Feature
Frightened Rabbits!
February 5, 2010
Words by: Gaia Gardiner
Photos: Kalise Valerie
SPOOK : Hey Frightened Rabbit, so where are you playing while you’re here?
Scott: Tonight we’re playing at the Metro, which is with Echo & The Bunnymen, and then after that we’re playing here.
Where are we playing?
SPOOK : I think there’s a room next door, yeah, we went in before and yeah you’ll notice it by the stench, just the smell of beer. Haha feels just like home.
Scott: Sticky floors?
SPOOK : Yeah.
Scott: Yep.
SPOOK : Bring it on, have you been listening to much Australian music while you’re out here?
Scott: I went to see a band called Dappled Cities, and they were great at Laneways. I’d never heard of them before. I think a lot of the time aswell it’s actually quite difficult for Australian bands to make their way over to the U.K., so it’s like, you kind of have to come out here to find all this good stuff. But I was really taken with them, they were good.
Andy: Bridezilla, are they Australian?
SPOOK : Bridezilla, yeah. These are all Laneway artists – I was there and I saw you guys, very impressed!
Scott: You have to say that.!
SPOOK : Haha, Basically. Most Australians don’t have any idea of what it’s like to play at a U.K. festival, how does it differ to something you play here? It must be the norm for you…
Scott: We’ve done a few festivals and stuff, but we haven’t played that many large festivals in the U.K. but the main bonus here is like, the consistency of the weather. The last time we came it was just pissing down. I think the last time we came was Woodford Folk Festival, and there was a thunder and lightning show! That was an experience.
SPOOK : Do you find it affects your fans and their attitude towards your music?
Scott: Yeah well they were soaked within ten minutes, and then the entire pyrotechnics of the stage was cut so we were in pitch black just with lightning going up.
SPOOK : Wow.
Scott: It was intense! And then everything came back on and it was just…
SPOOK : So it was a bit of an acoustic set for a while?!
Scott: Not even! It was absolute silence. Everyone’s natural reaction was to just, scream as loud as they possibly could – I did not scream!
SPOOK : You’ve mentioned before that you’re not really sure if you’ve finished gathering members?
Scott: Five’s good for now!
SPOOK : Five’s good? You don’t want to be a six-piece or more?
Scott: I think five for now, we’re settled as we are. I think it’s just a case of with each record we seem to become, you know, slightly grander in the scale of the sound.
Andy: We just keep on putting more and more instruments…
Scott: And I can’t really take it further than this last time, I think we’re done.
SPOOK : You’ve spent a while honing your sound, what’s it like to develop that, and then come out into the public like you did, was it very gradual?
Scott: There was a gradual start I guess, it’s the same story with a lot of bands, you don’t really see the root of it, I suppose it’s like an iceberg – you know when you see the top? So yeah, we spent a long time getting there and then all of a sudden the record came out and things did move a lot faster for us, but, we have been, basically since I started doing Frightened Rabbit on my own, playing out solo, we’ve been adding one member per year – that’s probably about as gradual as you can get! Yeah, I mean it’s felt like a long time for us but, I realise it probably doesn’t look like a long time to get to the stage that we’re at now. It’s been a good, organic process, and I think that that sets you up kind of well for whatever is to come. You know, we’ve got a strong foundation, and yeah, we all like eachother…
Andy: Still, which is good…
SPOOK : So you’re getting into your third album now, for it to be released in March this year, so I mean how do you think you would do things differently? If you were to look back and say maybe with the first album, I could have done that differently – is there anything at all?
Andy: Don’t ask him that question!
SPOOK : Haha.
Scott: You can always say that…
SPOOK :Are you a perfectionist?
Scott: Well yeah, I mean but I think I’ve learned to let things that you’ve done in the past just to let them sit there, and be what they are. I mean I would lose sleep if I ever thought like that!
Andy: There’s definitely nothing on this record, where you’ve gone I wish I could change this, I wish I could change that.
Scott: No I mean I don’t have any thoughts like that. But with this one, I think the other thing that’s happened, gradually we’ve gotten more and more time to complete the record. So the more time you have, the more details you can have in the process.
SPOOK : And you’re at the point now we’re you can get things sort of, perfectly so…
Scott: I wouldn’t say perfect! But…
SPOOK : Well, as close as you can get!
Andy: Yeah, there’s a good time between recording an album and mixing it aswell, so if we could like, settle in that, and when it comes the time to mix it, we can be like ‘Oh, should we add this?’
Scott: Yeah. I think the process of sorting making records is that pursuit of that perfect thing that’s never going to happen,
SPOOK : So it’snattainable?
Scott: Yeah it is, that’s the kind of beauty of it, it kind of makes it exciting for next time. Maybe…I wonder what happens when you make the perfect album?! Maybe you get like, beamed up into a spaceship! So maybe, I don’t know!
SPOOK :You’ve played South by South West in the U.S, that’s probably one of the best talent scouts in the world in terms of the type of music that you’re doing – what was that experience like?
Scott: It’s chaotic! It’s a zoo. It’s basically like giving over your entire town centre to, you know, hipsters, it’s so funny. But in far as being in a band’s concerned, it’s really a mystery as to what you’re going to get out of it – other than a really terrible hangover! But the second time we went, we were doing things like putting our guitars in the cases and straight away running down the street to play another show, just plugging in, and playing.
Andy: Yeah and that was the first time I’d ever been to the States as well, and I was like, this is so full-on!
SPOOK : Crazy…
Andy: Yeah I was like is this what it’s going to be like everyday?!
Scott: We were there about three weeks before South by South West and it was like Andy’s baptism of the States! But yeah it’s just a good opportunity to get everyone in, and whoever needs to see your band has the opportunity to see you, and it gets it all out of the way in a week, what might take you years to do, is all done within a week. And it’s surprising how many Scottish and British bands you see for the first time. Like even, bands that play on your doorstep and you just never went and saw them. You know, it takes going to Austin to see your next-door neighbour!
SPOOK : Are there bands that you saw that surprised you with their type of music? I guess there are some that sort of stand out?
Scott: Yeah, I remember the first time that we went…oh no, second time I went to see The Raveonettes, they’re from Denmark…but they don’t sound like they’re from Denmark – you know they’ve lived in L.A., New York. It was great. You know, there are constant surprised, you go and you just stumble through a door and there’s something good going on, and it doesn’t even matter where they’re from, if they’re good, they’re good, if they’re not, you just leave…or throw things at them…no I don’t do that! Unless I’m really excited!
SPOOK : So what’s the Scottish music scene like?
Scott: Good, I suppose when you go back you feel a little bit behind the times because we’ve been on tour a lot, but Andy’s probably got his finger on the pulse more than I…
Andy: What are they called? Have you ever heard of a band called The Unwinding Hours?
SPOOK : No
Andy: Two guys from that band have started a really nice thing.
Scott: But Scotland’s a constant, constant revolving door of bands playing, and it’s quite a creative community. Especially in Glasgow, where we started out, there’s almost too many bands.
Andy: Yeah everyone just plays in about five bands aswell!
SPOOK :Are they all similar sorts of styles?
Scott: Yeah, you get that it kind of goes through cycles so I think there was maybe a band about a year ago when we were starting to get going, that were playing sort of similar music to us, you know, guitar, you might say emotionally-strung guitar music. And then maybe two years prior to that there was kind of Franz Ferdinand kind of stuff going on, and then, you know, there’s like always an electro scene going on.
Andy: Yeah and there’s always that sort of Belle and Sebastian kind of element.
Scott: There’s every scene – there’s like a mental metal scene too
SPOOK : How do you think Australian crowds have been taking to you, are you a bit surprised?
Andy: Yeah very surprised, you know there’s always someone from Myspace from Australia, and you’re like nobody’s ever heard of us out here! I remember the first time we came out here, and my brother’s friend found out about us here and he came back to Scotland and he was like “No way you’re in this band!”
SPOOK: How funny!
Andy: But yeah we seem to be…oh what was it? Oh nevermind…
Scott: It’s early Andy, come on…
Andy: I’m losing it, I’m losing it.
SPOOK: Haha. I read that your next album would be “less oppressive”?
Scott: Yeah, I think I meant in terms of the lyrical content, um was very full-on, and just naturally, you know, the way that maybe I’ve been feeling…over the past year or so. There’s definitely still some fairly full-on moments on the record, but a lot of it’s calmer and that’s a result of, you know, me being calmer. I think the last one had a lot of like grab-you-by-the-throat and going like, ‘Listen to me!’. And I think this one is sort of more at ease with itself. So I stand by that!
SPOOK: And the band contributes to this feeling too?
Scott: Yeah, well no-one else writes the lyrics, but it’s important that the rest of the band have some sort of understand and attachment to them. If anyone thought they were rubbish, then I think they would probably say! Hopefully?
Andy: Yep! It’s good to know what’s got us thinking aswell sometimes, because, you take some time off and then you come back with all these songs…you get an insight into his head.
Scott: You know, even my brother who plays drums in the band, he also learns a lot from me by just listening to the songs. I’m not much of a communicator otherwise, so yeah it’s strange I guess…
SPOOK: Killing two birds with one stone
Scott: Why not! If it means I don’t have to talk at all…
SPOOK: Just sing?
Scott: Yeah! Just sing to people!
SPOOK: Your album ‘Midnight Organ Fight’, how has that been a progression, I mean I know it’s your last album, but I read somewhere it’s supposed to be more ‘pop’ sounding than your previous record?
Scott: That one, it was more polished anyway, production-wise, I think it was maybe a bit more…
Andy: It was definitely more ‘poppy’ than our last, I think in the structural elements.
Scott: Personally so, aswell. I think there was a lot that I didn’t like in the first record. Again, I did let it go. But it still means you never want to repeat your mistakes, because I like pop music and I like the way that it’s memorable and annoying in equal measure. I don’t mind it being a little annoying melody that gets stuck in your head, it’s good.
Yeah and it sort of breaks the flow of all this stuff that you’re normally getting.
Scott: Yeah, and it’s nice to pair that sound, that poppy upbeat sound, with what can be quite intense and often morbid lyrics. It’s nice, like, friction for me, that I love creating.
And I think when you go back to that sound it’s more fresh, isn’t it?
Scott: Yeah, completely, you get these people, I’ve met a lot of people who’ve said they didn’t even quite realise what they were singing until just one day they said ‘Oh Jesus, I’m singing about really weird awful stuff’
SPOOK: What do passionate Frightened Rabbit fans do to get your attention?
Scott: There are a few intense bodies! I don’t know some of the most intense ones are just the quiet, reflective type that just sit and back and they’re very happy to meet and chat with
Andy: They don’t really want to chat…
Andy: Someone once brought cakes along!
Scott: Yeah, bring a cake along as long as there’s no poison in it! Someone in Denmark once brought along a stuffed rabbit on a stick
Scott: Not like a taxidermy rabbit, just like a kid’s toy rabbit. When it gets to be a real rabbit, you’re like ok, too far…I don’t endorse that. But the real Frightened Rabbit fans are just awesome!
SPOOK: You’ve played with Death Cab For Cutie, and a host of other supporting acts …
Scott: Well I think as people Death Cab have been really sweet people, just to be around, for a band of their size, especially in America, they play huge, huge venues, to have like basically no ego going on.
Andy: Yeah, very, very nice and humble.
Scott: And it’s so welcoming to the point of being a bit embarrassing…you know a little too nice. It’s like can you be an asshole for just a second?! But no, they were just a pleasure to be going on tour with.
Andy: Biffy Clyro aswell, another Scottish band, they’re big in the U.K…
Scott: I think it’s bands who took a long time to get to where they are, to appreciate the level that you’re at, you know, that’s kind of like a large part of going on tour with the band, is that they understand your level. Those two bands especially were super neat.
SPOOK: And if they’re also staying consistent in what they’re trying to portray in their music, I think that shows…
Scott: Yeah those bands, I mean they’ve just been doing what they’ve been doing for years and not changing for anyone really and just getting that lucky break or making that lucky song or just record it all came together for them.
SPOOK: Tell us about recording ‘Quietly Now’ live in Glasgow, especially working with Adam Pierce?
Scott: It was his idea to sort of do something to sort of keep the momentum going for the record so that new people could get into it through this, the ‘Quietly Now’ stuff, but we were just excited for the opportunity of having a nice event in our hometown, adopted hometown anyway. It was basically an invite-only thing, with family and friends. Basically the venue was half the size of this room, just really nice and intimate. And it was also nice to have a souvenir, by recording it. We’re still chuffed as that.
SPOOK: How many members were you up to by this point?
Scott: Gordon wasn’t in then, actually he hasn’t been on any recordings yet…
SPOOK: Haha…
Scott: He will be!
SPOOK: Ok, I trust you!
Scott: Actually what happened on that record was a couple of friends came out to help us and join us by playing the banjo and things like that.
SPOOK: You’ve been praised by the famous Zane Lowe, and NME, have they just been another critic for you?
Scott: You know, NME’s handy in a lot of ways, but I wouldn’t necessarily associate our band with them. To me, it’s always disappointing and shit if you get bad reviews or anything like that, but a good review’s a good review. You know, people who I want to like the record are Frightened Rabbit fans, I don’t really make my records for NME or Zane Lowe. If they like it that’s great but I think you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt. I’m totally happy if they do.
SPOOK: What do you think the music industry needs at the moment?
Scott: I think it’s healthy and it’s exciting and it’s sort of nice that a lot of the power to release music has ben put back in the hands of the artists. It’s wildly confusing at the same time, you know, things are cropping up all the time, and it’s hard to keep track of, but that’s what keeps it exciting.
Andy: Yeah, if you want to find any music nowadays, you can get your hands on it.
Scott: It’s just in a strange transitional period between hard-copy magazines, and it’s all intimacy-based, and it’s kind of like, changing,. It’s an influx, but it’s exciting you don’t know where it’s going.
SPOOK: In general, for the lyrics you’ve been producing on your albums, where does the inspiration come from – is it actual experience?
Scott: Yeah, it definitely is. The record before this was definitely just pretty much an autobiographical type, this time around it’s kind of fictional, a bit more storytelling involved in it. Which was purposeful, I wanted it to be like, ‘less oppressive’, but you still have to draw inspiration from your own experience. This time I was writing the record from a friend’s wee house, in a tiny village by the sea in Scotland, so I was out there for like a month and a half. That had a huge effect on the record, there’s now tonnes of references to the sea…
SPOOK: What’s been your best live performance to date, and why?
Scott: Hmm.
Andy: Most enjoyable
SPOOK: Most enjoyable? Yeah?
Scott: Most enjoyable was 4 A.M. at a warehouse party in Glasgow. I think it was a friend of Andy’s, he’s now a friend of everyone in the band, but we didn’t really know him at the time, he ran a studio space. And we played a show that afternoon, and just down the road was this studio space but we kind of went on til 4 o’clock in the morning, and everyone was predictably, pretty hammered. And I’m sure if there was any decent footage of that night, it would be awful
Andy: Horrible
Scott: I think everyone’s memory of it, was, so good. Yeah so that was in Glasgow. But as for a proper gig haha
Actual performance, the Edinburgh Festival – it was such a great atmosphere. And it was one of those nights where…I’ll never forget it anyway.
SPOOK: Just the vibe of the crowd….
Scott: Yeah completely, just everyone singing at the top of their lungs, to the point where you couldn’t hear myself sing. It’s kind of like the world descends on Edinburgh for a month, so there’s a good atmosphere in the town in general, so it’s good to be a part of that aswell.
Have you always been music-minded in your careers?
Andy: Yeah I never like got any guitar lessons or anything like that, definitely music’s always been there for me from a young age. I always kind of thought I want to be doing this.
Scott: It’s the only thing I’m trained in, I went to art school, and studied on how to be an illustrator, and I kind of dropped that after I graduated. But I never thought I would be able to make a career of it.
Andy: This is beyond what I thought it would be.
Scott: Yeah so I definitely feel pretty lucky.
SPOOK: Andy I heard you got recruited via a text message, please explain!
Andy: Kind of! Two years ago, it was new years, and Scott and I were both pretty drunk in a bar, and he was like ‘Do you wanna come and play some shows with us?’ it wasn’t like ‘Do you want to come and be in the band!’ but he needed someone to play guitar, and I woke up the next day and I was kind of like ‘Did that really happen?’
Scott: And I forgot about it completely, and then I saw my phone! Modern technology again! Who knew.
Andy: I thought it was just like a holiday, just come and play some shoes, but I wasn’t disappointed!
‘The Midnght Organ Fight’ is available now.
