This comes with a bit of a story behind it.
Back in August 2005 I was at the now long defunct venue The Glasgow Barfly to see Mr. David Viner.
This was back in the day when I’d turn up for doors no matter what gig it was and watch all the supports just incase there was a chance of some gold in the rough.
At this particular show the first support was a pretty forgettable The Music wannabe band called The Witness. All macho swagger and posturing to a room of 5 people including the bar staff.
The second support was a Scottish 2 piece called Frightened Rabbit. They played a pretty short set to a room of maybe 10 people, still including the bar staff and also now The Witness, but I was blown away. As soon as they’d packed up their gear and left the stage I was on them.
At the time I obviously had no idea who either of them were but I ended up chatting to Scott, gushing my heart out saying how incredible they were and asked if they had any merch I could buy. Scott laughed at that and said no but I could have some of the E.P.s they’d been giving out to A&R reps. He gave me 4 of these bad boys for free. These would be whittled down to the one I now have over time after handing the other 3 out to various people through the years.
The singer for The Witness also tried to get me to buy their E.p. for £5. I politely declined.
The years would pass and FRabbit would become one of those supports that I wondered what happened to them. Until 2008 swing around and the might TMOF crashed into my life, like most of us I can imagine, becoming my album of the year.
I’d then see them live at every opportunity I could, totalling 19 not including side projects.
In September 2012 I’d see a stripped back FRabbit perform and do a signing at Glasgow FOPP for the release of The Pedestrian Verse. I brought the E.p. along. What I didn’t realise was that the staff only wanted the band to sign the new album you’d bought in store that day. I got to the front of the queue and security asked to see what I had. I showed them the folded up, hand drawn, taped together piece of A4 paper and they said “No”. I tried to explain but they weren’t having any of it. Scott must of noticed something going on and asked to see what I’d brought. I handed it over and he genuinely looked a bit shocked asking where I’d got it. I stupidly just replied, “Mr.David Viner”, to which he replied, “Who’s he?”. I quickly filled him in and he laughed a bit, signed it telling the other guys just to sign even though they had nothing to do with it.
After his passing I got the charity pin and decided to get a buddy to put together this display.
I don’t really hold onto many physical possessions these days but this is something I’ll keep forever.
