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SXSW2010: 10 questions for Frightened Rabbit
In recent years, Frightened Rabbit has led the pack of Scottish bands have made their mark on SXSW. They’re back again this year, as they get ready to follow up their successful 2008 album “The Midnight Organ Fight” with “The Winter of Mixed Drinks.” The band is bigger than ever, having added a member to create music that is more layered and complex than their previous work. We talked with front Rabbit Scott Hutchison about the new album, touring and what it’s like as a band at the festival.
How has the band grown since the last album?
We’ve grown in the most literal sense, from four to five members, but we’ve grown in ambition as well. I suppose that happens with every record, but more than last time we were able to execute our mission because we had much more time to finish the record. Experience makes you more confident, more able and things just become easier. This is our first record where we didn’t all have a couple of jobs here and there, where we felt like we’re a proper band and this is what we do.
What made you decide to go for a bigger sound on the new album?
It’s something that we had to, to get it out of our system, to make a big record. It has layers, horns and strings. The decision was made because there’s a small part of me that didn’t think we got it right the last of couple of times. I don’t regret it, it doesn’t keep me up at night, but this time around we wanted to make sure that we put everything into it. As a result it may be a little overblown in places, I’ll be the first to admit it, but it’s what we needed to do.
Did you put a lot of pressure on yourselves when you put the album together?
Yeah, we all do. The most important thing when you have that is to convert what could become negative pressure to something positive. That’s what drives us now, living up to that pressure.
What have you learned with the amount of touring you’ve done?
There are so many things. You learn how to become a professional in a lot of ways. It’s the same with every job. You’re green to start out with; you don’t know quite what you’re doing, you don’t know how to work with people. For me an important part of this is growing from being quite socially awkward and not really knowing how to deal with people to acquiring those skills. You also learn about your own material, playing it out every night, the things that you don’t like, things that you do like.
You often reinvent your material for a live audience. How does that process work?
It’s a gut instinct thing. Some things, when sticking rigidly to how it’s played on the record, it can feel staid and boring. We’re at the stage now where a lot of our audience has seen us multiple times. Just going out there with the same old stuff seems like we’re ripping them off. It’s a really important process for everyone.
What is it like spending so much time on the road?
It’s a different mental state you need to get in to for touring. It’s not normal life in a lot of ways. Playing every night you find you get into a routine and are on automatic pilot for some of the time—load in, load out. I’m not saying that about the show. The show is the reason for doing all of the (expletive) you have to do during the day. Drive all day, get really bored, and then you have this wonderful hour and a half. You have to keep that goal in mind.
What is the Glasgow music scene like?
It’s a small city, you see the same people out and about all the time. I don’t live in Glasgow anymore, I did for years but I moved last summer. We’ve never felt like we’re part of a scene, and that’s an OK way to be. We have lots of friends in Glasgow, I have friends in great bands, and that’s perhaps what would be considered a scene. It’s a really healthy community; that’s probably a better way to describe it. There’s constantly new stuff happening, which I can’t keep up with. It’s a healthy city that’s got so much going on arts-wise. It’s kind of like Austin.
Is this you first time at SXSW?
We’ve played twice.
What are you hoping to accomplish this year at the festival?
You can go with expectations that this is going to break my band, it’s going to make us huge, it’s going to be a big thing, but that doesn’t happen. For me its about being there, meeting people, seeing other bands, seeing new stuff that you’ve never heard of before, that whole experience.
Are there any bands that you are looking forward to seeing?
My finger is way off the pulse, but I’m excited to see Mariachi El Bronx. I like Fanfarlo too. Billy Bragg is playing, and I’ve recently become a fan of his, but the best thing about it is that I’m probably going to see something that’s going to blow my mind—who knows what it’s going to be.
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