FRANK Carter and The Rattlesnakes conclude their February tour at a sold-out Fibbers in York tomorrow night (doors, 7pm).

This will be the first chance for Carter’s York fans to hear songs from this spring’s new album, End Of Suffering, his cri-de-coeur follow-up to Blossom and Modern Ruin, released on May 3 on the International Death Cult label.

“When our management said ‘what do you want to do in the winter?’, we said it needs to be small venues, so it’s going to be fun in York,” says Frank. “Look, these venues are where we cut our teeth, and in my mind, there’s no better place to play. You can’t escape the energy. It’s like a proper cauldron.”

Recorded in six months that took in the heatwave that engulfed London last year, the album named after the Buddhist term for enlightenment is trailered as a “40-minute rock’n’rollercoaster of molten-hot bangers, scorched-soul ballads and grunge lullabies laced through with a lacerating lyrical honesty”.

“Definitely the third album is the most important album a band can make; the first two are the years of youth built around lots of energy, without too much pain for you,” says Frank. “By the third, people know your music and it can go wrong; all eyes are on you.

“I made a pact with Dean [co-songwriter Dean Richardson]: ‘you’re getting me to a third album even if we hate each other by then’...but we’re still great friends. This is my first time I’ve made it to a third album!”

What now? “We’d like to be the biggest rock band in the world. If you’re not aiming that high, you’re doing a great disservice to yourself and your music.”