Beginnings and Million Dead The first record Turner owned was the album
Killers by
Iron Maiden.
Metal was the first genre of music he fell in love with, and he remains a passionate fan. Turner's musical career began at school, with the short-lived alternative band Kneejerk. The band released three records and played several shows around the UK. The last record, their only full-length, was titled
The Half-Life of Kissing and was released by Yorkshire DIY hardcore label Sakari Empire after the band had broken up. In 2001, Turner joined London post-
hardcore band
Million Dead at the invitation of former Kneejerk drummer Ben Dawson. In 2005, after four years and two albums, the band announced that they were parting ways, for "irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue."
Sleep is for the Week and Love Ire and Song (2005–2008) Turner's first solo shows took place prior to the break-up of
Million Dead, with a set at the
Smalltown America all-dayer at 93 Feet East in London. After the band's split, Turner felt that "it seemed like the logical thing to do to try my hand at playing these songs more publicly and more concertedly than before". Turner states that "when
Million Dead finished, I wanted to stay on tour, but I didn't want the hassle of putting a band together." After a split EP with rock band
Reuben, Turner's first solo EP,
Campfire Punkrock, was released in May 2006 on
Xtra Mile Recordings, with him being recorded and backed by Oxford band
Dive Dive whom he had met while out on tour with Reuben. Band members Tarrant Anderson,
Ben Lloyd and
Nigel Powell would become his backing band from this point on, with most of his subsequent UK headline tours being full band shows. After Turner toured in support of American singer-songwriter
Jonah Matranga, the two released a
split EP in August 2006. In September, Turner was the last act to appear on
Steve Lamacq's
Lamacq Live show on
BBC Radio 1. Turner's debut full-length studio album,
Sleep Is for the Week was released in January 2007, again recorded at Dive Dive's studio, produced by their guitarist Ben Lloyd and featuring drummer Nigel Powell. After an extensive tour, including dates supporting
yourcodenameis:milo and
Biffy Clyro, and an appearance at
SXSW, Turner released an EP,
The Real Damage, in May 2007. After a further tour with
Jonah Matranga and
Jacob Golden, the "All About The Destination" DVD was released in October 2007, before Turner returned to the studio in
Hampshire to record his second album. The album,
Love Ire & Song again saw
Ben Lloyd from
Dive Dive in the producer's seat, and was released on 31 March 2008, followed by an extensive UK tour with
Andy Yorke and
Chris T-T. T-T also joined the live lineup on keyboards through summer 2008. During summer 2008, Turner made several festival appearances, including sets at
Y Not Festival,
Two Thousand Trees Festival, the
Cambridge Folk Festival,
Truck,
Glastonbury, Jam by the Lake (in Durham) and the
Reading and Leeds Festivals. In October/November, during his 2008 UK Tour for the
Love, Ire and Song album, he became ill with
gastroenteritis, and was forced to leave the stage in Nottingham halfway through his set. All remaining shows, which included
Nottingham,
Liverpool and
Ireland, were cancelled, the first time that Turner as a solo artist had cancelled any show in 10 years. He went on to reschedule all cancelled shows in January 2009. In December 2008, Turner released
The First Three Years, a compilation of demos, B-sides and covers that were not featured on either of his first two studio albums.
Poetry of the Deed (2009–2010) In January 2009, Turner released a combined package of
Love Ire & Song and
The First Three Years, and supported
the Gaslight Anthem on their tour of the UK and Europe, demoing several new songs and announcing his plans to record a new album. The new album was produced by Alex Newport. Recording took place in April and May 2009 at Leeders Farm in
Norwich and the producer's own studio, Future Shock, in
Brooklyn,
New York City. Turner's band at the time still consisted of
Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson and
Nigel Powell from
Dive Dive, with keyboardist
Matt Nasir having been added on the
Love, Ire and Song tour. Prior to recording
Poetry of the Deed, Turner stated that: Turner was announced as the support act on
The Offspring's summer tour, during which he documented his travels with a blog on British music website
NME. When talking about the support slot, Turner stated: "
Smash was one of the first punk records I ever bought, and I'm blown away to even be considered for the shows. From a "career" point of view, it's also great – playing to many thousands of people a night across the States is an opportunity not to be sniffed at." On 28 April 2009, Turner signed with
Epitaph Records for releases outside the UK. Turner's third studio album,
Poetry of the Deed, was released on 7 September 2009, and reached No. 36 in the UK album chart. The album's first single, "The Road", received the status of 'Hottest Record in the World Today' by
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Zane Lowe on 14 July 2009. The track, "Poetry of the Deed", was released as the second single from the album. In late 2009, Turner embarked upon a UK tour with his band in support of the album (with singer-songwriter
Beans On Toast and US band
Fake Problems as support acts), culminating in a sell-out show at the
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on 29 October 2009. A live DVD/CD, entitled
Take to the Road, documenting two shows from the tour (
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire and the
Union Chapel) was released in the UK in March 2010. In November 2009, Turner toured the US alongside
Chuck Ragan,
Jim Ward,
Tim Barry,
Joey Cape,
Dave Hause, and others, as part of the 2009
Revival Tour. Turner returned to Europe on 28 November and to the UK on 19 December. He completed the year with a New Year's Eve show at The Spiegeltent in Gloucester. In early 2010, Turner played several more UK gigs, with
Chuck Ragan and
Crazy Arm supporting. He also accompanied
Flogging Molly and
The Architects on the 2010 Green 17 Tour, and announced via his Twitter that he was working on new songs. From 22 April to 1 May 2010, Turner toured Australia with
Chuck Ragan,
Tim Barry, and Ben Nichols of
Lucero for the 2010
Revival Tour. In May 2010 Turner travelled to China to play a six city tour with promoters
Split Works. In June 2010 he supported
Green Day on their stadium shows, and also featured as the cover star of
Kerrang! magazine for the first time, with an article inside documenting his solo career up to that point. Turner played at many festivals throughout the summer of 2010, including his headlining appearance at the
Two Thousand Trees Festival, playing his new song "I Still Believe". The song was released first as a single and then appeared on his
Rock & Roll EP. Turner also contributed one song, a cover of "
Build Me Up Buttercup", to
Centrepoint's 2010 charity cover album
1969 Key to Change. On 24 September 2010, Turner released
Buddies, a 10 track split album with American
alternative country artist,
Jon Snodgrass. The pair recorded the album in
Colorado whilst on tour together.
Rock and Roll EP, England Keep My Bones and Möngöl Hörde (2011–2012) On 25 January 2011, he was nominated for two
Shockwaves NME Awards, for best Solo Artist and best Band Blog or Twitter. Turner announced on his Twitter on 24 February 2011 that his fourth studio album would be called
England Keep My Bones and that it would be released in the UK on 6 June 2011 and worldwide on 7 June 2011. He also announced details of solo tours in Australia, Germany, the UK, and the US & Canada. Turner started the recording of this album on 10 January 2011 and finished recording on 20 January 2011, with mixing completed in February 2011. In March 2011, Turner stated that: Turner leaked a new song, "I Am Disappeared", to YouTube on 29 March 2011, later making it available for free download through
Xtra Mile. He also announced that he would soon be releasing "Peggy Sang the Blues" as the first single from the album. On 21 March 2011, it was announced that Turner would be making the step up to the main stage at
Reading and Leeds in August 2011. He spoke about the "perks" of playing Reading in an interview with 6 Towns Radio. Turner also played
Download,
Blissfields and
Cambridge Folk festivals, as well as many other festivals across Europe, and as a headliner at
Blissfields Festival. On 21 April 2011, Turner played his 1000th solo show at the
Strummerville festival in
Shoreditch, London. Several songs from
England Keep My Bones were debuted at
Play Fest (a new music festival in Norfolk) on 28 May 2011. During his May 2011 tour, Turner played a new song, tentatively titled "Rod Stewart". This song was later retitled "Sailor's Boots" and was released as the B-side to "If Ever I Stray".
England Keep My Bones entered the UK chart at number 12 on its week of release, Turner's highest charting album at that point (later surpassed by
FTHC, released 11 February 2022, which reached #1). Turner later released a rarities compilation, titled
The Second Three Years, on 18 November 2011 through Xtra Mile Recordings and 16 January 2012 through Epitaph Records. The album compiled material recorded after the release of Turner's first compilation,
The First Three Years, that did not appear on either of Turner's two successive studio albums, including tracks from EPs, singles, covers and unreleased material. In spring 2012, he played several dates in Canada as an opening act for
Joel Plaskett. On 13 April 2012, Turner headlined
Wembley Arena to a sold-out crowd of 12,000. Support for the show came from
Beans On Toast,
dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip and
Billy Bragg. On 27 July 2012, Turner and the Sleeping Souls performed at the pre-show for the
London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. The band played "Sailor's Boots", "Wessex Boy", and "I Still Believe". In August 2012, Turner unveiled his new side project,
Möngöl Hörde, a hardcore band including drummer Ben Dawson (formerly of Million Dead) and Sleeping Souls keyboardist Matt Nasir on guitar. The group played their first shows in London and Leeds shortly before playing at the
Reading and Leeds Festivals, where they debuted some new material and covered tracks by acts including
The Streets and
Nirvana. In October 2012, 'Believe', Turner's own beer, a 4.8% modern wheat beer brewed with Signature Brew, was announced. Turner opened for the
Dropkick Murphys on their European tour, also headlining a tour in November and December 2012.
Tape Deck Heart, Möngöl Hörde and The Third Three Years (2013–2014) Turner recorded his fifth studio album in
Burbank, California, in October 2012. The decision to record abroad for the first time in California was due to producer
Rich Costey's refusal to bring all of his equipment to England, so he persuaded Turner to record in Burbank instead. Following the release of the album, Turner embarked on a short UK tour. He was also confirmed as the headline act for the
Two Thousand Trees Festival and main stage slots at the
Reading and Leeds festivals. Following the success of the album, Turner embarked on a UK arena tour, including a date at London's
O2 Arena. On 3 January 2014, Turner appeared on the
BBC's
Celebrity Mastermind answering questions on
Iron Maiden, scoring 20 points in total (7 on his specialist subject), and coming first. In 2014 Turner and
Möngöl Hörde released a full-length self-titled studio album, and toured in support of that album in late June, playing a run of smaller venues. In July of that year, Turner also announced a 15 Date UK tour, playing places that would not normally feature live music such as local town halls. On 25 July 2014, Turner announced on his Twitter page that he was collating
The Third Three Years. It was released on 24 November 2014.
The Road Beneath My Feet and Positive Songs for Negative People (2015–2016) In 2014, Turner announced that he was in the process of writing a book, consisting of tour diaries and travel memoirs, asking fans to contribute to the book by sending in stories and pictures they shared with Turner. The book, titled
The Road Beneath My Feet, named after lyrics from Turner's song "The Road", was released on 26 March 2015, published by
Headline Publishing Group. Following the book release, Turner embarked on a 2015 book tour, which included signings, question-and-answer sessions and live solo performances from Turner. The book went straight into the bestseller charts. On 20 March 2015, Turner released a lyric video promoting a new song called "Get Better" which was to be on his sixth album. Alongside it, he offered a free download of the song from his website. On 29 April 2015, following several posts of a similar nature on social media, a picture was posted of the mastered album with no artwork. This was followed by an Instagram post on 11 May 2015, in which Turner shared the album's cover and its title,
Positive Songs for Negative People. On 1 June 2015, it was announced that Turner would play a set at
Glastonbury 2015 on the Other Stage. On 15 June 2015 Turner released the music video for "The Next Storm", the second single from
Positive Songs.... The video features former mixed martial artist and
All Elite Wrestling professional wrestler
CM Punk. Turner then released a three-song acoustic session on the website PunksInVegas.com, premiering "Josephine", "Love Forty Down" and "Glorious You".
Positive Songs for Negative People, produced by
Butch Walker at his studio in
Nashville, Tennessee, was released worldwide on 31 July 2015. A deluxe edition of the album was also made available featuring solo acoustic versions of 10 of the 12 original album tracks. On 20 November 2015, a deluxe vinyl boxed set was released by
Xtra Mile Recordings, entitled
The First Ten Years, it brought together Turner's 3 compilation albums:
The First Three Years,
The Second Three Years and
The Third Three Years, together with a new rarities disc, named
Ten For Ten.
Ten for Ten was also issued as a separate release on 12 February 2016. On 26 August 2016, Turner played the
Reading and Leeds Festivals for the 10th year in a row which is a record. This was his 1,955th show as a musician.
Songbook and Be More Kind (2017–2018) On 27 January 2017, Turner re-released his debut album,
Sleep Is for the Week, as a tenth anniversary edition. The re-released album was issued on CD and vinyl and consisted of 2 discs, the first being the original album and the second being a copy of Turner's very early CDR demo disc, including 6 demos. The release also included a download link for
Live at the Vic, a recording of Turner's performance at the Victoria,
Swindon on 6 April 2007. On 10 February 2017, Turner released a new song entitled "The Sand in the Gears", a political song that seemingly refers to the election of
Donald Trump as the President of the United States. The track was recorded live on 19 January 2017 at the Fillmore in
Silver Spring, Maryland. In March 2017, Turner was invited to visit
Freetown, Sierra Leone, by
The Joe Strummer Foundation. The foundation raises funds in the UK and distributes them to various charitable groups worldwide, including Way Out Arts, which brings music to disadvantaged street kids in Sierra Leone. Turner gave guitar lessons to some of the students at Way Out Arts, played and spoke on a local radio station and visited a number of city
slums where he played to the residents. He followed up this trip with further visits to
Sierra Leone in 2019 and 2020. Throughout 2017, Turner and other members of the Sleeping Souls sporadically posted images of the band in the studio, eventually confirmed to be the sessions for his seventh studio album, with Turner revealing on social media in early November that recording for the album had been completed. On 16 October 2017, Turner announced
Songbook, a collection of old and personal favourite songs, as well as rerecorded and unreleased versions of old songs, to be released on 24 November 2017.
Songbook included a new song "There She Is", which Turner confirmed to also be on his upcoming seventh studio album through an Instagram story in November. On 27 January 2018, Turner announced his seventh studio album
Be More Kind and leaked a track from the album, "1933". On 16 March 2018, Turner released the first official single from the album, "Blackout".
Be More Kind was recorded at
Niles City Sound in
Fort Worth, Texas, and was released worldwide on 4 May 2018. On 2 June 2018, Turner re-released his second album,
Love Ire & Song, as a tenth anniversary edition. The re-released album was issued on CD and vinyl and consisted of two discs, the first being the original album and the second including demos and recordings of radio performances on the
BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe show. The release also included a download link for Turner's performance at the Social,
Nottingham, on 12 April 2008.
Try This at Home and ''No Man's Land'' (2019–2020) On 24 January 2019, Turner released the ''Don't Worry
EP, the title track of which was previously included on his 2018 album, Be More Kind''. A reworked version of "Little Changes" was included, together with two new songs. Turner published his sophomore book
Try This at Home: Adventures in Songwriting on 21 March 2019. Again published through
Headline Publishing Group, the book focuses on the stories surrounding various songs throughout his career, starting with some of his earliest songs and continuing all the way through to his most recent material. Turner supported the release of the book with a series of in store signings and solo shows. On 8 March 2019, at a show in
Lisbon, Portugal, Turner debuted a new song entitled "I Believed You William Blake". This song was revealed to be part of Turner's upcoming eighth studio album when he debuted the entire tracklist at a later show in
Boston on 15 May 2019. Turner contributed vocals to the song "Let 'Em Go" by
the Wildhearts on the album
Renaissance Men, released on 3 May 2019. Turner has made many live appearances with the Wildhearts, has publicly spoken of his love of the band and friendship with
Ginger Wildheart. On 31 May 2019, Turner re-released his third album,
Poetry of the Deed, as a tenth anniversary edition. The re-released album was issued on CD and vinyl and consisted of two discs, the first being the original album and the second including several album demos. The release also included a download link for Turner's intimate performance at
Union Chapel, Islington on 19 December 2009. Turner announced his new album, ''
No Man's Land'', across his social media on 26 June 2019. He revealed the album name, as well as the concept and theme of the album, which focuses on and celebrates the life and stories of historical women. The album's lead single, "Sister Rosetta", and its accompanying podcast episode were released on 3 July 2019. The song's lyrics tell the story of gospel singer-songwriter and guitarist
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who heavily influenced later rock-and-roll musicians such as
Chuck Berry,
Elvis Presley and
Johnny Cash. For the song's podcast episode, Turner hosted alongside fellow musician
Emily Barker (who had also written a song about Tharpe) and discussed her legacy. Turner promoted ''No Man's Land'' with a run of nine shows across the UK, starting at the
Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, on 22 November 2019 and finishing at
Alexandra Palace, London, on 3 December 2019. These differed from Turner's typical performances: all venues were seated, and the shows were split into two distinct sets. The first set was a solo set that saw Turner playing songs from ''
No Man's Land'' and telling the stories behind the songs and the historical women about whom they were written. The second part of the show saw Turner play with the full band, but the production was more stripped-back and thoughtful than a usual Turner set. The recording of his show at City Hall in Newcastle on 27 November 2019 was released as a live album on 24 April 2020. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, it was only released digitally. On 13 December 2019, Turner released a live recording of his 2000th show. The release was issued on CD and DVD and documented his performance at
Rock City,
Nottingham, on 15 December 2016. The DVD tracklisting includes a version of the classic
Motörhead track "
Ace of Spades". On 31 July 2020,
West Coast vs. Wessex, a split album with Los Angeles band
NOFX, was released on
Fat Wreck Chords. The ten-track album saw each act cover five songs from each other's discography. On 13 November 2020, Turner released
Buddies II: Still Buddies, a follow-up to 2010's
Buddies EP. The ten-track album saw Turner once again team up with friend
Jon Snodgrass. As with the 2010 original, the album was written in one day; however, this time the writing and recording process had to take place remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
Buddies II is the first album that Turner recorded, mixed and mastered on his own.
FTHC, Undefeated and The Next Ten Years (2021–present) On 8 April 2021, Turner hosted a show with long-term friend
Emily Barker which was streamed live from the
Tunbridge Wells Forum. The show, entitled 'Barker-Turner Overdrive' (a play on the name of the band
Bachman-Turner Overdrive) saw Turner and Barker play classic duet songs from country and pop artists. The set also included a new song, "Bound For Home", which Turner and Barker wrote together and later released as a single on 14 May 2021. On 6 May 2021, Turner released a new track, "The Gathering", a song about people coming back together following the COVID-19 pandemic and
lockdown of 2020. The track features
Muse drummer
Dominic Howard, and
Jason Isbell on guitar. On 4 June 2021, Turner re-released his fourth album,
England Keep My Bones, as a tenth-anniversary edition. The re-released album was issued on coloured vinyl and consisted of two discs: the first being the original album, and the second including never-before-heard session demos recorded in
El Paso. The release also included a download link for exclusive album demos recorded at Blacksmith Studios,
Portsmouth. On 19 June, whilst also simultaneously playing live in
Bideford, Turner appeared (as part of pre-recorded segments) on ''Scott Doonican's Big Neet in'', a lockdown livestream YouTube show, hosted by the lead singer of
Barnsley-based comedy band
The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican. He was interviewed by a blue-haired Scottish puppet journalist called Gloria McGlumpher and performed a version of his own song "The Road", which featured a combination of his own original lyrics and parody lyrics written by Scott Doonican when his band celebrated their 1000th show a year earlier. During the interview, Turner described it as "the best interview I've ever done". Turner released a new single called "Haven't Been Doing So Well" on 16 September 2021. This was followed by the release of
FTHC, his ninth studio album, on 11 February 2022. The album went straight to number 1 in the official UK album chart, the first time Turner had reached the number 1 spot. Turner and The Sleeping Souls were due to embark on a tour entitled "The Never Ending Tour of Everywhere" starting in January 2022. However, rising COVID-19 cases in the UK following the emergence of the
Omicron variant lead to the tour being cancelled in December 2021 due to health concerns for the crew and audience. On 19 August 2022, he and his friend Chris Blake, who produces music under the name Palest Boy at School, released an album as Eating Before Swimming entitled
Playtime with Christopher and Francis Volume 1. Turner broke the first
Music Venue Trust world record in May 2024 when he played 15 gigs in 24 hours, each in a different UK town or city. A share of the proceeds from these shows was donated to the
Music Venue Trust. The attempt was undermined by the band
Crywank who did an unofficial run of 16 shows in 16 cities in 24 hours the day before, but their attempt was not recognised by any official awarding bodies. The
Guinness World Record group have verified Turner's attempt. Turner released his tenth studio album,
Undefeated, on 3 May 2024. The album was recorded at Turner's home studio and was his first album to be entirely self-produced. The album was also the first to feature Sleeping Souls drummer, Callum Green, who joined the band in 2020, following
Nigel Powell's departure. On the album's accompanying tour, Turner celebrated his 3000th show on February 22, 2025, with a performance at the 10,000 capacity
Alexandra Palace in London. On November 7th, 2025, Turner released a compilation of b-sides, rarities, covers and acoustic versions called
The Next Ten Years which acts as a follow up to
Ten for Ten and is his 5th such compilation. Released digitally and as a triple LP. ==Lost Evenings Festival==