THE phrase “hardest-working man in show business” is overused. And more than that, it’s an impossible thing to measure. But, if there was a league table, you can bet Frank Turner would be up there.

The folk-punk singer has been touring in one shape or another for the past 16 years, whether as part of his short-lived “terrible” school band Kneejerk, the much-missed post-punk band Million Dead or as a solo artist. He’s heading out on the road again in September – his second UK tour this year – but this time, there are a few differences.

First, the venues Turner and his band, The Sleeping Souls, are performing in are off the beaten path. It’s a nod to the fact Turner grew up in the Hampshire village of Meonstoke, and bands very rarely, if ever, came to play nearby.

“I am aware not everyone lives in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Plus, as well as keeping fans on their toes, it’s more interesting for me and my crew to go to new places.”

The other reason Turner’s forthcoming run of shows will be different is that rather than promoting an album – his fifth album Tape Deck Heart came out last year – he and the band are going to be playing all-new songs ahead of recording their sixth.

“We’re going into the studio in October,” he explains. “I’ve long had the feeling I’m yet to make a record that captures what we sound like live.

“You can think about methodology and studio craft all you want, but why not just go into the studio on the back of a tour when we’re sounding great?

“And I’ve got way too many songs for an album – 19 at last count – so we’re going to play lots of them, and we will work out what to put on the record from that. I’ll get a good idea from crowd reaction and from playing the songs each night.”

After a summer of playing festivals all over Europe, he’s particularly excited to get back to playing his own shows, while this summer marked the point where he’d been touring for more than half his life.

“I did my first tour in 1998, which was 16 years ago, and now I’m 32, so yeah, half my life on the road.”

Turner was born in Muharraq in Bahrain. His father was a banker and was on a posting to the Middle East in the early Eighties, and Turner lived there for the first six months of his life.

“The main impact that it has on my life is that the place of birth on my passport is Muharraq. Try getting into the US with Muharraq written on your passport,” he says.

The life of a travelling folk singer perhaps seems unlikely for a former Eton pupil (Turner studied alongside Prince William at the elite school), and much has been made in the past of his background and political beliefs.

Turner describes himself as a “classic liberal” in line with many modern libertarians, but for now, at least, he’s concerning himself with his music and preparations for album six.

“I have a title, but I can’t tell you,” he says. He will reveal it’ll be an upbeat collection, after the breakup confessional of Tape Deck Heart. “I want it to be shorter, too.

We did a deluxe album for the last one, which seems confused to me in retrospect,” Turner adds. “I want the next one to be a 12-track album – simple and direct.”

  • Frank Turner begins a UK tour on September 11 and plays Hartlepool Borough Hall on September 24. Tickets from £22.50 ents24.com/hartlepool