Before Frightened Rabbit founding member Scott Hutchison died, an idea was formed to celebrate 10 years of their seminal album ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ by asking some of their talented buds in music to take a crack at their own versions of a song on the album. The whole album was recorded and was due to be released last summer, but then unfortunately Scott passed away last May.
The band have decided they still want to release the record as a testament to the album, and to Scott.
Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. Initially a solo project for vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison, the line-up currently consists of Grant Hutchison (drums), Billy Kennedy (guitar, bass), Andy Monaghan (guitar, keyboards), and Simon Liddell (guitar). From 2004 the band were based in Glasgow.
Frightened Rabbit’s first studio album, Sing the Greys, was recorded as a duo by the Hutchison brothers, and released on independent label Hits the Fan in 2006. The band subsequently signed to Fat Cat Records, in 2007, and became a three-piece with the addition of guitarist Billy Kennedy for its second studio album, The Midnight Organ Fight (2008). The album was released to strongly positive reviews and extensive touring, with guitarist and keyboardist Andy Monaghan joining the band to flesh-out its live performances.
The band’s third studio album, ‘The Winter of Mixed Drinks’, was released in 2010, with former Make Model guitarist Gordon Skene joining the band for its accompanying tour. Frightened Rabbit signed to Atlantic Records later that year, and issued two EPs, ‘A Frightened Rabbit EP’ (2011) and ‘State Hospital’ (EP) (2012), before the release of its fourth studio album, ‘Pedestrian Verse’ in 2013. A critical and commercial success in the UK, the album peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, with additional guitarist Simon Liddell joining the band on its subsequent tour.
Disillusioned from touring, Hutchison, Monaghan, and Liddell recorded a studio album without the band, entitled ‘Owl John’ (2014). Gordon Skene departed from the band in early 2014, and the band recorded ‘Painting of a Panic Attack’ the following year with producer Aaron Dessner (The National), in New York, with Liddell joining the band as a full contributing member.
Scott Hutchison died in May 2018 after going missing. In December 2018, the remaining members of the band played together for the first time since Hutchison’s death, at a charity gig in Glasgow.