Frank Turner and NOFX are releasing a split album covering each other’s songs.
The 38-year-old singer songwriter is joining forces with his friends in the iconic US punk band – made up of Fat Mike, El Hefe, Eric Melvin and Erik Sandin – for an upcoming record titled ‘West Coast Vs. Wessex’.
The full LP will be released on July 31 on Mike’s own Fat Wreck Records label, with the first half featuring NOFX’s takes on ‘Substitute’, ‘Worse Things Happen At Sea’, ‘Thatcher F***ed The Kids’, ‘Ballad of Me And My Friends’ and ‘Glory Hallelujah’.
On the second half of the album, Frank and the Sleeping Souls have recorded their own renditions of ‘Scavenger Type’, ‘Bob’, ‘Eat The Meek’, ‘Perfect Government’ and ‘Falling In Love’.
He explained: "I didn’t want to just do straight covers of anything. I wanted to try and pick songs where I felt like me and my band could bring something different to the table.
"But it did strike me that it would be cool to demonstrate to the casual NOFX fan, who doesn’t know who I am, that I am actually a fan.
"I didn’t just go to Spotify and pick the five most-listened-to songs."
Meanwhile, Mike – who suggested the idea for the project – admitted he enjoyed the challenge of reworking some of his friend’s songs to make them "more interesting".
The 53-year-old rocker added: "I listened to all his records, and I picked the ones that I thought I could make more interesting.
"What I did is change a lot of chords. Frank, he beats me in the singing department.
"So I can’t sing better than he can, but I can maybe throw in a melody here or there or chord that he hadn’t thought of."