to what I’m doing but they’ve never been massive fans of me being a musician and part of the reason I even went to university was because of them. At the same time though I’m very passionate about history, but I was playing in a band before and during university and decided to carry on playing in a band after it. I don’t think there was ever really a moment that I was thinking too seriously about my career as a historian.

You’ve toured internationally with punk rock giants such as The Offspring, Green Day and Biffy Clyro – what did you learn from playing alongside these bands?

Different lessons from each one really. Biffy Clyro are very old friends of mine and my band used to tour with them back in the day so they’re my bros! The Green Day shows were my first and only stadium shows, they were definitely a very big learning experience. It’s always a pleasure to share stages with bands that you like and listen to, especially those that have spent a lot of time on the road because they know exactly what they’re doing.

Can you remember and recount the first time you performed on stage in front of a crowd?

Me and my first band played at my older sisters 16th birthday party in front of her friends so technically that’s the first time I performed in front of a crowd but whether or not that is actually a gig is slightly debatable.

And how was the reception at this sweet 16th?

I’m not sure that anyone actually gave a shit and I was just trying to eye out my sister’s friends, being typical teenage boys and probably resounding no success (laughs).

How did you find your time here in Australia when you came on tour in April?

I loved it! I’m an enormous fan of Australia. It’s funny actually, for years I’d been on the road but had never been to Australia and people would say “man it’s going to fucking blow your mind!” It reached a point where I had heard it so many times that I was just going to call bullshit. But in April 2010 I finally made it there when I did the Revival Tour and I’ve gotta say Australia is the coolest place so I’m definitely working on coming back as soon as I can.

Did you showcase the new material? Reception?

Yeah of course, it wasn’t anything official like a launch of the album but I just dropped a few of the new songs here and there and spread the word a little.

And what summer festivals are locked in for you over in the UK?

The big one this summer is we’re doing the main stage at Reading and Leeds, which is one of the biggest festivals so that’s pretty fucking exciting! We’re really stoked about being on the main stage.

And wrapping up this interview I hear you attended college alongside Prince William, so if you could trade places with him today would you do it?

Not in a million fucking years! I couldn't think of anything worse.