FRIGHTENED RABBIT at the Opera House (735 Queen East), Tuesday (May 4), 8 pm, $15. rotate.com. Sold out.
That Scott Hutchison, frontman for Frightened Rabbit, is standing in the middle of nowhere waiting for a busted tire on his bus to get fixed is a minor inconvenience compared to what the band has already been through on their current North American tour.
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Thanks to one unruly Icelandic volcano, the Scottish indie rock five-piece were sequestered in an airport-area hotel for six days, waiting for clearance. A handful of dates had to be cancelled, including one at a certain California music festival that the band had been anticipating for months.
“The tour was supposed to kick off in Coachella…. It was heartbreaking,” says Hutchison from somewhere in North Carolina. “That was a major loss on our end.”
Despite the setback, Hutchison sounds as upbeat and excited as he does on much of the band’s third record, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, out on Fat Cat. It’s full of swelling guitars, Hutchison’s impassioned vocals and the thundering percussion of his brother Grant.
However, it’s flummoxed Hutchison that many have noted with a slight sense of disappointment the album’s bright outlook as compared to previous efforts like 2008’s emotionally wrought The Midnight Organ Fight.
“No one wants me to be happy,” he says, half-jokingly. “I can’t fake being miserable. Since the last album came out, life’s been rather good. Things have settled down. I’m not going to pretend to be some angsty freak when I’m not.”
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