He leaves behind one of the strongest back catalogs of the indie rock era. The band started from humble beginnings, riding a word-of-mouth press campaign to a major record label deal, developing a cult following in the process.
In the 10 years since the release of The Midnight Organ Fight , the Glasgow-via-Selkirk band began to play bigger and bigger rooms with each release, watching their crowds swell from a dozen or so people to a few thousand fans screaming back every word Hutchison sang in his heavy accent.
Listeners around the world gravitated towards his startlingly honest and heartfelt lyrics, projecting their own experiences onto his morbid words and vivid tales of heartbreak.
Hutchison, who throughout his life struggled with depression and anxiety, raised awareness of mental health issues and helped others by speaking openly about his condition. Atlantic Records provided him a unique remedy — clear your mind with a solo record. But I felt that we, as his friends, could step up and do it. After making two troubling posts on Twitter, Scott left his hotel just west of Edinburgh late at night.
His body was found in the same river he had sung about. He recalls the first time his brother let him hear it. But it was such a beautiful song. Is that OK? Scott had an alcohol dependency, according to Grant, something that was related to his depression. He would drink to forget how he felt. I said to my girlfriend at the time that this is going to happen.
You had braced yourself for his death? There were lots of signs. In terms of the family and how we all coped, I think I was more prepared.
But I kind of knew that was how he would say goodbye. I did so many things over the years that probably did stop it happening [for a while]. Although Grant was the younger brother, he acted like the elder: a steadying and responsible presence. Grant is OK at compartmentalising his life, he says, but finds it hard to separate Scott the singer from the family member.
There was distance between them for a time, but Grant says the closeness did return. One reason Frightened Rabbit are so important to so many people is because of the overwhelming mutual empathy in the room when they played live.
In situations like that, there was no one better to turn it around and make light of it. Whenever we fucked up, he knew there was no point in getting annoyed. Just make a joke of it and move on. Through our many conversations — whether talking about Frightened Rabbit, his solo work as Owl John, or the gnarly passion project of his final release with Mastersystem — Scott was always as brutally honest, self-deprecating and black-humoured as the songs that he made.
So many felt like they knew him, because he was mirroring their faults and fears with no shame or filter. It was a shared experience. These songs had somehow got them through a traumatic experience. You got yourself in this situation! Have you not heard the record? The men that came along had found a spokesperson for that.
Yes, in an eloquent and poetic way, but also keeping it brutally honest. People can see themselves in it. They saw how they felt and it was OK. Frightened Rabbit. In May , Scott took his own life.
Since then, biological brother Grant and his brothers in the rest of the band have been heroic in their resolve.
Scott would probably say this, but that album was influenced quite a lot by Craig Finn and The Hold Steady — where it feels like someone has got up in the pub and started telling this story of someone going through a breakup, or someone who goes out shagging all the time.
This album was written, recorded and released to nobody. Did they ever indulge the wearing of skinny jeans? Probably because he felt overweight and hairy. The people who we asked have all been a big part of the last decade in various ways.
With Scott, we put a bunch of names together of various people and pretty much everyone agreed. Scott and Grant Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit. They did one show together as well where they hung out and got to know each other. She was passionate about it. That was pretty surreal. Here are some words from other artists on the record that we spoke to, telling us about what tiny and massive changes Scott made to their lives.
We did two tours together, and we just really, really loved Scott. For everything that he was going through, he was always a really lovely, positive, funny, self-effacing, wonderful human being. He was such an amazing writer and such an amazing human being. This music was as important to these people as it was to me. Paying homage to a great album rather than trying to re-do it. Lauren Mayberry with Chvrches. Obviously we have done over the years for BBC sessions and stuff like that, but this was very different.
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