Frank Carter and Dean Richardson of Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes dropped by "Out of the Box" with Jonathan Clarke to discuss their band's new album, Modern Ruin.
Carter explains that the album artwork for Modern Ruin is actually a photo of his dog, Bluebelle, which Richardson deconstructed into code. The band then embedded lyrics into that code and Richardson digitally reconstructed the photo into the image that makes up the album cover.
"The record is entirely about the digital age that we're living in and, kind of, how that applies to human relationships and stuff," Carter says.
Of the cover, he added, "It was a perfect representation of how you can interact with anything, and you can ruin it or also make it ten times more beautiful than it was in the beginning."
Most of Modern Ruin, Carter says was written in 2015, right after the band's debut record, Blossom, was released. He says the band has been itching to play more of its new songs live, and now with Modern Ruin available everywhere, they can.
Reception to Modern Ruin by both fans and critics has been highly positive. The album knocked The Rolling Stones out of the Top 10 in the UK, which, Carter says, impressed the heck out of his father.
"It was a big moment for us," he says.
But Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes aren't satisfied by success on the charts. The band has also turned its efforts towards innovating how people receive and enjoy music. Modern Ruin is available in vinyl, CD and book (!) form.
"We decided that people were struggling to spend money on music in any format, so we wanted to give them as many options as we could -- but also as much content as we could provide," Carter says.
The book form of the record includes some of Carter's self-described "deranged prose," which comes about as he writes lyrics, as well as screen grabs of text conversations among the band and photos to give fans an inside look at the making of Modern Ruin.
Check out the entire interview above, along with an acoustic performance of the song "Wildflowers." Keep up with Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes on tour at the band's official website here or on its Facebook page here.
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Check out the official music video for Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes' single "Lullaby."
Photos: Andrew Magnotta