Frank Turner returns to DLWP with No Mans Land, his most original project to date
Please be aware that the DLWP car park will be closed for short while at 6pm to allow for the Bexhill Christmas Lights procession. Why not come early and enjoy the festivities in the town, starting at 4.30pm.
6pm, Building, Box Office and shop opens for ticket-holders only.
First floor bar, foyer bar and Member’s bar open.
Food service begins. Auditorium doors open.
7pm, Emily Barker
8pm, Frank Turner solo set. Interval from 8.45pm.
9pm, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls
10.40pm, Show finishes (approx.)
Frank will be playing this show in two parts, half intimate solo performances and half smash hits and fan favourites with the band.
The woman who invented rock’n’roll. A serial killer from the Deep South who plucked her victims from lonely hearts pages. The jazz-obsessed heiress who fought for the Free French. A rowdy coach house landlady from 17th century Camden Town accused of witchcraft. The Wild West vaudeville star shot by a small town outlaw. These are just a few of the fascinating characters to feature on No Man’s Land, Frank Turner’s most original project to date.
“It’s bringing together my two main interests in life, which have always been separate from each other – history and songwriting,” explains Turner, who can be found seeking out long-forgotten historical sites on self-guided psychogeographical strolls when he’s not packing out arenas or headlining festivals.
With 2018 Producer of the Year Catherine Marks at the helm, No Man’s Land is dedicated to the women whose incredible lives have all too often been overlooked by dint of their gender. “These stories should have been told already,” says Turner of the album and its accompanying podcast series. “And I suspect if they were men they would be better known.” Certainly there are a couple of names here that will already be familiar, such as the unparalleled Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Sister Rosetta) and the mysterious Mati Hari (Eye of the Day), but by and large the women who feature have long been ignored by the mainstream.
With support from Emily Barker
Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter, best known as the writer and performer of the theme to the BBC’s hugely successful crime drama Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. She has released music as a solo artist as well as with various bands including The Red Clay Halo, Vena Portae and Applewood Road (with whom she released a remarkable album of original songs recorded live around a single microphone, dubbed “flawless” by The Sunday Times) and has written for film, including composing the soundtrack for Jake Gavin’s lauded debut feature Hector starring Peter Mullan and Keith Allen.
As a performer, Barker is captivating and accomplished, with an adept understanding of audiences that finds her equally at home touring with punk troubadour Frank Turner as she is with American multi-Grammy-winning musician Mary Chapin Carpenter.
This is a seated gig.
Under 14s must be accompanied by an adult 18+
NO FLASH / RECORDING
Customers should be aware that accessible seating is only available if requested through the Box Office.
Less a concept album and more in the same thematic vein as Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads – especially on the creepy tale of murderer Nannie Doss (The Perfect Wife) – Turner started work on No Man’s Land upon learning about the formidable Jinny Bingham (The Ghost of Jinny Bingham) on a sign outside The World’s End pub, then Dodge City singing sensation Dora Hand (The Death of Dora Hand) and bebop patron Nica Rothschild (Nica). Crowdsourcing suggestions for more names to pay tribute to, he was quickly inundated. “I know a lot of very smart people who sent me these huge lists of historically interesting women,” he says of the hundreds he ended up researching, seriously expanding the size of his home library in the process. Experimenting with a different way of writing, the overflowing tap that was Turner’s unfiltered id was switched off and instead he took on the role of student. “It felt a bit like going back to school – but it was so much fun.”
The women featured on the album’s 13 tracks come from across wide geographical and historical lines. There’s Byzantine princess Kassiani (The Hymn of Kassiani), Egypitian feminist activist Huda Sha’arawi (The Lioness), and Resusci Anne (Resuce Annie) an apocryphal drowned virgin whose face was used as the model for the medicial CPR mannequin across the world. “You can’t not write a song about a woman who died never having been kissed and then became the most kissed face in history,” reasons Turner.
Although originally conceived in 2014, global events conspired to throw Turner off course from No Man’s Land. “The world went mad in 2016 and I felt like I needed to respond in a slightly more direct way,” explains Turner, who released the politically charged Be More Kind, which launched his outrage straight into the UK Album Chart Top Three. That’s not to say that No Man’s Land isn’t just as fired up, but despite the record’s implicit feminism, it doesn’t see Turner’s clambering onto any kind of soapbox. “It’s not telling anyone what to do or how to live or how to be,” he explains, prepared for a variety of different reactions to the project, including those who might be wondering if it’s really his place to be singing songs of disenfranchised women. “If there was a crowded field of people writing songs about Princess Kassiani then I would see the argument for me bowing out, but there isn’t,” he states. “No-one else is writing these songs right now. That’s why I want to share these stories.”
No Man’s Land also includes perhaps the most revelatory song of Turner’s career. Written in tribute to his mother, Rosemary Jane honours her grit and determination through the harder parts of his childhood. “It is quite a raw song,” he admits, adding that he felt compelled to ask permission from his mother and sisters to include the track. “But it’s nice about her. It’s not necessarily nice about my dad…”.
Working with Catherine Marks – which Turner calls “an absolute f****** dream” – a dynamic cast of female musicians were bought into the studio to bring the songs to life. There’s strings and piano from Anna Jenkins and Gill Sandell of Emily Barker’s Red Clay Halo band, Lock drummer Holly Madge, Paloma Faith’s bass player Andrea Goldsworthy, Kat Marsh of Choir Noir and a full West End brass section on the jazz-inflected Nica. “That song’s probably got more chords in it than my first album,” deadpans Turner of its complex Thelonious Monk-inspired progressions. On Sister Rosetta too you can hear guitar breaks lifted from Tharpe’s own back catalogue. “Which I found challenging, because she’s a way better guitar player than me,” admits Turner.
It’s an album packed full of similar easter eggs, some of which will only be cracked if you listen to the accompanying podcast. No stranger to appearing on other people’s shows, Turner’s own takes a deep dive into each song, like a sonic Cliffs Notes. Produced in collaboration with Somethin’ Else it sees Turner talking to historians and experts at places important to the women on the record, from Jinny Bingham’s coach house – which is now Camden’s Underworld venue – to Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame which only last year honoured Rosetta Tharpe, the Dodge City’s Boot Hill Museum and Southwark’s Cross Bones graveyard. Each finishes up with Turner singing an acoustic version of the song. “I’m not someone who believes in the supernatural, but there’s definitely an imprint when you’re at the place that was important to them,” says Turner. “It feels like a nice honouring, and a way to say ‘hey, we’re still thinking about you’.”
The first episode of the podcast is available from 3rd July. There will be 13 episodes, releasing weekly and the podcast will be available from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast and all other podcast platforms.
Please note that Booking Fees apply on the following transactions:
Online: £1.50 per ticket + £1.50 postage or free collection at the Box Office.
Print at home tickets: These can be emailed to you on the account you have registered with DLWP free of charge (booking fees apply)
Telephone: £3.50 per transaction + £1.50 postage or free collection at the Box Office
There will be a cheaper booking fee for events under £10 (booking fee = £1.00) and under £5 (booking fee = 50p).
Free events booked online are not subject to a booking fee.
There is no booking fee for tickets purchased over the counter.
Please note that we are only able to post tickets within the UK. If you live overseas please select box office collection or print at home tickets. Tickets purchased for post will be send 10 – 14 days before the show date.
All online bookings include a Restoration Levy of £1 and will be subject to an additional £1.50 booking fee per ticket. Postage of tickets adds an additional £1.50 postage charge. Other options include having your tickets emailed to the email registered to your DLWP account to print from home or free collection at the Box Office.
The following are exempt from the Restoration Levy: Learning & Participation events, events associated with exhibitions, family shows that include a child ticket price, OUTLANDS events and Music’s Not Dead events in our Café bar. Also exempt are those organisations that hire the Pavilion where they are offered a community rate, amateur shows or are in receipt of a concession from Rother District Council.
Full terms and conditions can be found here :
dlwp.com/terms-and-conditions/booking-information/
Please be aware that we operate no re-entry for gigs. This means that once you have entered the building, you cannot go out and re-enter. This policy is in line with other major music venues across the UK and put in place on police advice. No re-entry is clearly signposted as you come through security on the front door.
There is a fenced-off area on the terrace for people who go out to smoke or vape.
There are plenty of welcoming and good value B&Bs & boutique hotels in Bexhill. The De La Warr Pavilion regularly uses the following :
- By Rail
Direct trains go from London Victoria, Brighton and Ashford to Bexhill.
There are also trains from London Charing Cross, changing at St. Leonards Warrior Square and from London Bridge or Charing Cross going to Battle. Battle is only a short taxi journey away (15 mins approx).
Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for up-to-date train travel information. - Taxis
Town Taxis: 01424 211 511
Parkhurst Taxis: 01424 733 456 - By Car
If driving from the London area:
Take the M25, then A21 to Hastings. Turn off at John‘s Cross and follow the signs to Bexhill.
OR
Take the A22 to Eastbourne, go across the Bishop roundabout to the A271 and follow the signs to Bexhill and the seafront. The De La Warr Pavilion is on the Marina.
From the Brighton area:
Follow the A27 out of Brighton until you arrive in Bexhill On Sea. - Parking
Please be aware the Rother District car park outside the De La Warr Pavilion operates paid parking until 8pm. After this time parking is free. There is also lmiited free car parking along the seafront.
Within the limits of this Grade One listed building, the De La Warr Pavilion strives to be fully accessible with a range of facilities to support your visit.
Assistance Dogs are permitted into the building.
Please contact the Box Office on 01424 229 111 to arrange a visit.
Facilities for disabled visitors
- Ramped access at the front of the building
- A low counter at the Box Office and Information Desk
- Disabled toilets on two floors
- A lift to all floors
- Accessible galleries on both floors
- An accessible Café
- Spaces for wheelchairs in the auditorium for seated events
- Ramped access in the auditorium for events during the day
- Ramped access into the Studio
- Two travel wheelchairs are available for use at the De La Warr Pavilion. To reserve, please call our box office and information desk on (01424) 229111 or ask a member of staff on arrival. The chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis and are intended for use inside the Pavilion. Please contact us for more information.
Facilities for blind or visually-impaired
- Large print season brochures
Facilities for the hard-of-hearing
- An T-Switch induction loop in some areas of the auditorium (please indicate when booking as this facility is not available on the balcony)
- British Sign Language interpretation tours of the building and exhibitions are available on request.