Frithrah! It's Frightened Rabbit

This decade, from Parades to AIDS, Wolves have been at the top of the band-name animal totem. Yet, with the recent arrival of White Rabbits, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, and Frightened Rabbit on the pop-cultural radar, will Le Loup give way to Le Lapin? Are the Rabbits afoot? “Sure, it’s only three, but three’s enough, right?” laughs Scott Hutchison, frontman of Frightened Rabbit. “We’re the start of the revolution.”

Frightened Rabbit have been finding increasing acclaim, of recent, for their particular brand of intense, emotional guitar-rock. Born in tiny Selkirk but now based in Glasgow, the band took their animal-themed handle from Hutchison's mother, who told her young son that social situations brought on a 'frightened rabbit look' in him.

Hutchison is clearly still plagued by social unease, the recently released The Midnight Organ Fight, finding the vocalist playing the embittered, desperate ex-. That confessional nature has attracted like-hearted fans to the band. "Ever since I’ve been in this band, people have come up to me," says Hutchison. "They feel like they connect with me, that they know me, because they’ve listened to my songs. So they’re, in turn, pretty open with their own lives with me. They feel like they can talk to me about stuff, about their problems.”

And Hutchison gives them sage advice? “I’d never offer advice,” he chuckles. “The main irony about that would be that I wrote an album about how I’m unable to deal with relationships. People just want to talk. And, hopefully, those people that do meet me should hopefully realise that I’m not cunty like that all day. I’m just like that in my songs.”

Photo © [David Gourley]