Speaking on the new single, Carter explained, “We talk about how rock and roll will never die, but we never really talk about how maybe the idea of the rock star should die. The whole concept and what it means has always been this glamorised moment, but ultimately when I put that suit on, it didn’t go very well for me. I’m just witnessing the world change so quickly and I’m still trying to come to terms with who I am and what the authentic version of me is. By giving people what I thought they wanted I think I got further and further away from who I actually am.”

Guitarist Dean Richardson further shed some light on the new album, saying, “Normally we don’t look backwards when making a record, but this has been looking to reach us for a long time. Some songs are old ideas reworked, fresh eyes on something that didn’t quite fit on their other records. Some of these songs were lost along the way because basically we didn’t really give them the space.”

Emerging from the ashes of Carter’s split with hardcore band Gallows in 2015, Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes found mainstream success with their fun, often politically and socially charged mixture of hardcore punk and pop that characterises their sound. A highly charismatic and high energy frontman, Carter tempers his hard-hitting image and sound with a pledge to offer fans a safe environment at their shows, often encouraging equality and inclusivity.

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes will be heading out on an international tour with a UK and European leg set to kick off in February. Dark Rainbow is due for release on 26 January. Pre-order the album here. Purchase tickets to the tour here.

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes Tour:

06/02/2024 – The Great Hall – Cardiff
07/02 – O2 Academy – Bristol
09/02 – Academy – Manchester
10/02 – Northumbria Uni Student’s Union – Newcastle
11/02 – Barrowland – Glasgow
13/02 – O2 Academy – Leeds
14/02 – Wulfrun Hall – Wolverhampton
15/02 – Roundhouse – London
16/02 – Roundhouse – London
22/02 – Metropole – Berlin, Germany
23/02 – Live Music Hall – Cologne, Germany
24/02 – Bataclan – Paris, France
26/02 – AB Main Hall – Brussels, Belgium
27/02 – Poppodium – Tilberg, Netherlands

Perhaps the most exciting of the new additions to the line-up this year is English punk rock outfit Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, who will be appearing on the Second Stage on June 10^th. The band are replacing The Distillers, who have announced that they are postponing all of their forthcoming European festival appearances, stating on social media: “It is with great regret that The Distillers have been forced to postpone their upcoming European festival appearances and headline tour this June…The band express their sincere apologies to all of the fans and hope to return to Europe to play the headline shows as soon as they can, so please hold onto your tickets.”

Other Second Stage headliners include Airbourne, Megadeth, Mastodon, Steel Panther and The Darkness, and other acts who have recently been announced for the forthcoming festival include Birmingham grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, rock ‘n’ rollers Kris Barras Band, hip-hop group Pengshui and alt-rockers Aniilmalia.

This will mark the second year in a row that Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes will play at a Download event, having made an appearance at the experimental 2021 “Download Pilot”, which spearheaded the gradual return of camping festivals in the UK following the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought all live music in the UK to a standstill.

Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn recently told NME: “It’s just over 50 days until we open the gates to the campsite, and there are many, many people counting down every single one of those days…Also, it’s been nearly 1,100 days between Tool closing in 2019 and Heriot opening in 2022. That’s definitely too long without this festival.”

In other news regarding the festival, Download recently announced some new site improvements that will take effect this year which will tackle issues regarding inclusivity, accessibility and environmental related problems. “The Village” camping will be moved closer to the Arena, granting easier access to disabled fans, and a number of environmentally friendly camping schemes have been introduced.

Regarding the changes, Benn told NME: “The Download community embraces fans with disabilities probably more than any other festival, I would say…We’ve been listening to fans, and formerly the accessible campsite was a distance away from the campsite village and almost impassable during a wet year, so we’ve redesigned the campsite overall…The two are now much closer together and it’s nearer to the heart of the camping world…The walk from the campsites to the arena is now much shorter than it was before. It was a trek, but it’s much better now.”

You can read more about Download’s site improvements here.