Frank Turner, Tim Burgess, Matt Maltese and more for Tiny Changes COVID online charity gigs

Tiny Changes, the mental health charity set up in memory of Frightened Rabbit‘s Scott Hutchison, have announced a weekend of online gigs to raise for an emergency COVID-19 relief fund.

• Read more: “We’ll always miss him” – Frightened Rabbit, their closest friends and collaborators celebrate the beauty of Scott Hutchison

Tiny Gigs will take place on June 20 and 21 via the Tiny Changes Facebook page, featuring performances from The Charlatans‘ Tim Burgess, Bill Ryder-Jones, Frank Turner, The Staves, Matt Maltese and many more – with each act performing from lockdown in their own homes. Fans are invited to donate what they can.

“The message that we’ve been trying to promote throughout all this is togetherness, even at the moment when we’re not physically together,” charity co founder, Frightened Rabbit drummer and Scott’s brother Grant Hutchison told NME. “This is a great opportunity to bring new artists and young people to perform, speak and engage and have something to look forward to and celebrate.

“How good is it to have a festival and not even get out of your own bed?”

Speaking in praise of Tim Burgess after he hosted a listening party for Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Midnight Organ Fight’ on the anniversary of Scott’s death, Grant hailed The Charlatans’ frontman as “a hero”.

“It’s crazy that he and I are in touch and talking, because The Charlatans were my first Barrowlands show,” Grant told NME. “I went with Scott and I’m pretty sure my mum dropped us off.

“We met them the year before last when we played ‘Head Rolls Off’ together at Belladrum. He said that he’d been hugely affected by Scott’s death and would do anything just to be there and help somehow.”

Grant continued: “He’s doing exactly what we’re trying to do – bringing people together and giving them these experiences that people feel they’re missing out on. That’s vital. People are finding a lot of comfort and getting a lot of joy out of these parties. It’s amazing. We’re hoping to do another Listening Party for ‘Pedestrian Verse’, so we’re trying to get that sorted.”

Scott Hutchison passed away in May 2018 after taking his own life and years of battling depression. In his memory, his family set up the Tiny Changes charity last year to fund and find inventive ideas of how to improve mental health services for young people.

Speaking about how the coronavirus lockdown has also put a strain on mental health services, Grant told NME that Tiny Changes had set up a relief fund to help young people in underprivileged areas stay connected and try to provide more online counselling.

• Read more: Scott Hutchison’s brother and bandmate Grant reflects on a year of their Tiny Changes mental health charity

“We can’t really ignore what’s going on,” said Grant. “This is going to have a huge impact on young people. A lot of funding seems to have been cut off or put on hold since this crisis took hold. It seems ridiculous that such a vital thing would happen at a time like this, when so many other things are being taken away.”

Click here for more information and to donate to the Tiny Changes mental health charity in memory of Scott Hutchison. 

For help and advice on mental health:

• ‘Am I depressed?‘ – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably for young men
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day

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