The Fray History

The Fray is a Denver-based music act formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade (born May 1981) and Joe King after they accidentally met up in a local music store. Finding a click between them, the pair soon embarked on regular two-man jam sessions to produce a handful of uplifting, melody-driven tunes before finally decided to establish a group band. With Isaac taking the lead vocals and piano while Joe handling the guitar also backing vocals, they later picked up Zach Johnson and Isaac's brother Caleb Slade to be the drummer and bassist, respectively, making a lineup as a quartet in turn.

Sadly, the formation did not last long as Caleb in the end decided to quit followed by Zach who left to attend an art school in New York though the troupe already had recorded some materials which later was released independently under the title of "Movement EP." Lucky for the remaining members, they did not have difficulty to find the replacements in quite a short time, recruiting Isaac's former bandmates Ben Wysocki to fill in Zach's seat and Dave Welsh as the guitarist instead of the bassist. The lineup secured, all that needed was a name for the band and upon joking about their tendency to frequently quarrel over lyric composition, the foursome ultimately settled to dub themselves what they have become known of.

The Fray earned a loyal grassroots following through impressive Denver area gigs and the support of local radio which led a listen-driven campaign to get the band a record contract. With strong word-of-mouth, the band won "Best New Band" honors from Denver's Westword magazine and garnered substantial airplay on two of Denver's top rock stations with a demo version of "Over My Head (Cable Car)."

The lineup secure, all the band needed was a name. Jokes about the boys' tendency to battle it out over song composition led to the suggestion of "the Fray," and the name stuck. So did the Fray's style--a sophisticated, emotional blend of tinkling pianos, acoustic and electric guitars, and gently insistent rhythms that serves as an ideal backdrop for Slade's pitch-perfect, achingly beautiful vocals. The band's first single, "Over My Head (Cable Car)," echoes the poignant lyricism of Counting Crows and the melodic intensity of U2. The title track, "How To Save A Life," is a heartbreaking meditation on salvation inspired by Slade's experience as a mentor to a crack-addicted teen. Both songs employ an epic sweep, speeding up and slowing down so effortlessly that the listener can't help but become emotionally involved by the time the crescendo hits.

The first single from How To Save A Life, "Over My Head (Cable Car)" climbed into the top 10 on the Billboard singles chart, has been certified platinum, and was streamed more than a million times on MySpace in just one month. Indeed, MySpace has been good the to the band: they've been streamed over 16 million times, they have had more than 5 million views and close to 300,000 friends on the networking site. The Fray doesn't fit easily into any niche, and they don't need to: word of mouth (or, word of digital mouth) has been good enough. The songs stand on their own, no clever marketing or catering to genres necessary. All of these wonderfully got noticed by Epic Records' exec Mike Flynn who appeared to not waste time in signing them under the company officially on December 17, 2004.

Considering the quality of songwriting involved, the band's rise to local prominence within the span of a year doesn't seem so implausible. In January of 2004, the Fray were no-namers trying to find gigs. By December, they were getting radio pick-up and playing sold-out shows at 500-capacity venues. In July of 2005 they were on the road supporting legendary geek rockers Weezer. And with the release of How To Save A Life in September, there was no shortage of opportunities to make even more new fans.

Through the label, The Fray subsequently was able to see their first full-length effort "How to Save a Life" hit the U.S stores on September 13, 2005 to a tremendous outcome for a newcomer like them, thanks to its track "Over My Head (Cable Car)." Quickly broke into the top 40 of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, the song amazingly kept striving high to then reach the eighth rank on The Billboard Hot 100 fourteen weeks after entering the chart, in the meantime penetrated the top 10 of five others that included Hot Digital Songs and Pop 100 Airplay. The single's success consequently gave such a great boost to the album as it fabulously debuted at number one on Billboard Top Heatseekers, later even being certified Gold by May 2006.

More satisfying attainment gloriously followed when another single of the band, the title track, made its way to surpass what "Over My Head (Cable Car)" had scored for not only it landed the top three of The Billboard Hot 100, but also topped both Hot Digital Songs and Hot Adult 40 Tracks, propelling the LP to Platinum status in September 2006. Much to The Fray's joy, the achievement in turn brought them to win three Billboard Music Awards for digital category in December the same year, including that of Digital Songs Artist of the Year, all no doubt elevated their status in the music scene a couple notches higher.

It turns out that The Fray's music has resonated with lots of people: they are one of the most licensed bands of 2006, with their music being featured on Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, What About Brian, NCIS, One Tree Hill and Bones as well as in HBO's summer promos.

Sources: starpulse.com, thefray.net, aceshowbiz.com, music.yahoo.com.