Interview Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes: “I want to be a fucking meteor”

It absolutely does make sense. While Frank is certainly more than on his way to punk rock icon status, that doesn’t mean the professionalism should take a hit. In fact, he makes a concerted effort to stay grounded “Hype is one thing, but we deliver,” he claims. “We’re a band that, when we get on stage, we put everything we have out there. I think it’s justified. Hype normally exists around something that is yet to be seen, it comes before, but people have seen us for a whole year now ,so they know what to expect. I think the hype is over, now it’s just face”.

The often cruel hype beast he’s talking about is known more for its victims than its survivors. Luckily Frank Carter found himself on the right side of it. “It can be as bad as it can be good,” he weighs up. “For us it was very good because people didn’t really know what to expect; they were just excited, and what they got was everything they wanted and more. What they’re getting now is exactly what we want to give them,” Frank adds. “What we’ve made is a record that we love and hopefully they will love it because of that”.

Speaking of such pride is easy for Frank Carter, and his outspoken, honest nature has followed him through his career. Whatever you once thought about Frank Carter he’s here to re-write that, as he explains passionately. “Everybody’s got an opinion of me, whether it’s a new opinion or an old opinion,” he starts. “I think a lot of people - because I’ve been in music for such a long time - has some kind of idea of me. What I’m really enjoying at the minute is kind of undoing all of that and recalculating those opinions of people. It’s been a lot of fun”.

For all his confidence and focus, Frank knows the world has changed and he’s up against it. “It’s hard these days because people don’t really want to buy music, so you have to sell them anything else you can can that isn’t music,” he states. He’s of course talking about the deluxe version of the album that comes in the form of a hardback book.“We just had this great idea that we could use a lot of the content we’d collected while putting ‘Modern Ruin’ together, and we compiled it into a book. You get quite a intimate, personal look at the band and our process,” Frank explains. “The smartest part about it was it’s chart registrable, so everybody that buys a book, that counts as a record sale. It’s an interesting way of doing things and I hope that one day it can kind of become industry standard”.

On the matter of why people simply aren’t spending money on the music itself, he’s got clear opinions. “It’s so bizarre that the art form that transcends most barriers and boundaries, is the one that’s most widely accepted, yet is the one that people want to pay for the least”. He continues this thought: “I’ve just never understood it. I could spend my life trying to understand why that is, or I can just adapt and make something that people do want to buy,” he says, adding, “it’s everybody else that needs to worry”. With classic wry humour he hits the nail on the head as to how The Rattlesnakes should be quite alright in the future. “The problem is finding artists that have enough to say to fill out a whole book,” he quips. “Luckily I don’t have that problem, so we’ll be alright”.

Concluding in just about the only way Frank Carter can, he sums up exactly what Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes are all about. “For me, it’s all about trying to think outside the box,” he finalises. “I said recently that if you don’t adapt to the speed that the world is moving at, then you become a dinosaur. The dinosaurs are all extinct for a reason. I don’t want to be a dinosaur, I want to be a fucking meteor”.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes' new album 'Modern Ruin' is out now.

Tags: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Features, Interviews