The Fray
About The Fray
The Colorado band The Fray are one of those rare groups of rockers who can wow an audience using only a whisper. With pianist Joe Slade front and center, The Fray's sound builds from gentle, intricately composed melodies to crashing crescendos in the span of a single song. The Fray might have captured some of that high mountain air from their home town and brought it along with them, because Slade's voice is sweet and pure, while also admitting just a hint of vulnerability. Like many of the best rock combos, The Fray have known each other for a long time. Slade and vocalist/guitarist Joe King went to high school together and liked all of the same bands, but fell out of touch after graduation until randomly bumping into each other at Guitar Center. They set a date to jam together, and their sessions eventually produced early versions of The Fray's songs. Joe's brother Caleb played bass with the band (who currently have no official bassist) but the Slade brothers' relationship grew rocky. The brothers' conflict provided inspiration for one of The Fray's earliest hits, "Over My Head (Cable Car.)" The Fray gigged around Denver's thriving local music scene for a few years, releasing a series of independent EP's that are now sought-after collectors' items. Eventually "Cable Car" made it onto local radio stations and the band won the coveted "Best New Band" title from the popular alternative weekly paper Westword. The buzz got The Fray nation-wide exposure opening for alt-rock royalty like Weezer and Ben Folds, and it turned out that they shared an audience. Finally, The Fray released their smash debut How To Save A Life in 2005. The album featured "Cable Car" as the debut single. The delicate "How to Save A Life" was featured on the hit shows Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs, sending it to no.3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Since releasing How To Save A Life, The Fray have gone on to record several acoustic live albums that do a stunning job of documenting the band's live intensity and passion.
