Who’s Frank Carter?
Carter is amongst the fiercest of British punk rock frontmen, kicking off his career as the lead of the tumultuous five piece ‘Gallows’ in 2005, before leaving the band in 2011 to join ‘Pure Love’. But Frank didn’t settle for the velvety indie rock of ‘Pure Love’, instead starting his most acclaimed project ‘Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes’ in 2015 with guitarist Dean Richardson.
Nine years and five albums later, ‘The Rattlesnakes’ announced an indefinite hiatus. This followed the news that Carter would be joining the Rottenless ‘Sex Pistols’ as frontman. What started as a benefit gig to save London’s Bush Hall venue snowballed into a world tour, including a charity gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall along with a secret gig at the 100 Club.
There’s been a mixed reception from fans of the Sex Pistols. Some believe no one can fill the shoes of their estranged frontman Johnny Rotten, whilst others are happy to see him replaced – especially after his various xenophobic rants over the last decade.
Rose of Mercy
Frank’s not just a frontman, he’s also a seasoned tattooer of 20 years, starting off his career in Soho’s world renowned Frith Street Tattoo parlour. After years of tattooing across the world, he returned to London in 2014, working at Sang Bleu between The Rattlesnakes’ tours.
In 2020, just weeks before the Covid-19 lockdown, Frank opened his own tattoo shop, ‘Rose of Mercy’ (ROM). Branded as a “progressive tattoo shop”, ROM prided itself on inclusivity and hosted a range of artists from across the tattoo world. This included the likes of Adam Hudson, Connor W and, most excitingly, the opportunity to be tattooed by the man himself, Frank Carter.
ROM tattoo sheets (C) Rudi Banfield
Closing weekend pop up shop
To mark the closure of ROM, Frank and Adam Hudson collaborated for a long weekend of tattoos, exclusive merch and art.
As a diehard Rattlesnakes fan, I couldn’t resist heading down to the studio for a nosey and a chat.
After a torturously long cappuccino fueled journey from Lewes Station to Hoxton Street, at the unholy hour of 7am on a Sunday, I finally made it to ROM and joined the queue of eager fans hoping to get tattooed by Frank.
As I entered the shop, I saw a huge plastic box full of signed prints, records, books and photos and was told by staff to take us much as I wanted for free. Frank clearly had a lot of stuff to clear out, but for me it was all my birthdays coming at once.
Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but it seems like punk music attracts the best people… Each and every fan I met at the event was up for a chat. One of them even took a photo of the design on my T-shirt suggesting she was going to get it tattooed.
Frank Carter’s flash tattoos left, Hudson’s designs on the right (C) Rudi Banfield
To commemorate the day, I ended up getting a bright red rose tattooed from Adam Hudson’s flash sheet. He’s a lovely guy and I’ve been a fan of his work for some years. Hudson specialises in black and grey traditional tattooing, characterised by bold shading and thick lines, making for iconic tattoos that last the test of time (unlike fine line tattoos).
The traditional tattoo style emerged from sailors of the 18th-20th century, amongst the most iconic of which being Sailor Jerry, a founding father of traditional tattooing. The style continued to develop, picked up by the likes of Don Ed Hardy who crossed the traditional Japanese style into American traditional.
As I lay on the tattoo bed, a print in the corner of the shop caught my eye and I decided to make Frank an offer for his Richard Stell piece. Stell was an iconic traditional tattoo artist from Oklahoma, famous for his bold and colour-saturated designs. Not only was he a top-class artist, but he was also an expert craftsman, famously continuing to tattoo during a power cut using a makeshift electric supply from a laptop USB cable.
Happy as I was with my purchase, the journey from Hoxton Street to London Bridge on a rammed boiling hot bus carrying a fully framed metre-long painting was rather fear-inducing.
There is a certain accessibility to Frank Carter that makes his music all the more enjoyable. He makes time to talk with fans, livestreams painting sessions on Twitch and hosts various meet and greet tattoo opportunities for fans to come and chat or get tattooed.
It was sad to see his shop closing after so many years in which it provided a meeting place for fans and a beacon for modern traditional tattooing.
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