New Scott Hutchison artwork book shows his “generosity with his creativity”
The brother of late Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison and his visual collaborator have spoken to NME about a new book of artwork created by the late singer.
In 2021, Hutchison’s family and collaborators collected the late frontman’s lyrics and artwork together for the first time in a book titled The Work – described by the surviving members of Frightened Rabbit as “a tribute to Scott’s unbridled creativity”. The release was celebrated by fans, after he singer died by suicide in 2018.
Then last month, Faber Music released Living In Colour: The Art Of Scott Hutchison – a book celebrating the idiosyncratic, darkly comic, acerbic and romantic imagination of the frontman by presenting his illustrations, Frightened Rabbit artwork, sketches for fans, work from his time at Glasgow School Of Art and “everything in between”.
“We always had it in mind, especially after the unexpected success of The Work, but it’s always something I felt should exist,” Scott’s brother and Frightened Rabbit drummer Grant Hutchison told NME.
“We always knew that Scott was just as much an illustrator as he was a musician and a lyricist,” added renowned album designer DLT (Dave Thomas) – who worked with Hutchison across Frightened Rabbit artwork as well as helping put together The Work and Living In Colour. “There was all this stuff that I’d talked to him in the past; things like making a visual book. This was something we always wanted to do and a no-brainer.”
Living In Colour offers a lot of exclusive new material for Frightened Rabbit fans, with the band stating that “the majority of illustrations, a huge swathe of which haven’t been published anywhere before, were provided by Scott’s family and friends” and “selected artwork that was contributed by fans”. Scott’s family, alongside the remaining members of Frightened Rabbit, put out a call across social media in 2022 to submit pieces of Scott’s artwork from across the world.
“We found all this stuff in Scott’s flat,” said Grant. “My parents had his art school portfolios in the basement, but the majority of it he had kept and put away in various boxes. I collated it all into one place after Scott died and wasn’t expecting quite the volume of stuff that there was.
“He’d kept more of his art school sketches, so that was quite a find too.”
After coming across boxes and boxes of material, Grant and Dave soon realised that “it was going to be a big undertaking to edit down the best stuff” – but that more was still to be found.
“It was that point when we realised that there was still so much more out there that fans would have,” said Thomas. “We’d seen a lot of fans posting images on social media of stuff that Scott had sent them, so we decided to reach out to them and have it as this totally inclusive thing. So many people had something that Scott had created.
“The response from that was amazing. To see all of this stuff along with the little anecdotes of where they got them and where people had met Scott, it just bowled us over. Scott had a generosity with his creativity. He would have conversations with fans after a gig, then months later something would arrive on their doorstep. It was amazing to hear those stories.”
Asked about what their favourite discoveries were when poring over Scott’s work, Grant explained how seeing his brother’s art school sketches from over 20 years ago was the biggest surprise. “There was so much from his sketchbooks, life drawings and these little illustrations that would later later become Frightened Rabbit motifs – forks, chairs and seemingly random objects,” he said.
Thomas agreed: “I loved seeing all the stuff from Scott’s early days to see the little threads that would travel through: the crosses, the severed hands, these bits and pieces that became Frightened Rabbit motifs.”
Grant continued: “Also for me, the little tour book in the section called ‘It’s the best bits that are coloured in’. It’s from a US tour we did with Death Cab. It was a really positive time. The band were doing really well, everyone was coping well. I didn’t even know this existed. You still need to see it physically to get the full experience of what it’s like.”
The introduction to the book compare’s Hutchison’s stage banter to that of a stand-up comedian, with his lyrics and artwork proving an extension of that. Elaborating, Grant told NME: “It’s filled with humour. As with the music, there are dark sides to it. I don’t know his art is a flipped version of the music. The music was dark but it had light in it, whereas most of this stuff is pretty light and humorous but there are dark things if you look closer. Scott is kind of fucking with people a lot of the time; creating this thing where you think there’s more to it than there is.
“Like with our ‘cross’ logo going from a double cross to a triple cross and then later a quadruple cross. He just wanted people who had double cross tattoos to think that they were meaningless. It was nothing more than that but he loved that people wanted to read more into it. He’d get asked about all the motifs and what they mean and just be like, ‘It’s just a fork’. It’s nice that with a lot of the stuff in this book, you can just look at it and take it at face value.”
Thomas explained how they wanted the book to “show more of Scott’s personality”.
“Lots of people over the years have talked about how dark some of his lyrics are, but anyone who knew him would say, ‘Yeah, but a lot of them are tongue in cheek and a lot of them are hilarious!’” he said. “In the illustrations you get that sense that it’s all so laugh out loud funny.
“It looks odd, but you need to look at it to get a more rounded sense of Scott the person – especially when you balance that out with stuff you see in The Work.”
Hutchison’s legacy continues to be felt. In 2019, the band released an album of covers of their seminal album ‘The Midnight Organ Fight‘ with renditions by the likes of Biffy Clyro, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Chvrches‘ Lauren Mayberry, Julien Baker, Daughter, Sarah Silverman, The Twilight Sad and more – all curated by Scott before his death. In the years since his passing, the likes of The National and Frank Turner have performed Frightened Rabbit covers – with the latter even penning the single ‘A Wave Across The Bay’ about his late friend.
The aim of Living In Colour is in a similar spirit to that, and the lyrics to ‘Heads Roll Off’ which has become a mantra for Frightened Rabbit fans along with “Make tiny changes to Earth“: “When it’s all gone, something carries on.”
“That was always a big reason for me doing these and for even being a drummer in a band: you hope that someone sees what you’re doing and decides to give it a go themselves, then realise it can be a job or career,” said Grant. “Through his music and his lyrics, his contributions were important.
“I was always keen to include how he inspired other artists to create things in different mediums or different interpretations of existing art as part of the book too. There’s a story behind all of these tattoos. The lyric ‘Something carries on’ is perfect for encapsulating that whole thing and the idea. Being a musician doesn’t mean you can’t also be a visual artist or a dancer. He inspired other communities of people, beyond them just picking up a guitar or whatever.”
Dave went on: “In conversations with Scott, some of the motifs like the crosses were fairly throwaway to begin with, but I just love how fans have picked at those things and run with them to find their own meaning of Scott’s work. Now they’re a little symbol of a connection between the band and the fans.
“Everyone brings their own stories to that little cross. It means the world to so many people. That little moment of recognition when a Frightened Rabbit fan sees that little silver cross, they almost don’t have to say anything. It’s just a little glance at each other and they know. It started as a sketch and now it’s so powerful.”
Just last month, Sam Fender even performed a cover of the fan favourite ‘The Modern Leper’ during his headline set at Scotland’s TRNSMT Festival – a rendition which Grant described as “amazing” and a sign of the “timeless” nature of Scott’s work.
“The way that Scott wrote music means that he’ll never be time-stamped as easily as some other writers,” he said. “People are always going to have the thoughts and feeling that he sings about and describes, and hopefully future generations can relate to that.
“When I heard that Sam Fender was going to cover the song – which was just the morning of the festival – I thought he’d just do a little acoustic thing or he’ll stick a small bit in at the end of another song. But it was proper! It was certainly better than us!
“He’d clearly put thought and time into it and that shows how much it meant to him, his band and how much he knew it would mean to the crowd in Scotland. Sam’s just amazing.”
Proceeds from the book once again go towards Tiny Changes – the mental health charity set up by Scott’s family in his memory.
“When we first started it and were looking at other charities, we realised there was literally nothing for us to reference,” said Grant. “There’s nothing like it, which made us even more determined to make it happen. I still feel the same. There’s nothing on this scale for a young persons’ mental health charity with his visual element that’s so strong.
“It’s been incredible for me to see it flourish, while not being officially involved anymore. The plan was always to set it up and hand it over to someone who knows what they’re doing. They’re doing a great job, and it’s becoming something recognisable. People are going to Tiny Changes not from Frightened Rabbit or Scott’s story, but because they see it as an important charity that’s tackling something huge.”
As time goes on, the need for Tiny Changes only seems to increase.
“Every charity’s aim should be to become obsolete – to have an end goal to just one day wind up because they’ve solved the problem,” Grant continued. “Charities involved in social issues are all going in the wrong direction – especially as a portion of society just keep getting battered with one thing after the next. There’s not the support or the advice for those people get access to.
“With us being a children and young persons’ charity, we’ve probably not even seen the full scale of the impact of COVID and the cost of living crisis. It’s not a great time, but seeing Tiny Changes grow and make such an effort to help people is encouraging.”
Beyond the new book and charity work, Dave and Grant said that they were planning to further keep Scott’s memory alive by eventually putting on an exhibition of his work. Grant will also be busy this year on the road, having recently joined Frightened Rabbit friends and collaborators The Twilight Sad. Having been hand-picked by frontman Robert Smith, the cult Scottish post-punk band have been supporting The Cure on all world tour dates in recent years, with fans now eagerly awaiting the follow-up to acclaimed 2019 album ‘It Won/t Be Like This All The Time‘.
“Apparently it’s coming!” said Grant of new material. “We’re playing South America with The Cure at the end of the year, so you’d have to ask James and Andy as they’re the ones that write everything, but that’s the plan. It’s just that Robert Smith took up a lot of our time this year, so we’re probably looking at next year – but that’s the plan.”
And will be playing on the record?
“Hopefully! The three tours I’ve done with them has been my interview so hopefully I’ve passed.”
Living In Colour: The Art Of Scott Hutchison is out now, published by Faber Music. Order it here.
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Andrew Trendell
NME
