When Scott Hutchison died, we were urged to celebrate his life. Artists from all over the world, huge and unknown, took to the stage to perform some of Frightened Rabbit’s most loved songs. Strangely, it felt more like mourning than a celebration. This wasn’t a public loss. Sure, there was the shock of saying goodbye to such an influential and respected public figure, but for most it was something very different. Scott spoke of the things we all understand with such a masterful hand that many saw him as a friend who has helped them through some of their darkest days. He was as human as possible in his writing, not afraid to dwell on both the best and worst aspects of our condition. He highlighted the good and led us by the hand into the darkness of the bad. So when he died, we mourned.
I sat down with a life-long friend and fellow fan when the news broke and we turned back the clock to the first time we’d listened to Frightened Rabbit. We listened to 'Poke', 'Backwards Walk', 'Be Less Rude' and many more of the songs that taught us to love the band. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was uncomfortable and emotional, and we almost felt selfish at our grief which could obviously never match what those closest to Scott were going through. However, what we did experience was an overwhelming urge to remind our friends and family how important they are to us. Scott’s final heart-breaking tweet urged us to ‘hug your loved ones’. Yet again he juxtaposed great sadness with a note of hope, something that rings through all of his discography. We cried and laughed our way through it as we had done with the band’s entire career. We called the ones we love and told them they should never feel alone.
We can’t let that stop. Scott Hutchison’s legacy is alive in every note sang and every lyric written, but it is so much more than that. His family have just launched charity ‘Tiny Changes’, coined from the lyrics of ‘Head Rolls Off’ (‘while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth’). The charity aims to raise awareness for mental health issues in children and young people. I think most will agree that the changes Scott Hutchison made to earth were much more significant than he suggests, but he can be a beacon of possibility for the rest of us. We can strive to inject as much goodness into the world around us as we can. Support the charity and its message. Support your friends. Support your own mental health. Make Tiny Changes.
Find out more about Tiny Changes here.