Frank Turner, folk rock singer-songwriter, talks to Interhacktives about data journalism, power and taxes.
What do you think of the new commission on Freedom of Information?
It’s bullshit. The concept of democratic government is that it’s a servant of the people it represents. I pay my taxes and frankly if someone’s fucking around with my money, I demand the right to know exactly how and why they’re doing that, and if it’s inconvenient for them that is tough shit.
I don’t think [convenience] is a factor in the debate whatsoever. I’m extremely bothered by the idea of people trying to restrict freedom of information for the idea of convenience. Convenience is the weasely mother of all forms of authoritarianism.
Both data journalism and music critique power. Could they be doing more to support each other in this goal?
The two worlds use similar techniques and similar methodologies, but in very removed ways. The free press is an integral part of any non-authoritarian and democratic society, and it’s extremely important to have journalists working to keep the people who hold power to account, at all times. So using data to that end is an interesting thing.
I’m not a fan of Wikileaks because I think Julian Assange is a narcissist and a fantasist, but I have much more time for Edward Snowden, who raises very interesting and valid points.
As far as its relation to punk rock, what I like about the internet and the proliferation of computing and connectivity is that it’s extremely decentralising, which I think is necessarily anti-authoritarian. In the way that people tried to do in the 1970s, and particularly in the 1980s, of building communities around the world that existed outside any official social channels, it’s now much easier to do. You can have a world community of people into extreme noise, into cross punk or whatever, connected through the internet. Those genres and those subcultures may go onto have political overtones, but I’m not sure that necessarily has to be a part of it.
Do you think the intimacy social media demands has made it more difficult for artists to separate their art from their personal politics?
The whole idea of musicians and artists – like me I suppose – having public platforms, I am instinctively allergic to. The moment where that opinion becomes slightly problematic is the idea of platforming. If somebody’s got 100,000 followers on Twitter, they do have an ability to spread a piece of information, and yes, one can use that to spread ideas.
For personal reasons, I try to maintain a distance between my art and my politics, partly because I operate within a left-wing milieu and I’m a libertarian. Being pro-market, libertarian, extreme liberal – however you want to put it – doesn’t go down well in the music industry.
It’s a moral conundrum for me, because part of me wants to stand up for what I believe in, but at the same time, I’m much more interested in making music and in sound and art and song-writing than I am in spending my entire life arguing with people on Twitter and Facebook about politics.
Social media – love it or loathe it?
Social media is a tool; it’s morally neutral. It’s extremely powerful and can be used for great good or great evil.
I’ve used it for things that have been really great – I’ve done Twitter charity shows, for example, where you drop hints about where you’re going to play, then you have a gig and people come down and donate money.
On the flipside, the Twitter hate mob thing is not fun at all to be on the receiving end of. The tone of political debate on Twitter – it would be flattering to call it low.
Social media also seems to breed a sense of entitlement among a lot of music fans. There are people who feel they’ve been short-changed when they come to see me, I pour my guts out for two hours on stage, and then they didn’t get a selfie with me afterwards and therefore they feel like they didn’t get their money’s worth. I find that slightly problematic.
But social media exists. You can’t uninvent it so you’ve got to find ways of making your peace with it.
You recently live-tweeted a first date at a next-door restaurant table. What’s it like having 150,000 followers hanging on your every tweet?
Guy on (tinder?) date next to me in a restaurant has now been talking over her for 15 straight minutes. LET HER TALK MAN. You’re fucking up
— Frank Turner (@frankturner) November 1, 2015
It’s a double-edged sword – sometimes it can be funny and entertaining, and sometimes it can be annoying. In a random cross section of 150,000 people from around the world, you’re inevitably going to get a variety of opinions and levels of maturity and intelligence. Sometimes I get depressed about tweeting out something that’s supposed to be funny and then getting a whole bunch of people getting uptight or people missing jokes. I try to deal with it by not taking it very seriously. There are people who take Twitter extremely seriously, and I find that pathetic.
PHOTO: Nicole C. Kibert