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Their third album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks came out this week. Ahead of its release, we caught up with Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison and Andy Monaghan (pictured second from right and right).

In a three year period that's seen them go from being a well regarded buzz band in Glasgow to one of the most eagerly anticipated indie releases of 2010. With an ever expanding line-up, a hectic touring schedule and now two albums produced with one of the most well regarded contemporary producers, Peter Katis (Interpol, The National), there was always going to be plenty to talk about.

We managed to just about fit it all in, along with a brief overview of Scott's songwriting process...(and surreal wildest dreams). Here's some edited highlights below, or for even more, listen to the distilled audio.

Frightened Rabbit Interview by @QMagazine

Q: For the readers that don't really know Frightened Rabbit can you tell us about the early days and how the band came about Scott?

Scott: Yeah the early days, the very very early days was just me and myself and all that happened I guess was I realized that playing my songs live on my own was not working and since then things have grown year by year, person by person so yeah I think even back then I was starting to layer things up ya know cassette format and before that it was just me and Grant for a wee while making a lot of noise, not really knowing what on Earth we were doing as I guess most bands do, but we really didn't know what we were doing until about 6 months ago.

Q: Is that you at your full band member quota?

S: I like the number five, just as a number so that kind of holds in its favour but I think once you get beyond that you start to be less of a band and more of a collective and I don't ever want to be called that.

Q: From the early days then when you were mucking about with your 4-track and writing songs how fully formed were those songs, were they the songs that became Sing The Greys?

S: They were some of them yeah, two of them were on the last record aswell. They were formed in that they had as many layers as my cassette would allow and there was definitely arrangements going on - but it was never really going to be finished at one person. It was never really - oh well we're in a studio now so lets do these up - they were done up in my head from the start. So yeah they were fully formed and I've always been interested in that aspect of song writing which is, kind of you can write a song then add that extra dimension and kind of force behind it whereby you arrange it and play about with the listeners ears and bring things in and out it's just where I kind of gain the most pleasure, so yeah it's always been there.

Q: The power of a bigger arrangement was always in your head fleshed out, it was just getting the people on board to help you fulfill that?

S: Yeah, it's funny, even now when I see someone performing songs on there own, it's all there in my head. Yeah, so the opportunity with the fuller and fuller arrangement is something I've grabbed with relish.

Q: How did you first hear about Frightened Rabbit then Andy?

Andy: Just kind of through the Glasgow scene really. It started with one of my friends had said they went to see them Fury Murrays. ... sister went on and there was maybe 6 people there. And then one of the bands I was in played a few shows with them as well. It was very, kind of a natural thing, and then Scott got drunk and accidentally asked me to join the band.

S: Tooooo drunk {laughs}

Q: It sounds like that's not a bad thing, quite a few of your songs are related to experiences that have happened because you've had a drink as well.

S: Yeah, that's a massive part of Scottish life, to overlook it would be a huge oversight yeah.

Q: Briefly talking about that song writing again, there aren't that many ideas kicking around that you don't fulfil. Is that the case?

S: Yeah, completely they don't get pursued beyond the initial feeling of "is it crap?" or "is it good?" if it's not got anything from the beginning. I don't like finishing a crap song you know.

There are a couple that I feel in hindsight now that aren't as good as the others but I just I don't pump them out as it were. I'd rather devote my time to working as many ideas into one song as I possibly can and piecing things together. You see so many songwriters that have a lack of quality control over themselves. Not, that I'm saying everything I do is quality - that's up to the listener - but I always feel like prolific-ness is a double edged sword. I would never really want to be considered prolific, I'd rather be considered consistently good.

Q: What was the first reaction outside the band that made you think you might be on to something with your songs then?

S: To be honest, it's got to be Grant and my mum and dad. They were the people I played them to first or gave them a minidisc of the material and yeah it wasn't as if it was in my head, I don't think there was ever any point where it was oh yeah. I never really needed any validation for it, I thought it was pretty good and I've never really been ashamed of saying that. When you think you've done something good there's no point in pretending you don't think it is or being like ...ehh it's alright, it's like you know when you do something you think is good you should just say it's good. I think the validation is starting to come in, in a sense, but it was never really needed.

Q: Did you think from them that you would end up in the position you're in today then or is that something that surprised you both?

S: Yeah it does come as a surprise. I mean you always imagine it and it's what you always want. But I'm not going to say where we are now is beyond my wildest dreams cause its not, your wildest dreams involve ya know taking hundreds of ducks for a swim or mine do anyway... and each one knows your name and gives you a rub off with a towel. But wild dreams aside {laughs}, I think this is a sort of place I always hoped my music would always take me. Beyond this actually, I have no idea what lies. Its been about small steps.... and taking one day at a time. {laughs}

A: {jumps in} Is this a football interview?

{laughter}

S: {adopts monotone football interview voice} Well, at the end of the day... {more laughter}

A: For me, when they asked me to joined the band, they were like the least your going to get out this is a trip to Italy and a trip to Texas aswell, you can't knock that back.

Q: Two holidays?

A: Yeah exactly! ... and it's lasted two years.

S: That was the carrot, in the end what he didn't know was that he'd also have to be playing a toilet in Tunbridge Wells - literally.

Q: If Midnight Organ fight was 'The break-up record' what is The Winter of Mixed Drinks?

S: It's not the anything record really, but its still semi-autobiographical kind of life in between the midnight organ fight and now. And definitely much more semi- autobiographical a bit more about story telling and certainly more oblique and there's not as much directness because quite thankfully the year has passed without too big of an emotional hitch which is grand but it doesn't make for exciting songs so I've had to make a lot of it up.

I was a bit lost for less time than I thought it would be, the studio was like getting penciled in before I had even written a note and I was quietly crapping myself but after about - not even a week - a couple of days of being up there things start to happen I guess and it all fell into place. It was purposeful as well, you know with the b-sides in the last record and stuff, it cleared out the closet - pretty much everything went.

There's straggling themes because I think its only right that you link the two albums and link the two parts but the whole thing is definitely from a clean slate and written on a white sheet of paper I guess, and in many ways that was healthier. It was nice to know that I could face the challenge because I've never really written anything but a song about that particular aspect of life and it's still in there but its nice to know I can approach other topics. Plus I don't write on tour.

Q: Did you work on several songs at once?

S: It would be a couple at once, but I'm not really good at juggling things like that. I like to see a song though to its completion then start through something again, but I had a Dictaphone if there were times in between where I was mucking about on the guitar and thought of something. Those notes would be saved, so the main thing I was working on, I would then come back to the Dictaphone and see if I could peel anything from there.

Q: Back to the finished product then, on the album which tracks are you most proud of?

A: For me my favourite one at the moment is Skip The Youth, I think its like a journey it changes a lot throughout the song. It's sonically larger than the last one there's a lot more keyboards and nasty drum loops.

S: I'm going to go with the first song on the album its called Things, and it's been a consistent thing every since they did it. It's a bit of a curve ball from the last material which I'm quite please about. It's all based around a throbbing synth line and we just took the synth like I recorded in the house in Crail and put it onto the record, we didn't even bother fiddling with the sound and hooked it up. It looks a bit outdated my old Tascam 24 -track. It was fancy at the time, it's a big stupid machine, but we just took it in.

There are loads and loads of parts that made it to the final record that were done out there right away because if you think you've got it right the first time what's the point, but yeah we embellished that one. Well that one's a firm favourite and I think it's going to stay that way.

Q: A lot of your songs are like scenes from the bigger story, or narratives, is that something that's really important to you and in music you like? Is that basically the same?

S: I don't know if it is about the music I like. The music I like is very different is quite different from what I write a lot of the time. I don't really listen to lyrics in songs for a good wee while - it has to hit me in a different way first - so that kind of story aspect to a song doesn't really matter to me. I'd rather it was sonically pleasing, in a weird way I don't really think I write songs that I would like.

A: I think sonically takes a lot more to get into.

Q: I was thinking about The National when I was listening to The Winter of Mixed Drinks, because I knew Peter Katis was involved. It almost made me think when I was trying to describe it to a friend that your last record was like their 3rd record Alligator, because the songs were more instant - whereas this was your Boxer [The National's 4th album] as even after a few more listens and your still picking up lots of nuances in the songs and getting a feel for the record as a whole...

S: I was completely going for a Boxer idea. I hated that record the first time I heard it, now it's one of my favourite records ever. The whole time the thing that came to rest with me and made the most impact on me was the extreme restraint shown on most of the songs the level of detail. The thing about playing live all those songs last year was I started to notice, and I hadn't really noticed it before, how similar the patterns of the songs are - the trajectory goes build-build-build and then there is this big awesome ending, which is very satisfying but once you play a whole set of that you're like - hold on a minute - this one trick, and I wanted to move away form that trick. Its almost like Boxer and even the first TV On The Radio album taught me you don't need to do that and it's not immediately satisfying.

Q: Songwriters and bands often have touchstone records that they always come back to whether on the tour bus or at home? Do you have them?

A: One album that is consistent on my record player mp3 player is PJ Harvey's Stories From the Sea and Primal Scream's XTRMNTR, that's pretty much it for me.

S: XTRMNTR is a good one, but I always go back to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Whilst we were mixing the new one we were watching the documentary thing about it, and that kind of just cemented its amazingness. for me. And on stop of that just before we started doing the record I heard the demos, it just doesn't even resemble it at all.

This whole idea, what I was trying to hopefully do was that the process and the structure a lot of it would come from the studio itself, and in the mix as well it was important to change it. So yeah that's kind of just a reference point.

Q: Since 2007 things have been building and building for the band, what's your highlight?

A: The Queens Hall show that we played in Edinburgh in 2009, that was definitely a highlight for the band as a whole.

S: It was definitely a unifying night.

S: It's kind of a good point, the best points are the points where you get a sense of a full band victory, you have personal highlights and stuff but they don't really match up to one everyone's kind of smiling because invariably night to night someone is going to come away feeling {downbeat } - oh what a great show - so the ones that everyone's happy are pretty rare. Yeah, and just going to buy my record in a shop, which is what I did when it came out, I would never take that for granted, it's something not a huge amount of people get to do...

Q: All the best for 2010 and hope you both have some great holidays in the next year...

[Laughter]

Q: Thanks very much.

Scott and Andy: Thank you.

Frightened Rabbit's third album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks is out now on Fat Cat Records. They are currently on tour to support it (dates below). Tickets are available here.

Frightened Rabbit's new website.
Frightened Rabbit on myspace.

Interview: Andy Thomson.

Frightened Rabbit's UK tour dates:

04/03/10 York Duchess
05/03/10 Manchester Club Academy
06/03/10 Aldershot West End Centre
08/03/10 Bristol Thekla
09/03/10 Oxford Academy 2
10/03/10 London Koko
12/03/10 Birmingham Academy 2
13/03/10 Sheffield Leadmill 2
14/03/10 Norwich Arts Centre

10:25 AM | 05/03/2010