First off, it was really exciting to hear that you were starting a band with Memby Jago.

He’s pretty special.

The intensity that both of you bring to what you do, his drumming and your vocals, is always on that same high level.

It’s a good combination. I feel the same about the other players as well. I’ve known Dean for a long time and actually written songs with him for years and years but it just never went anywhere and was never our time and now it really feels like it is. Mitch has this quiet sort of brooding intensity about him. I wanted to surround myself with people who I thought were really fucking special so it’s nice that he was a part of it as well. Mitch was the guy who actually recorded and produced the whole album for us. We got a pretty good sound just because of him.

Back in May you had your first show in a tattoo shop. How did that go? I understand you had some of your art on showcase too.

I think it went really well. I’ve made all of the artwork for the album and the singles so it was perfect and a really good fit. We probably won’t play anymore shows in a tattoo shop because there’s just too much shit you can break. It was nice for me because it was somewhere safe for me and not very safe for other people; I go and work there every day so it felt nice to move things around down there and do my other job which is punk rock. It’s just been good and everything so far has been going really well.

Has this tour been what you’ve expected?

No, it’s completely surpassed all my expectations actually. We’ve got a handful of songs, we’ve only got three songs out. I was quite surprised when we booked the tour, because I booked it myself, that it sold as well as it did. We sold six of these shows out completely which is kind of nuts.

St. Albans obviously?

Yeah, St. Albans went. But yeah, it’s been crazy and what’s happening is we’re seeing people come to the shows that just want to hear the music and really enjoy what they’re hearing. Obviously the three songs they know, those songs are exploding, but for the most part people are enjoying everything they hear which is really rare and nice.

I heard previously that this project might be you feeling like you wanted to write angry music again. Was there any particular moment that sparked those feelings?

Last year in 2014 I had a bit of a rough year and took quite a few hits along the way and that made it quite difficult for me and made it quite hard work. I don’t know whether that made me angry. It upset me, but I don’t know, I’m not sure.

Something great has come of it, either way.

Yeah, I think this is positivity through negativity. This band has been really really good for me. It’s keeping me focused and allowing me to push on and do new things and sort of make peace that was holding me up and trapping me a little bit so it’s been a bit of a lifesaver for me.

Where did the decision come from to put your name at the forefront of the band?

I think I didn’t want anyone else to share the responsibility. I wanted to not really have anyone to hide behind. I wanted it to be solely my thing. Putting my name out on the line, head in the noose (no pun intended), meant that I really had to deliver and that meant that I really stepped up to the plate when it came to writing lyrics. I think a lot of times in the past I’ve been written about in other bands because of performances and whatnot and I thought this was my chance to stake my claim personally in the world of music. Not with a band, not with a scene, not with a sound. Just “Frank is here, this is what Frank does, this is what he’s always done.” Sort of a flag in the sand type thing.

You’ve been in bands for years now and performing for ages. What’s significantly different about this project and why should people come and see Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes?

First and foremost, what separates it from those bands is that it’s fresh, it’s brand new and the latest thing. As a person you’re only really as good as your latest output, your last offering. I think this is my best work yet so if people wanna check it out they will; if they don’t, they won’t. I’m not trying to convince anybody. Obviously I’d like the world to love it but it’s just important for me and an important band for me. What that means is when I go play songs live that it’s honest, it’s an honest delivery, it’s true and it’s real. I think there’s not really much of that around lately. A lot of bands are more concerned about their brand, their status, their image. I’m not concerned with any of those things – I’m concerned with delivering a good performance because it helps me. I just go out and do what I do. If i’m sick then I go and do it while I’m sick. If I’m feeling really strong, I go out and do it while I’m strong. There’s not really much difference in it and every night it is the best performance I can give then and there.

I think people should come and see it because it’s helped me a lot and the songs have the ability to really resonate with people. I’m writing about things that affect everybody. I’ve always done that, but with this record specifically I’m writing about things that I don’t think I’ve ever really covered before. It’s been quite an eye-opener for me. A few people have come up to me saying, “The song ‘Beautiful Death’ has really stuck with me”. I’m hoping once people hear the album they’ve got a chance to read the lyrics and get that.

Previously, you’ve ran through what some of the new songs are about, for example, Paradise being to do with suicide bombers, terrorists and other similar terrible atrocities. What can people expect from the songs on the album that they haven’t heard yet?

It’s quite a bleak record, but there is hope in there as well. It’s mostly trying to find my place in the world and all the adjustments that come with growing up. That’s something I’ve had to do a lot of in the past year specifically. We lost people really close to us last year and that was really traumatic and quite devastating. On the other hand, my daughter was born so I was trying to adjust to being a father and the responsibility of that. So, I think this is just another step in my life. I’ve always tried to write autobiographically where I can because that helps me and it feels honest. I think this is definitely my most autobiographical work in certain places, and in others it’s just an honest opinion of how I’m feeling.

The album is coming out soon anyway and it’s called ‘Blossom’. The juxtaposition of the title is interesting with what you just described about the record. When is that out?

It’s out on August 14th, worldwide. We’ve just put it out ourselves with the help of a company called KLS, a label services company. What that means is they allow you to make the decisions which is something I was really eager for. Again, putting my name on the front, I wanted the weight of responsibility to end with me.

The point of the name was that we had a an EP called ‘Rotten’ and we had a song called ‘Rotten Blossom’. The song ties the EP and the album together. Blossom is a beautiful thing obviously but it’s here and it’s gone like the rest of us. It’s almost like a generational thing in a way. It’s brand new every spring and then it dies off. There’s a line in one of the songs that says “When we die is it really the end / Is it more than we can comprehend / Are we absolved, are we forgiven / Do we just die or are we risen / When we die is it really the end / Do we lay down, do we transcend / Are we lost, are we forgotten / Do we blossom or are we just rotten“. The song is all about me trying to find understanding about what happens when we die. It’s not anything I’ve really ever contemplated or spent time thinking about before and all of a sudden this last year, it’s all I’ve had on my mind because we lost a parent and it was just shit. It was really fucking hard. For me that’s one of the most important songs on the record. It’s very aggressive, very fast and there’s a lot of lyrics in it. Lyrically, I think it’s my best work and I’m really proud of it. It’s how I felt when that happened – confused and lost and I wanted answers and nobody had any for me. It makes me feel better singing it. All these songs make me feel better when I sing them which is what a record should do for you and for everyone.

Doing that for the rest of the summer is going to be really good. You’ve got your first festival appearance.

Yep.

With this band that is, but you’ve played Reading And Leeds tonnes of times before.

This year is my seventh appearance at Reading And Leeds which I’m pretty stoked about.

You went when you were younger too, right?

Oh man I grew up going – I went every year. I love that festival so to go and be a part of the music and hopefully have the same effect that bands like Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, At The Drive-In and Deftones had for me, that feels really special.

Pre-order the debut album from Frank Carter & The Rattle Snakes and check out upcoming tour dates by clicking HERE and check out footage of their first show using the player below:

JAMES FOX

upsetmagazine.com/listen/listen-to-we-never-learned-to-lives-debut-album-in-its-entirety

‘Heavily Anticipated’ is a term that gets thrown about a lot these days but this is one instance where it couldn’t be more appropriate. Run For Cover records release the album on June 23rd and you can pre-order it now. Click HERE to listen.

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TRACKLISTING
1. Juggernaut
2. Trouble
3. Fangs
4. Devil Inside Me
5. Paradise
6. Loss
7. Beautiful Death
8. Rotten Blossom
9. Primary Explosive
10. I Hate You

The band have also today started their UK headline tour, details of which are found on the tour poster below. Tickets are available from the band’s website www.andtherattlesnakes.com

facebook.com/frankcarterandtherattlesnakes

How was your first show in the UK?

Nicky: It was good, yeah good.

You’ve been busy with Europe over the past month. How’s that been?

Nicky: It’s been good. All the shows have been good – there’s been a couple sleepers here and there, but there’s been some good surprising shows that were crazy. Paris was really great.
Brandon: Kortrijk was sick.

I saw on your guitar the sticker saying ‘terrible feelings’. What is that?

Nicky: Yeah that’s a punk band from Sweden, they are really good.

Quite a few historic bands that you might be linked to have reformed recently like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Ride. What do you think about that and the current resurgence of shoegaze music?

Nicky: For me, it’s tight to see those bands again, but as much as we owe our sound to them I feel like they owe bands like us a little bit.
Brandon: Without bands like us, no-one would care for their reunions. It’s cool that they’re all coming back but who would give a shit without bands that are making young people realise that that era was cool?
Nicky: But it’s cool. I can’t wait to see Ride. We’ve just seen Slowdive recently.
Brandon: And My Bloody Valentine, so we’ve seen it all so far.

In the past, Nicky, you’ve spoken about how you’re quite a big reader and how that’s influenced you personally.

Nicky: I try. There was a time when it was a lot easier, but I still try to keep on it.

Have you had any books out with you on this tour?

Nicky: I just finished Sherwood Anderson’s ‘Winesberg Ohio’. I read it a long time ago but I barely even remembered it because I think I was just really stressed out at the time. I don’t think my brain was even saturated with anything I read.

You also mentioned, more specifically, how you’ve been influenced by existentialists like Dostoevsky and Sartre. Have you picked up any books that are more recent that you’d recommend that explore similar themes?

Nicky: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone because it’s a life-changing book that makes you really hate everything that’s going on all the time. But if you’re into that kind of self-punishment then you should pick up ‘Conspiracy Against the Human Race’ by Thomas Ligotti. I won’t even get into detail, just read it if you want.

You’ve said previously, related to your taste in literature and art, that you described yourself as pessimistic or cynical. Is there anything you’ve ever found and been interested in that is the complete opposite of that?

Nicky: No, I’m attracted to things that are a little bit on the bleaker side. I don’t know why, it’s a terrible quality. My favourite thing is to sit late at night and talk to these guys about how bleak everything is and put myself into this horrible frenzy sitting in a hotel room at five in the morning.
Brandon: We’ll be there at five in the morning in a hotel and this dude will roll in and be like “YO! Nothing means nothing at all. Everything is so fucked up, nothing means anything. We’re all fucked.”

The video for your latest track ‘Chloroform’ ends on a pretty dark note.

Nicky: Doesn’t everything now?
Brandon: It was fun for us. We had a good day. It was an excuse to drink at 11am.

Who’s the guy that kidnaps you?

Brandon: Our friend Kyle. Kyle Kostel, big ups to him.
Nicky: He plays in a band called Sad Actor from Philadelphia and they’re fucking great.
Brandon: He’s a natural creep but his band are good.

Was he chosen because he’s a natural creep then?

Brandon: Yeah! He was in this band Trouble Everyday and they toured with Interpol and The Killers back in the day. And now he owns his own bar and he’s killing it. We’re just like “You’re a fucking creepy weirdo. Be in our video” and he loved it.

That track is from the split 12” you did with Whirr, and they’re a band that have been giving you praise for a few years now. They seem like a band you’re quite close to?

Brandon: They’re our best friends in the world.
Nicky: Family.

For people that don’t know them, how would you describe them?

Nicky: To me, it would be freshman year at high school sitting at a table with all your homies – no fucks given, joking, laughing. Every time we get around those dudes it’s like the real world doesn’t exist and it’s back to being 16, throwing caution to the wind and having a good time. That’s my interpretation of those guys. That’s why we stole Nick Bassett from them because we’re all miserable when we’re together and Nick kind of just like pours sugar on top of us.

On July white flags resembling those on your album artwork were raised on Brooklyn Bridge in New York, where there are usually the stars and stripes.

Brandon: Yeah, that was us. There’s an American flag there now. We can’t really give out names but…
Nicky: It was a press stunt. We’ve had some legal issues over it but we’ve got really good lawyers. We’ve got the best lawyers there are. So fuck them.

What does that white flag on the front of the album represent for you guys?

Brandon: Surrender.

Typically, yeah. But why did you gravitate towards that on the album? What did that surrendering represent?

Nicky: I think it’s about time for everyone to stop acting like they don’t really know what the fuck is going on in this world and I think things could turn a little bit more – not necessarily more positive – but different from what it is now which is a complete pile of dog-shit.
Brandon: It’s oddly positive in a world of people that live in shit and just wake up and deal with all of life’s bullshit. We’re just like “We can’t do this anymore, so let’s make some songs or whatever” because we literally can’t continue doing the real world shit. So we can’t sort of get above that and write songs about it and see what happens.

On this tour you brought Milk Teeth out with you. Did you manage to see them tonight?

Nicky: Yeah, they’re great. We’ve been following them for about eight months now. I started harassing them as soon I heard them. We were on tour in the US and I heard them and said “Yo, when we get to Europe we’ve gotta get this band.” They all thought it was tight. I was so persistent and started blowing up their Facebook page with messages like “Yo! Motherfuckers. You’re gonna play these shows with us or we’re gonna beat you the fuck up.”

Looking ahead for you guys with the split 12” that’s just come out, do you have any other future plans or anything else in terms of recordings?

Brandon: We’ve been writing some stuff. We haven’t had time off really since the record came out; we’ve just been touring crazy hard. We all have our own shit going on back home so it’s really hard to sit down with a guitar. I’d rather throw my guitar off the edge of a bridge and never see it again but we’ve been writing some shit and transitioning into some different stuff that’s still along the lines of what we’re doing now. We’ll write another LP and hopefully people will still give a fuck so we don’t have to get jobs ever again.

It’s always good to hear what bands are listening to right now. What new music have you been listening to? Anything other than what we’ve already discussed?

Brandon: All I’ve been listening to recently is Fear Of Men – ‘Loom’. They’re a Brighton band. The Alvvays self-titled from Canada and ‘Conversations’ by another English band, Woman’s Hour, is a great record. Aside from that, Code Orange – ‘I Am King’. A lot of good records came out this year.
Nicky: Not as close as ours but they’re pretty close. There are some close seconds and thirds.
Brandon: Whirr’s ‘Sway’ is in there too.
Nicky: Oh, and put on that Merchandise record too because that record is my favourite record of the year so far, besides our own. I listen to our record more than anything because it’s so fucking good, but that record slays, honestly.

JAMES FOX

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twitter.com/bandofnothing

Joining them on the tour are Silver Snakes, Talons and New Native and the full list of dates along with the poster are below.

JAN 2015
27 Bristol – The Exchange
28 Nottingham – Rescue Room
29 Glasgow – Audio
30 Manchester – Sound Control
31 London – Underworld

facebook.com/pianosbecometheteeth

Check it out using the player below and purchase the album via Tangled Talk Records/Big Scary Monsters in the UK, Pure Noise in the US and Ice Grills in Japan.

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Failure By Design Records have just released their 3rd compilation today in celebration of their 1st Birthday. The 19 tracks are available as PWYW download from their bandcamp page and features College, Bluebird, Wallflower, Nathan Detroit, Water Canvas, Trails and more. What’s more, 100% of the profits raised from the compilation go towards homeless charity Crisis in an effort to keep more people off the streets this Christmas. You can read more about the Charity HERE and take a listen to the compilation using the player below.

Failure By Design on Facebook

New South London band Wallflower have revealed their debut EP ‘Summer Daze’ in full, available for streaming and PWYW download via their bandcamp page. Give this thing a listen if you’re fan of powerful grunge-tinged emo in the vein of Balance And Composure, Brand New and Basement.

Last week they teased us with a listen to the first track from the EP, ‘Skin’. As well as their bandcamp, the EP is also available on Spotify and iTunes. Click the link below to head to take a listen and download.

wallfloweruk.bandcamp.com

facebook.com/wallfloweruk