Frank Turner Speaks On Möngöl Hörde & "Godfrey Newman" Ahead of NÖRTH AMERICAN INVASIÖN MMXIX Tour (The Witzard Interview)

"First emerging and playing two tiny shows in August 2012, plus, Reading & Leeds Festival, Möngöl Hörde released one of 2014's most twisted and ferocious albums with their self-titled debut, through Xtra Mile Recordings," explains Möngöl Hörde's Bandcamp page. Möngöl Hörde are an English Hardcore Punk/Post-hardcore band consisting of frontman Frank "Renrut" Turner, guitarist Matt "Nadir" Nasir, and drummer Ben "Awesome" Dawson. Nasir is part of Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls and Turner & Dawson previously played together in Kneejerk & Million Dead. Frank Turner has achieved mass amounts of success on his own and with his backing band, The Sleeping Souls, but has seemingly always retained his Punk/Hardcore roots. For his popular The First/Second/Third Three Years compilation series, Turner has covered songs from everyone from Bad Brains to Bruce Springsteen.

Möngöl Hörde recently released their first new material together since their 2014-15 self-titled debut, two non-album digital singles, "Godfrey Newman" & "Selfiestixamitosis." After Thanksgiving, Möngöl Hörde are, also, embarking on their first State-side trek, dubbed the NÖRTH AMERICAN INVASIÖN MMXIX Tour. Frank Turner, Ben Dawson & Matt Nasir will play six American cities between December 8-14, 2019 with openers ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE & REBUILDER; this includes a set as part of Every Time I Die's annual 'TID THE SEASON Music & Wrestling Festival at Buffalo Riverworks. Ahead of Möngöl Hörde's NÖRTH AMERICAN INVASIÖN MMXIX, we were fortune enough to speak with Frank Turner himself for a comprehensive Q&A, which you can now read below.


Sincerely,

Matt "The Witzard" Horowitz
Holiday Hardcore Punk Herald

I. Who are your fellow Möngöl Hörde bandmates and what made you decide to return to Punk/Hardcore again?

FRANK TURNER: Bandmates are Matt Nasir (of The Sleeping Souls) and Ben Dawson. Ben & I started playing together as kids; we were in a whole bunch of bands together growing up, not least, Million Dead. A big part of the motivation for doing "heavy music" again was that I wanted to play (and hang out with!) Ben more often, I missed him. Matt isn't really from a "heavy music" background, so he brings something different to the table. And overall, there's an intensity to this kind of music that I enjoy and that doesn't really come in to what I do with the music I make normally.

II. How would you personally say your output with Möngöl Hörde differs from that of Kneejerk, Million Dead, and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls?

TURNER: It differs from my usual output in the sense of being much heavier, [and] more intense, but, also, more sarcastic, humorous, and so on. Also, in terms of writing, Möngöl Hörde songs tend to be first drafts; we write very quickly, by design, which is different from how I usually work.


III. What can you tell our readership about how new song, "Godfrey Newman," came to be and how it involved Möngöl Hörde's Wikipedia page?

TURNER: Haha, well, one day, a while back, someone noticed that, for reasons which remain mysterious, someone had added an extra song to the page for our album called "Godfrey Newman." We have no idea who did this, why, or what it means, but rather than correct it, we thought we'd just write that song anyway. It's a dumb story about our (fictional) original bass player, who turned out to be a racist, so we fired him.

IV. Following the recent release of double-single, "Godfrey Newman" & "Selfiestixamitosis," are yourself, Ben, and Matt actively working on a proper full-length follow-up to Möngöl Hörde's self-titled 2014-15 debut?

TURNER: In theory, yes. We have a whole pile of riffs and some lyrical ideas, as well—there's one about The Corrs—but we have yet to find the time to knock it into proper shape just yet. We'll get there, [though].


V. What exactly are you planning to play on Möngöl Hörde's upcoming NÖRTH AMERICAN INVASIÖN MMXIX mini-tour? Any new or as-yet-unreleased material to be debuted live?

TURNER: We don't currently have any material beyond the album and the two new tracks we did this summer, but as I say, we write quickly; so, it's possible there will be new material by the end of the tour. We, also, have a few silly covers in our arsenal.

VI. Who are you most excited to see/meet at Every Time I Die's 'TID THE SEASON 2019 Festival? Möngöl Hörde, along with everyone from Against Me! to Ghostface Killah are on the bill for the 2-day festivities!

TURNER: It's a KILLER bill and we're honoured to be part of it. To be honest, I'm most excited about seeing and hanging with the [Every Time I Die] crew again. Love that band.


VII. With Natalie Portman next in line to portray Thor in Marvel's Thor: Love & Thunder, can we expect to hear a sonic sequel to "Tapeworm Uprising" to help commemorate the occasion?

TURNER: Haha, why not. I like Natalie Portman, actually. I did get hate mail from her fan club once about the song, which really, really made my day.

VIII. What made you decide to release The First/Second/Third Three Years comps. on Xtra Mile Recordings? What a phenomenal homage(s) to Black Flag's pre-Rollins 1983 comp. The First Four Years!

TURNER: The first one came about because, like a lot of artists, a lot of my early material was spread across EP's, compilations, and so on, many of which, were going out-of-print. I wanted to get all that material in one place to make it easily-available for anyone who wanted it, especially, people who were newer to what I do. The first one was a success, so we decided to keep going, as it turned out there was more material to gather three (and six) years later. The artwork is a homage, of course, I f***ing love Black Flag. We've, kind of, paused with that series for the time being, but there will, no doubt, be more [volumes] in the future, one way or another.


IX. Since you've covered everything from Black Flag's "Fix Me" to No Use for A Name frontman Tony Sly's "Keira," what were some of your earliest favorite Punk/Hardcore albums?

TURNER: My early Punk records were The Clash & The [Sex] Pistols (if we're not counting Nirvana, which we, possibly, should.) From there, it was Green Day & Offspring—that's my "vintage"—and then, I wound my way down, through NOFX & Descendents, until I hit Black Flag, Gorilla Biscuits, Negative Approach, and so on.

X. Once your NÖRTH AMERICAN INVASIÖN MMXIX tour is completed this December, what's in store next for Möngöl Hörde?

TURNER: We all have ambitions to write and record a new album next year. That said, we are the slowest moving band in the history of music, so it might take a while. The intentions are good, though.


XI. Do you mind, if I ask: what exactly the term "Möngöl Hörde" intended to convey, evoke, or signify as a band name?

TURNER: The band name came, originally, from a lyric by The Van Pelt—one of our favourite bands—and one of the smartest lyricists (in Chris Leo) there ever was. Beyond that, it moved into an appreciation of that part of history—we were attracted by the imagery of The Hordes—and the fact that it is an instance of the total destruction of White/European culture by Central Asia, in a way that was startlingly brutal and unforgiving.

That appealed to what we are trying to do sonically. Some people have tried to make a controversy from the band name, but, firstly, I'll go toe-to-toe with anyone on Medieval European history and secondly, the name was originally suggested by the member of our band whose family comes from Central Asia (and who is the most p*ssed off about the confected outrage on his behalf,) so whatever.

XII. Do you ever intend to attempt to properly reunite Million Dead and/or Kneejerk... or are you currently busy enough doing double-duty with Möngöl Hörde & Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls?

TURNER: I'm busy enough and looking backwards doesn't really interest me, in terms of my own career. I'm proud of the music I made in the past, but I have more to say looking forward.