Photo: Press/Lucy Bridger
It's been one hell of a year for Scottish alt-folk heroes Frightened Rabbit.
They were deservedly named Gigwise readers' favourite album of 2013 so far with their stunning fourth LP, Pedestrian Verse - and have since gone on to conquer the hearts and minds of a whole new audience the world over.
Rising from underdogs to radio airplay and a show headlining Brixton Academy booked in for the end of the year, we met up with Scott Hutchison before their triumphant set at Glastonbury to discuss the past, present, future, The National, selling out and what drove him to say that 'Mumford & Sons are shit'.
Hello, official Gigwise readers' favourite band of 2013 Frightened Rabbit.
Oh yeah! Thank you very much.
Now that we're here, who would play your dream Glastonbury?
The National and Wilco. I'd love to collaborate with Jeff Tweedy and I say that in every interview just to try and make it fucking happen. I don't throw the word idol around a lot because I think it's bullshit, but he's the closest thing that I have to that. The Phantom Band, and TV On The Radio. I'd also have The Twilight Sad - I love them as a band but I'd love to have my mates there. I could make a phone call to get Idlewild back together. I'd love to curate my own festival - that would be amazing.
With their being no Glastonbury in 2012 and with everything that you've achieved in 2013, does coming back to play this year feel like some kind of victory lap for you?
Yeah, we've played once before and that was at a time when not as many people knew about the band and now it almost feels like everything that has happened this year has been working towards Glastonbury. We're playing T In The Park, Reading, Leeds and a couple of others so it doesn't quite feel like a victory lap. We're not victorious, but it will be incredible.
What does 'victory' mean for Frightened Rabbit?
I don't think that Frightened Rabbit's outlook every really allows us to experience victory! I'm always expecting the worst, so victory for me would just be surviving the evening and getting back to my bed.
We caught up with Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit backstage at Glastonbury
If Brixton feels like a milestone, where do you go from there?
I don't know! In the US, instead of stepping up into larger venues, we've just been playing multiple shows in smaller venues. That's not through fear, it's because anything larger seems a bit ridiculous and unnecessary. Brixton to me feels a bit large for us and it's going to be difficult to maintain. From there, it might not be anything that I ever have to consider but I'm not sure I'd ever want to go into arenas.
With pyros?
Oh definitely. We're actually in the process of building a massive light-up cross for the next tour. It should be neon and flash and stuff but that's about the best I can do. If it's not well-made then it might set itself on fire, but we'll see.
So with The National doing well and a band like Biffy Clyro headlining Reading and Leeds, how do you feel about the standing of guitar music at the moment?
There's a lot of terrible music in every genre and I think that there's a lot of 'throwback' guitar music, but there's also a lot of scope for guitar music to be interesting and broaden it. I don't think it's dead, it just need invigoration.
How are you feeling about your upcoming US tour with The National in September?
How many bands must want to be in that position? In the past we've played with Death Cab and Biffy and bands that have worked their way up naturally in the same way that we have and that's something that I admire and appreciate. So to open for them is going to be inspiring and magical.
In light of that, you've said before that since leaving Fat Cat to sign to a major, Atlantic have put any pressure on you to be anything in particular or push you for hits. Since the album has come out has much changed?
I think that our fanbase has changed a little bit. The label wasn't pushing for it but we did end up getting a fair amount of Radio One coverage and that changes things. It's broadened the range of our fan base and that's not really our choice any more. I've always wanted to be heard by as many people as possible. This may sound very defensive, but we didn't contrive to make an album that would get on the radio. We've always had a pop sensibility and we love choruses. The UK tour we did at the start of the year was as the album came out so it was the old crowd. I think it will be interesting to see how much that has changed at festivals and Brixton. I'm not conscious of it.
You guys seem a lot more comfortable on stage these days then you did on the tour for Winter of Mixed Drinks.
Yeah, I'd say we are. There's a few boring things like having techs and monitors and stuff which eases everything. Back then I only had one guitar and if I broke a string then I was fucked. It's eased a lot of the pressure and now all I have to worry about is being in the band without any other weird pressures around me.
Have you had any thoughts about the next album?
Not really. We're still writing music for releases in the mean time. We didn't really have a break between the last record and this one so maybe we'd like to take six months to sort ourselves out. I'm just trying to survive at this point.
Do you have any idea where you'd like to take the Frightened Rabbit sound?
I don't want to lose what I think we gained on this record and I'd like to take that idea further. We're still too close to this album to understand what we did wrong with it but that will transpire over time and we'll base the next record on the mistakes that we made this time around.
With Mumford headlining Glasto, how much shit have you got for your criticism of them?
Absolutely none. I said 'I think they're shit, I fucking hate that band' but the context is that I'd been doing interviews all day and in almost every single one, their name came up. That comparison is no longer valid. I think there may be some Frightened Rabbit songs that have something in common with Mumford & Sons but not really. So that really started to grate on me and I had a cocktail before my last interview. This interviewer almost goaded me into it. She said 'what do you think about the Mumford & Sons comparison' so I said 'that comes up a lot, I can see certain similarities in some places. So then she said 'I don't see it, I think your band is a lot better than them and I fucking hate them' so I replied 'Oh yeah me too - I hate them'. Then it got used as the headline and got all blown up. I can appreciate what they're doing and they make people happy and there's nothing wrong with that, I just wouldn't want to put it on my stereo. I'm sure I'll get the opportunity to walk past them at a festival this year if they don't get helicoptered in, and I would happily go and shake their hands. I feel that was taken right out of context and exaggerated. So it was a combo of fatigue, cocktails and the wrong context? Yes, it's a heady, heady combination.
Thank you Scott from F'Rabbit. We look forward to seeing you in Brixton.
Thanks very much. It's always a pleasure.
Frightened Rabbit are set to appear at Reading and Leeds festivals this summer as well as T In The Park and End of the Road. They will also be headlining Brixton Academy in London on Friday 8 November, 2013. For more information on all dates, visit Gigwise gig tickets.
