Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

Making their name with full-bodied, hard-hitting punk rock reinforced with a hard rock undercurrent, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes were formed in 2015 by <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a>, former lead singer with the successful U.K. punk band <a href="spotify:artist:0LpwbxbT8dPiqUnul4ngzu">Gallows</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> was a founding member of <a href="spotify:artist:0LpwbxbT8dPiqUnul4ngzu">Gallows</a> in 2005, but in 2011 he came to an impasse with the group over their musical direction. <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> left the band and debuted a new group, <a href="spotify:artist:2KV7qDNZM2xuNvpxWJErJg">Pure Love</a>, in 2012, whose sound was more indebted to mainstream rock and had a more positive lyrical stance. <a href="spotify:artist:2KV7qDNZM2xuNvpxWJErJg">Pure Love</a> released a handful of singles and one album, 2013's Anthems, but in April 2014, <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> announced the digital release of the group's final recordings. In March 2015, <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> launched a new project, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, with <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> on lead vocals, Dean Richardson (formerly of Heights) on guitar, Thomas Mitchener (another alumnus of <a href="spotify:artist:0LpwbxbT8dPiqUnul4ngzu">Gallows</a>) on bass, and Memby Jago (who'd previously worked with <a href="spotify:artist:7uw1sdrPQ0KF1BqLdz3wWA">the Ghost of a Thousand</a>) on drums. With a sound that returned <a href="spotify:artist:4MgDcvwMUlJVx2KbG6E8ik">Carter</a> to the forceful sound of <a href="spotify:artist:0LpwbxbT8dPiqUnul4ngzu">Gallows</a>, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes made their recorded debut with the 2015 EP Rotten, and in August 2015 they dropped their first full-length album, Blossom. The band was soon touring regularly in the U.K. and Europe, and in 2016 they introduced a new lineup, with Mitchener and Jago replaced by a new rhythm section of drummer Gareth Grover (formerly of <a href="spotify:artist:0LpwbxbT8dPiqUnul4ngzu">Gallows</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3Q4lDnYn3dvv9FKGwcg7JW">Haunts</a>) and bassist Tom "Tank" Barclay. Carter & the Rattlesnakes' second album, Modern Ruin, was released in January 2017 and saw a slight return to the more melodic alt-rock sound the frontman had explored with <a href="spotify:artist:2KV7qDNZM2xuNvpxWJErJg">Pure Love</a>, with positive results -- the album sold well, and the band was a major draw that year on the festival circuit. 2019's End of Suffering, which included the bruising single "Crowbar," continued in a similar vein. With the tour for their previous album cut short by Covid-19, the band used the time throughout lockdown to write and produce their fourth record, 2021's Sticky, which featured a guest appearance from <a href="spotify:artist:75mafsNqNE1WSEVxIKuY5C">Idles</a>' Joe Talbot on the lead track "My Town." ~ Mark Deming