So, I want to chat about something a little different today! Usually, I’m all up in everyone’s grill chatting about what YA fiction I’ve been reading. But today, I want to chat about some non-fiction – specifically, non-fiction related to my absolute fave, Frank Turner.

Frank Turner’s music has meant a lot to me for a long time. He’s been the constant in my life, through A-levels, uni, moving around, travelling.Wherever I am, his music is there. I’ve seen him live countless times because, and I’m sorry to sound cliche here, being at his gigs feels a little bit like home.

And I’ve discovered so many great bands through him – people that have played as support acts and have quickly become favourites. Will Varley, Beans on Toast and most notably right now, Felix Hagan and the Family whose glittery rock shows give me so much life.

So, you can only imaging I was thrilled to go to this event with my great pal Hannah, pick up a copy of his new book, Try This At Home, and hear what he had to say.

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It was such a chill atmosphere – he was interviewed by Ian Winwood who was hilarious, and made for a very genuine evening. They didn’t discuss stories that were in the book, as ya know, we’re all about to go and read that anyway. So they steered clear, and instead chatted about many other things.

He talked about persisting and gaining recognition through refusing to fuck off. He talked about the difference in song and book writing (writing a book being immensely hard, it turns out). He spoke about covering songs, having musics in adverts and brands. He spoke about his song writing changing as he changes, and the style of his songs changing too. At one point, someone asked the very insightful question:

How do you stay motivated in life?

This was hilarious, but Frank also dished out some excellent, albeit cliche, advice: life is short and there’s not enough time to be lazing around. He also said that he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night in a panic because there’s too many books to read, which I think we can all agree is Relatable with a capital R.

And OF COURSE he spoke about his new album which comes out later this year and sounds fucking great. The album is about historical women who have been forgotten in history. I was so excited about this prospect that when I met him after the event, I waved my hand around at him and half yelled “feminism”. Because you know, I have no chill.

If you have never heard of Frank or his music, I’ve created a Spotify playlist featuring some of my favourite songs (there are too many to pick from – so this is definitely not a comprehensive list but will hopefully give you the gist!)

And thats’s that! Honestly what a fantastic event. Roll on the next one. Thanks to Headline Books, and Waterstones Piccadilly of course, they honestly put on such great events – more please!

Are you going to any book events soon? What music has stuck with you throughout the years? Come chat with me!