Frank Turner has built a longstanding career on relentless touring and honest storytelling. Over 25 years on, he’s returning to Australia to join Bowling For Soup on a coheadline run starting this week. The Bowl My Bones Tour pairs two acts who’ve taken very different paths through the pink and alternative landscape, yet have landed in a similar place, still drawing crowds decades on. Last in Australia at the end of 2023, Turner has since released new music here and there and celebrated significant milestones- like 20 years of his Campfire Punkrock EP.
Chatting with Frank, he’s fresh off a tour with Descendents, a band that looms large in the DNA of modern punk, and Turner is still processing what that experience meant on a personal level.
“I’ve just finished a tour with Descendents which was something of a dream come true… just seeing my name on the same line as theirs on the poster was something that I want a time machine for, to tell my 14 year-old-self it’s going to be okay.”
The pairing was a result of a slightly unrealistic idea and a willingness to ask anyway. “I was given a task of thinking or people I would like to co-headline with,” Turner explains, “My tour manager actually suggested Descendents. My booking agent was like, ‘they’re never going to say yes.’, so I said, ‘just send them an email,’ and they came back and went, ‘yeah all right…’ so it just went from there.”
While that tour definitely ticked off a lifelong dream, this upcoming run with Bowling For Soup taps into something entirely different. It’s a little less hero-worship and little more mutual appreciation. The connection between Turner and frontman Jaret Reddick began online with a low-key exchange that eventually grew into something more meaningful. “Jaret became a fan of my music, and started tweeting at me… I was quite stoked.” Turner admits, saying, We got chatting and he came down to some of my shows and he did this fantastic thing which I think speaks to his character- he didn’t ask to be on the guest list, he just hit me up and let me know he was coming… He said, ‘I love the show, it’s really really great, I’ll see you around next time,’ in this really respectful way that sold him to me quite a lot.”
That early respect was the foundation of a friendship that deepened during the strange, static months of lockdown during COVID-19- hardly the usual breeding ground for touring partnerships, but one that found a way. “We did a weekly chat together for about a year during lockdown which we called Back To The Metal. It was just the two of us… we did one, and after an hour, hadn’t got anywhere close to the subject so we were just like, ‘why don’t we do it again?’ And it lasted for a year.”
During that time, the fanbases crossed over quite a bit, and despite the global pandemic the pair kept talking about touring together. After almost six years of chatter, it’s finally happening. What makes this tour feel particularly endearing is the shared perspective that both acts offer. Neither Turner nor Bowling For Soup have followed the predictable arc of fleeting hype followed by a quiet fade-out. They’ve instead built something more durable, even if at first it took a while to be recognised. “We’re both kind of survivors…” Turner says. “We both persisted despite people’s expectations… if you were putting money down in the late 90s/early 2000s pop punk scene on who would still be successfully touring 25 years later, I’m not sure that you would necessarily bet on either of us being longevity artists… and yet here we are.”
The secret to their longevity, Turner has discovered, is that they’re not cool enough to care what others think. “We’ve never been flavour of the month really, and I think it’s something we both actually take a lot of pride in now.”
That mindset also feeds directly into how Turner approaches a co-headline set. There’s always a balancing act between pleasing the die-hard fans and more casual listeners, as well as playing a show that is true to what the artist wants to play- and Turner is not especially interested in playing it safe. “There’s quite a big part of me when it comes to setlists that has always thought, ‘fuck everyone, do whatever you want to do… you don’t want to cater to an audience by playing an unrepresentative show.”
At the same time, sharing a bill with a band known for their live energy has its own effect on Turner. “I love Bowling For Soup.” He says plainly, as if it weren’t already obvious. “The first time I saw them live I was especially blown away because they are an excellent live band and there are some people who feel threatened or challenged by that, but I feel energised by it. You watch them play and it’s like, ‘I’ve got to up my game’… hopefully that makes a good show for the audience as well.”
Turner has been coming back to Australia frequently since he first fell in love with us in 2010 when he finally convinced Chuck Ragan to bring him over on tour after Ragan had explained Australia as ‘the promised land for touring’. “I had the best time.” Turner recalls. “The first show I did, I was insanely jet-lagged and I went to get some food and the first person I met had the lyrics to one of my songs tattooed all down his arm… I was just like, ‘where’s the hidden camera?!’” There and then he formed a deep connection with our beautiful crowds, one that has kept him coming back.
Recently, Turner’s pre-solo project, Million Dead, reunited after twenty years, before calling it quits officially. “It was always completely over from 2005 and there was no possibility of it ever happening again as things did not end especially well,” Turner reveals, “Ben, who’s the drummer, is one of my oldest and best friends, so we always kept in touch. Eventually, with the passage of time and an evening where we drank a lot of tequila, the idea was suggested that maybe we could possibly think about reconnecting with the others. Once the idea was there, I think for maybe not everyone but certainly me it was like, ‘we’re doing this once and it’s a farewell’.”
What followed was far more than a standard reunion and more of a deliberate attempt to rewrite the band’s final chapter on their own terms.
“It was a proper ending. It didn’t end well in 2005 and out last show was terrible. It was just a disappointment and we were visibly falling apart on stage… It left such a terrible taste in everybody’s mouths. This time around we played the biggest shows we’ve ever played as a band and we played incredibly well and everybody was in good spirits… it was a very moving moment and I’m really glad we did it. It’s not happening again.” It certainly doesn’t get any clearer than that.
Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls alongside Bowling For Soup kick off their Bowl My Bones co-headline tour this Friday, May 1st in QLD, followed by stops in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Frankston, Adelaide and finally wrapping up in Fremantle. For last minute tickets, click HERE.
Bowling For Soup + Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls
Co-Headline Bowl My Bones Australian Tour
Friday 1 May – The Station, Sunshine Coast
Saturday 2 May – The Tivoli, Brisbane
Sunday 3 May – Roundhouse, Sydney
Tuesday 5 May – Bar On The Hill, Newcastle
Thursday 7 May – The Forum, Melbourne
Friday 8 May – Pier Bandroom, Frankston
Saturday 9 May – Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide
Monday 11 May – Metropolis, Fremantle
header image: Artist supplied
