ARTICLE BY CHERYL CHENG
PHOTOS BY LESLIE KALOHI
The last time I spoke with Scott Hutchison, lead singer/guitarist of Frightened Rabbit, the Scottish band had just released its second album, The Midnight Organ Fight. That was nearly two years ago, and this time around, Frightened Rabbit is back in Los Angeles for a tour in support of third album Winter of Mixed Drinks. Boasting a bigger sound as well as a bigger band, the album is Frightened Rabbit's most ambitious work to date. Scott spent some time talking with The Scenestar about the new album, missing the Coachella festival due to the volcano and, well, mixed drinks of course.
SS: The band made it to its U.S. tour! How was the entire delay and travel chaos due to the volcano?
Scott: Somewhat irritating. It wasn't chaos. We were just completely grounded. We were just sitting in the airport hotel, staying there night after night, waiting for the sky to clear. Very frustrating.
SS: How many shows were cancelled?
Scott: Only four, including Coachella. It could have been a whole lot worse. It still had an impact financially on the tour and stuff like that. I'm sure lots of people are much worse off than us. But it's one of those things. I find it hard to complain about because it's completely random and ridiculous. It's something out of your hands.
SS: That's very true. Well, let's talk about the new album, Winter of Mixed Drinks. How is this record different from the last?
Scott: Between releasing Midnight Organ Fight and doing this record, I grew more confident in what I was doing. I think I got better at it. In a lot of ways, the way I used to write songs, I changed that for this record. When I played the old songs night after night, I started to see patterns in the way I was writing, and I kind of wanted to avoid that with this album. So it's less of the crescendo kind of thing going on. Maybe it's more at ease with itself because I am. And there's some positivity, which was something that I've never really written about before. And in a way, it was a weird challenge to write about enjoying life and being happy.
SS: I did feel that the album was more optimistic, but I also read an interview in which you said that there's this theme about being alone and feeling lost.
Scott: The less optimistic part is about being part of a touring band. I don't feel lonely when I'm alone, which is weird. I actually quite enjoy it. Often times, I feel loneliness or the most isolated when I'm around a lot of people, or a lot of people I don't know or don't care about. So a lot of the themes about drifting, loneliness and isolation come from actually being around people a lot but still not quite getting the satisfaction from that.
SS: It's like being on Facebook, because even though there are hundreds of people online, there isn't a real connection there.
Scott: [Laughs] Right. Exactly.
SS: Peter Katis came back to produce this album. How was that experience?
Scott: Great. Last time, he didn't really know about the band, and he wasn't really sure what we were trying to do. And as such, it was more tentative steps that we took toward making it. This time around, he was more tuned in to what we were trying to do. And we came to know him personally as well, which makes a difference if you have some sort of past history together. This time, he was really excited about doing it. We had a more equal relationship. He's quite a powerful character. He's worked on a lot of big records; he knows what he's doing. And as such I don't mind letting him fly with it. But this time, I've grown more confident, so it was a much more collaborative effort.
SS: I also noted that Winter of Mixed Drinks has a much bigger sound. And it could just be that the band has added some members.
Scott: I've been always wanting to make a record that sounds big. And not had the time in terms of budget, the means in terms of the studio to do it. And this time around, I had a lot at my disposal. It was something that I've been striving to do. And adding strings and horns and stuff like that is something that has always been in my head, but it has not always been a possibility. It really was having the means to do so, which contributed to that.
SS: And how did Gordon become part of the band?
Scott: Gordon, we've known personally for a little while. He has come out on tour just to hang out really. And he has been in bands ever since he was 17. He has been touring as well, so he knows what he's doing. And a big part of choosing who you want to be in the band is personality mix. And I think more than anything else, that's one of the main reasons we chose Gordon, because everyone got along with him. And you have to see in the future and imagine what it's going to be like to spend most of your time with this person. He just seemed like the right guy for the job.
SS: The album title, Winter of Mixed Drinks, is a phrase in the song "Living in Colour." Why did you choose to name the album after that?
Scott: I always look for a phrase within our songs to name the album. And I always look for a phrase that is definitely our own. Something that when it's said or heard, it's instantly identifiable with the band. It was supposed to be called "Swim Until You Can't See Land," but I didn't want to overdo the nautical references because I think everyone gets that from listening to the album, so I wanted to try and give it a title that maybe put the whole thing under a different umbrella. And maybe it was less about the sea. The sea metaphors are there, but it's not actually supposed to be about an actual, direct sea. It can be anything. So your winter of mixed drinks can be drinking, but it can be any period of time when you're just drifting and you're not sure what on earth's going on. And you feel like you don't have a place, a solid place in this world, and you're not even contributing to it.
SS: It matches the theme we talked about earlier about being alone.
Scott: Yeah, yeah. Right.
SS: One of my favorite songs on the album is "Skip the Youth," which has a seemingly negative perspective toward youth. And it kind of reminded me of the Idlewild song "American English"—the lyric "I think you're young without youth."
Scott: Oh, I never thought of that. For me, I always looked forward to being old. I think that a lot of the time, especially doing what I've been doing for the past couple of years, I'm finding being young quite tiring. And I think I look to people who've got life kind of sorted out, because I still haven't gotten life figured out—probably never will. And I'm kind of envious of that. Especially when my job doesn't have much structure in a lot of ways. And that's really what all this yearning is for. It's not about how I hate my life right now. Sometimes I just get so frustrated and tired with this... You know that time when I'm just going to bed, going to sleep on the bus, looking out my window, and people are going to work. It's that kind of thing. "What am I doing here? It's stupid." It's more about that. And I am looking forward to being 40. Hopefully by then, I'll have a foundation—I feel like it's shaky right now.
SS: What would you be if not a musician?
Scott: Hopefully, I'd be drawing and painting and making art for a living. That's something I do want to do eventually. I figure I'd do this for as long as I could because this sort of had to be done now. Because I figure I was writing a lot of songs, and also there's not really a timeline for how long you can make music, but you need to strike while the iron is hot I guess. It's one of those things that I hope to go back to and that will be part of my more sedentary lifestyle. Just a nice studio and a garden, where I can go and drink cups of tea.
SS: For this album and the past albums, you designed all the artwork. What was your design concept for Winter of Mixed Drinks?
Scott: None of the symbols on the record mean anything. I wanted to create this weird, fake, almost Masonic code that didn't mean anything, but people maybe would read into. People have not been buying t-shirts on this tour because it has a cross thing on it. But it's not the Christian cross.
SS: When I first saw the t-shirts, I thought it was a Christian cross, but then it also looks like an electric pole.
Scott: It's supposed to be almost religious, but it's not. I'm really interested in documenting visually things that you think you know what they are or what they're for, but maybe you're not so sure. It's supposed to be open-ended enough. I hope no one thinks we're a Christian rock band. [Laughs]
SS: I think you have that covered with "Head Rolls Off"! I also liked the retro print design at the bottom of the t-shirts.
Scott: I'm really into fonts. I have a few books at home just on fonts.
SS: Serif or sans serif?
Scott: Sans! Absolutely.
SS: I think it depends.
Scott: Sans with drop shadow. [Laughs]
SS: Have you done other types of writing? Like poems or short stories?
Scott: I started getting into poetry recently, because I'm a really slow reader. Although I'm keen to read stories and read how people write, I can't get to the end. I'm too slow. I can't read fast enough to keep up the pace that the author intends. So poems are something that I've started to get into and started to understand a bit more. I still need the structure of a song to place a poem on. Otherwise, it feels too open for me. So it's something that I will try to get into, and I've written a couple of things. I got a book by David Berman, who's in the Silver Jews. He's got a book of poetry. One of those things where I realize, "Yeah, shit. I probably could do this."
SS: Since the album is titled Winter of Mixed Drinks, I wanted to know, what is your favorite mixed drink?
Scott: That depends. I'm obsessed with the TV show Mad Men, so I've been drinking Old Fashioneds and vodka martinis.
SS: I went to see The National recently, and the bar was serving a signature drink for the night, called National Anthem. So, I was wondering, if Frightened Rabbit were to have a signature drink, what would it be?
Scott: Hm... It's gonna have to be pretty boozy.
SS: Like a Long Island?
Scott: Something like a Long Island, but maybe instead of topping off with Coke, it can be Irn-Bru, which is a Scottish orange drink. It's amazing. I mean, it's not good for you in any way. It's sugary, sugary. It's not orange flavored; it's just sickly sweet. And you can pretty much only get it in Scotland. So all the white spirits, probably couple of whiskeys as well and a bit of Irn-Bru. Just heavy as hell, so you only have to buy one. [Laughs]
SS: It's cheaper!
Scott: Yes, that's another Scottish trait. [Laughs]
SS: I just saw Frightened Rabbit at the Casbah in San Diego, and you mentioned that you love the venue and would be happy always performing there, although there's supposed to be a progression to bigger venues. What do you feel are the goals for this band?
Scott: I try not to have too many. The overall ambition for me is to move forward always. I guess that could take a lot of forms, move forward creatively in what we're doing with our records, and yeah, move forward in the sense of getting more people to listen to our music. I'm not one of those people who sees success as a bad thing. In terms of fan base size, I want as many people as possible to know and enjoy our band. At the same time, I don't set actual goals, because I think maybe it's nicer to not think about it and get nice surprises along the way. I don't have an actual vision in my head, but as soon as I feel that the whole thing's stagnating and reached a plateau, I think that would be time to stop and do something else.
Frightened Rabbit will return to the U.S. to perform at Lollapalooza in August.
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