Frank Turner’s pretty cool, right? We like him here at Gigwise. Never one to mix his words, he’s one of those celebrity people that have far more important things to think about than their own inflated sense of self importance (unlike certain others!). When we caught up with him at Reading Uni, in a support slot for the Holloways, he was nothing short of nice and normal. Thank God for that. There’s only so much walking on glass to be done around those celebrity tykes.

Frank is a little bit stressed. He’s apparently playing superman a little bit these days, even manning his own merch stand at gigs, before knackering himself out to the point of exhaustion. We ask him how it’s all going. He’s basically been on a never ending tour since 2005, which appears to still veer off in the direction of Christmas. No rest for the wicked then. He’s down to play the Reading Lock up stage this year, thanks to his good friend ‘Mike’ (as in Davies - yep ‘im at Radio 1) and also the Cambridge Folk Festival. “There aren’t many artists that could pull that off,” he tells us. Indeed, there probably isn’t. The thing about Frank is that he does seem to genuinely cross the divide between the folk singer and the punk rocker. Perhaps this is largely to do with the underground reputation of his previous band ‘Million Dead’, but perhaps it’s also to do with the fact, as he notes, that “I don’t sound like Devendra Banhart and I shout when I sing.”

We ask Frank about the reputation he has appeared to have acquired as a protest singer (a sore spot we are well aware of). Frank is very aware of the fact that many people who listen to music do not care about what their favourite musicians make of politics. He’s written three songs about politics; two of which talk about how pointless, boring and stupid he finds it. He tells us, “If protest is the only form of political expression these days then that’s a bit shit!” Frank is also amused by the British Press’ inclination to possessively cling to their assumed pets (he calls this being ‘one of theirs’), “I’m not interested in playing a thousand benefits that essentially just emotionally blackmail people. Yes, I love music. Yes, I hate racism. But fuck off! They’re basically making it impossible to argue with them. I’m not interested in joining the socialist workers party so leave me alone!”

Frank continues his political rant, cursing an email he received earlier in the week, criticising the election of a BNP party representative, “They called him a fascist, which is completely retarded. I mean he got elected – isn’t that what elections are for? It’s a shame that people think like that but the bottom line is that this person obviously represents the views of the people in that they elected him!”

We ask him about the cult of the celebrity. In one of his myspace blogs, he’s had a massive rant about some man who criticised him at a gig for signing some artefacts for his fans, “The guy that I was ranting about decided I was being a rock star by signing stuff, and the point is, if you don’t sign stuff people think you are an arsehole because they think you think that you’re too good to do it! The only sensible way to deal with it is to make people happy. If it makes someone’s day for me to scribble on a t-shirt or a CD or whatever, then I’ll do it.”

Frank is kind of a big deal these days. His tour has sold very well; many of the dates were even sold out. And many kids that go to his gigs, as we find out later in the night, absolutely adore him. Despite this, he’s really down to earth and normal and very chilled out, chatting to us about the whole celebrity doctrine. “I am ideologically quite interested in the breakdown of barriers between those who make the music and those who listen to it,” he says, “I don’t agree with the assumption that people who make the music are this weird tribe who exist on a higher plane than mere mortals who go to gigs. I’ve never been into that. That’s why I do ‘sing-alongs’ in my sets, because it breaks down barriers and I always try to be really approachable. The point is, I suppose, that I try to do these things. I don’t hold myself above the people that come to my shows.” We ask if it’s hard to maintain this ‘normal man’ stance when there’s a group of fans waiting to pillage you. “It’s definitely surreal,” he says, “It’s certainly not a normal social situation, having lots of people around you telling you they really love what you do. The words ‘rock star’ and ‘arsehole’ are synonymous as far as I can tell. Throwing TVs out of hotel rooms is just the behaviour of a twat. And treating people who are into your art, and enable you to do the things you do, like dirt is just unforgivable.”

We ask him about one of the tracks on his new album called ‘Long Live The Queen’, which is a really sad song about the death of very close friend. We ask if writing songs about very personal events, such as a friend dying, helps him to connect with his fans, and he is honest and forthright in his response, “To be honest, my private target audience is myself. And I think that any artist who tells you otherwise is lying. Writing for other people’s tastes is an entirely dishonest thing to do. With ‘Long Live the Queen’, it was a really sad occasion. I’ve been writing songs for a really long time, and this is how I react to things that have happened to me. That song in particular is very cathartic to play.”

Frank may be very humble about his status but he does try to be normal, despite the fact that he has fans trampling over other fans for him to sign their arm, breast, and/or first born child. Outside the Reading gig, when we’re sneaking a cheeky fag out the back, he is literally mauled by a large group of fans, one of whom steals his beloved hat. He is obviously pissed at this blatant disregard for his normalcy. He earlier admitted, “I’m lucky to be able to do this. I know this. There are an awful lot of people who would love to do it who don’t get the opportunity. I spent years wishing I could do this so I’m going to enjoy it and not complain about it.” And he may well do just that, until someone steals his hat. They wouldn’t do that to a ‘normal’ bloke, would they? Maybe, he’s not so ordinary after all. But at least he’s not an idiot. We don’t suppose the same can be said of that hat stealer. Shame on you!