Frightened Rabbit have come - or gone - a long way since they first entered is this music?’s radar (cropping up when reviewed supporting other itm? favourite Kid Carpet, then getting the full-feature treatment in issue 23 in September 2006, trainspotters).
But the band - originally from Selkirk but now based in the rather more rock’n’roll Glasgow - have journeyed as far as Texas, picked up an additional member, and have finally found themselves in Dunfermline. Which, it seems, is where Scott started out (kind of).
“This will be our first show here. But my mother’s from Fife originally, so I guess we’ve got a wee bit of the the Kingdom in the blood.
And given that Scott’s brother Grant is the band’s drummer that’s not a bad quota. But moving on to more international matters… the band are playing bigger shows all the time, as Scott confirms. “I guess the Triptych show at the Tramway was our biggest - and one of the best - yet. Don’t ask me how many were there, but I think it was ‘lots’.”
Describing the fine old music hall that will host their show on 15th May, I suggest that the balcony will probably remain closed with a more rock’n’roll audience in the stalls. “Good idea on the balcony thing, I know some people who would relish relieving themselves from that height,”he replies, hopefully tongue-in-cheek.
Also on the bill, labelmates The Twilight Sad, who were the first signing of the two to London label Fat Cat. Is there any friendly rivalry between the bands? “Yes, we despise them with every inch of our bodies,” Scott confirms. “The tension builds and builds until it explodes in a huge inter-band game of ‘tig’. That is how we decide whose records are better.”
In all the interviews leading up to the Dunfermline leg of Tigerfest we’ve tried to coax interviewees into gratuitous references to Dunfermline bands of yore e.g. The Skids & Big Country, or upcoming bands (Dirty Summer complete the bill for Thursday’s show). “We all love We Were Promised Jetpacks,” Scott enthuses, making a brave attempt to curry favour with the locals. “I’m not sure if there’s any Fife heritage there though. If not, we don’t like them any more. (That’s the Jetpacks off the list then, as the closest lineage we can find is Stirling).
“I once spoke to a journalist who claimed that from his window in Edinburgh he could see over to Fife,” he continues, apropos of nothing. “He said he could often see witches being burned if he used binoculars,” he continues, dismissing any local support with one swoop.
The world domination plan continues apace, then, with the band concentrating on America for now (“They like us more over there - Scotland aside, no one really gives that much of a shit in the UK”). Next stop down under? “Well the record’s been licensed in Australia, so we should time the advent of the dark nights and pish weather in Scotland with a wee (4 month) tour of the southern hemisphere.”
First, however, the dark satanic depths of the brothers Hutchinson’s motherland - Frightened Rabbit play the Carnegie Hall on Thursday 15th May, alongside The Twilight Sad and Dirty Summer. Full details at www.tigerfest.co.uk
//Stuart McHugh