Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

Formed in 2015, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes drew on full-bodied, hard-hitting punk rock laced with a hard rock undercurrent. The project was started by Carter, who had served as lead singer of the successful U.K. punk band Gallows, a group he co-founded in 2005. By 2011 creative differences over musical direction prompted his departure. The following year he introduced Pure Love, whose mainstream rock orientation and affirmative lyrics marked a clear shift. That outfit issued several singles and the 2013 album Anthems before Carter confirmed in April 2014 that its remaining recordings would appear digitally.

In March 2015 he unveiled Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, recruiting Dean Richardson (ex-Heights) on guitar, Thomas Mitchener (another Gallows veteran) on bass, and Memby Jago (previously with the Ghost of a Thousand) on drums. The new band’s aggressive approach recalled the intensity of Gallows, surfacing first on the 2015 EP Rotten and then on the full-length Blossom, released that August. Regular touring across the U.K. and Europe followed.

A 2016 lineup adjustment brought drummer Gareth Grover (formerly of Gallows and Haunts) and bassist Tom “Tank” Barclay into the fold, replacing Mitchener and Jago. Their second album, Modern Ruin, arrived in January 2017 and edged back toward the melodic alt-rock territory Carter had explored with Pure Love; the record performed strongly and positioned the band prominently on that year’s festival circuit. The 2019 release End of Suffering carried the same approach forward and featured the bruising single “Crowbar.”

When the Covid-19 pandemic curtailed the tour supporting their prior album, the group spent lockdown writing and recording their fourth effort, 2021’s Sticky, which included a guest vocal from Idles’ Joe Talbot on the opening track “My Town.”