Interview: Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit

Conducted by Capt. Obvious


Obvious: Your last album The Midnight Organ Fight seemed to be fueled by heartbreak. Is it ever difficult staying emotionally connected to that material as time passes? How do you keep a fresh perspective on those songs when you're constantly playing them live?

Hutchison: The songs' initial sentiment certainly dulls over time, and the only thing that keeps them fresh are all the people who come to see the shows. These songs perhaps mean more to others than they do to me at this point in time - don't get me wrong, I still love the songs but its the energy that the audience brings that keeps them exciting for me. People come and sing with such passion and gusto, that its hard not to get caught up in that.

Obvious: There was a noticeable evolution in the band's sound from Sing the Greys to The Midnight Organ Fight. I hear you've finished recording a new album that's slated for release early next year. How would you describe the new album in terms of the band's progression in sound?

Hutchison: It's a lot more delicately layered. On the last record, there wasn't enough time to get the songs to sound just as I wanted them to. This time round, we were able to add more detail and the result is a richer, better record. I think its a great deal more mature and I feel much more confident in the material than I did last time.

Obvious: Much of the lyrical content on The Midnight Organ Fight was metaphorically driven and paralleled a broken relationship with the atrophy of the human body. Have you noticed any recurring lyrical themes on the newly recorded album?

Hutchison: The body stuff is still in there, but the overriding theme seems to be the sea this time round - I recorded most of the demos in a tiny village on the East coast of Scotland, so it seeped into the music. I think it's less directly about me - my life's been eventful over the past year, but pleasantly so. I had to move more into storytelling than on the last record, and the result is a bit more oblique.

Obvious: I've read that the band's name stems from you not being entirely comfortable with social situations as a child. You seem very comfortable on stage. Can you expound a bit on that juxtaposition between your public persona as the lead singer of a band and your personal, more private persona? How does meeting and interacting with fans play into this?

Hutchison: I love meeting fans. Frightened Rabbit fans are all fucking awesome people, which helps. I think the stage persona thing took me by surprise too, but ever since my first show as a solo performer, I've felt confident that what I'm doing is worth something and that helps with the confidence thing. However, if you throw me into a party full of strangers, I'll still struggle to make small talk.

Obvious: You just finished an American tour with fellow Scots and labelmates The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks. How was that experience and how do American audiences compare to those in Scotland?

Hutchison: They are actually surprisingly similar. Our audiences here in Scotland have a sense of national pride in their own bands, and that comes across when you play a live show here. There's nowhere in the world that matches that. The level of excitement on this US tour was great, though. It was such a great bill and I'm a massive fan of both of those bands - I was as excited as anyone else about watching the shows night after night. It felt like a big fun school trip.

Obvious: I don't think you sound the least bit like Adam Duritz. Do you ever want to cause physical harm to those who constantly bring that comparison up?

Hutchison: Haha! Not physical harm - I'm not much of a puncher. Its often intended as a compliment, so I usually graciously accept it and then never talk to that person ever again. EVER.


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit

Listen:
Stream Frightened Rabbit's new single "Swim Until You Can't See Land" here.

Tags: Scott Hutchison, Interview, Frightened Rabbit