The Fray

[busybeeburns]

Campus reels in anticipation of The Fray concert

 

Back in 2002, they were struggling musicians trying to get their EP recognized and to launch a hit single.

 

In less than five years, The Fray has become an award-winning and twice Grammy-nominated band. They will be performing on Thursday in the Elliott Hall of Music in a sold out show with opening band Mute Math.

 

"This is the fourth Fray concert I've been to in one year," said Maddie Smith, a junior in the School of Materials Engineering.

 

Like many other students, she camped out outside the box office on the day of the tickets presale in hopes of getting premium seats.

 

"Luckily, my friend had an air mattress, but there were some girls by us that were really noisy so I think we got, like, two hours of sleep the whole night," she said.

 

A fellow Coloradoan, Smith first heard of The Fray when her brother and her friend came back from a Killers' concert with raving compliments. She has been a huge fan since.

 

"It just makes me happy whenever I listen to them," she said. "It doesn't matter how bad of a day I had or what's been going on in my life. Just listening to them makes me feel better."

 

Formed in Denver, Colo., the band initially fought for airtime on a local radio station. It was only after multiple rejections that their single, "Over My Head," was given a chance. Since then, "Over My Head" and their second hit, "How to Save a Life," have each sold more than one million digital copies nationwide, earning them Platinum statuses. The digital version of their debut album, "How to Save a Life," has been certified double Platinum and will be the #1 digital album of all time, beating out Coldplay's "X&Y."

 

Their success is largely due to the wide appeal of their music, which is embraced as adult contemporary, modern alternative rock and Christian rock.

 

Jordan Heckard, a junior in the College of Education who has already seen The Fray twice before, was impressed with their music when he saw them open for Ben Folds in Chicago. After the concert, he immediately looked the band up on the Internet and knew they would get big someday.

 

"It just sounded fresh and new and I liked it," said Heckard.

 

And like Smith, he braved the autumn cold and spent the night outside of Elliott in an attempt to get the best seats.

 

"(My friends and I) loaded a bag up with clothes and blankets and stuff," Heckard said. To pass the hours, "my friend and I threw a football around a bit. Otherwise, I brought a CD player and just listened to music. We tried to sleep and that didn't really work."

 

But despite the intense popularity of The Fray, some critics are already touting the band as merely a fad. Smith thinks otherwise.

 

"I can't imagine them being a one-hit wonder," she said. "They're just getting started."

 

The Fray, whose members include Isaac Slade, lead vocalist and pianist; Joe King, guitarist and vocalist; Dave Welsh, guitarist; Ben Wysocki, drummer and percussionist and Jimmy Stofer, the current bassist, will be performing at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Elliott Hall. Tickets are sold out.

 

http://www.purdueexponent.org/index.php?module=article&story_id=3518

[mandymcnabb]

Look After You is the cutest song!!

[berrywoman]

*I merged 2 Fray threads in case anyone was wondering*

 

so, I've been listening to Virgin Radio lately from work via my media player..... and I have to ask..... The Fray isn't popular over there???

 

Ben Jones said he played the bands debut last night on air... I was like :stunned: really? I mean, granted, I am diggin a lot of new music by listen lately.... but I was just surpised...

 

I like the Fray.. Hundred is my favorite.

[Kaos_16]

I really like The Fray! I have the "How to Save a Life" album.

[bell jar]

i just saw the video for How To Save A Life the other day. it's beautiful.

[lunar1126]

Concert review with several Coldplay references:

 

 

The Fray rocks devoted fanbase at packed UM house

BY MICHAEL HAMERSLY

[email protected]

 

If not for Coldplay bursting onto the pop-rock scene in 2000, The Fray would be truly unique.

 

Both bands boast charismatic frontmen whose command of the piano and sensitive, poetic lyrics are matched by fragile yet smooth falsettos. Both have backing bands that shift seamlessly from tender ballads to lively rock 'n' roll. And both have a way with simple, heartbreaking melodies.

 

And as the sold-out crowd at The Fray's concert Thursday night at the University of Miami's BankUnited Center proved, both bands have a rabid following (although when Coldplay played the same venue in 2003, their fans were quite a bit older than the squealing 'tween girls that made up a good two-thirds of this audience).

 

The 7,000-plus turnout was somewhat of a surprise: The Denver-based group has only one album to its credit, even though it has scored two of 2006's biggest pop hits -- Over My Head (Cable Car) and How To Save a Life, the album's title track.

 

Half an hour after an impressive, jazzy, electronica-kissed set by New Orleans It-band Mute Math, The Fray took the stage, inspiring mass shrieking one would expect at a boy band concert. The group wisely kicked off with Over My Head, while hundreds of cellphones were waved -- they're the new lighters, you know -- and a chipmunk chorus of young girls echoed singer Isaac Slade's every line, and ended with How To Save a Life.

 

Since The Fray's catalog contains only 12 songs -- and they played them all -- there wasn't much suspense surrounding the possible set list. But the band was tight, Slade's voice clear and powerful, and the sound system flawlessly balanced, which made the show enjoyable for even the most casual fan.

 

Highlights included the poignant All At Once and Heaven Forbid, rocking versions of Little House and Trust Me, and the maudlin piano ballads Hundred and Vienna, on which Slade was a dead ringer for Coldplay singer Chris Martin, even down to the tilted head.

 

The evening's lone surprise turned out to be a boisterous cover of Weezer's Undone (The Sweater Song) right before the encore, enhanced by a Sonic Youth-style swirling guitar crescendo.

 

Three new songs were extremely well-received -- especially one that Slade, alone on acoustic guitar, dedicated to his recently remarried grandfather. The response bodes well for The Fray's future.

 

http://origin.thestate.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/16554996.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_entertainment

[Lacey]

i love the fray soo much..i want to see them in concert someday

[bell jar]

part of How To Save A Life was played at a funeral i attended today..it was very tough to listen to, but beautiful.

[LunarSolar]

All At Once is great!

[coldplay_is_louve.]

okay, let's see if anyone here agrees with me....

 

i do like the fray, yeah. but the other day i was noticing something about them and their songs, and why i like them so much. they're coldplay posers!

 

c'mon... can't you see coldplay singing their songs? the lead singer of the fray is trying his hardest to be like chris martin when he plays the piano.

 

i do like them, don't get me wrong.

 

but i like them because they remind me of coldplay so freaking much.

[badlydrawngirl]

i just saw the video for How To Save A Life the other day. it's beautiful.

 

 

 

I heard this on the radio a couple of weeks ago and I also think it's lovely - haven't heard much of them over here though...

[twin4life]

i also love the fray!

i'm seeing them in june as a birthday present from my parents with my twin sister! :)

i'm so excited, i watched a live performance online and it was amaaaazing!

[Black Rose]

The Song "How to save a life" is very good, but I'm not keen on the rest of the album

[Rad-Cold]

Its to much the same..although they have quite some good songs

[ProgRocker]

^^ Agreed, but there are still some really good songs on it. :)

[busybeeburns]

Music: The Fray

 

The Fray are one of those bands who have been toiling away in the background, largely unnoticed by everyone outside their Denver homeland, for a handful of years, only to be finally “discovered” and brought to everyone’s attention thanks to a chance slot on some TV series, in this case Grey’s Anatomy.

 

Oddly enough it was not the title track that got The Fray their initial opportunity, but its lesser-known first single, Over My Head (Cable Car). Punctuated with Isaac Slade’s recognisable (though not unmistakable) vocal style and the band’s formulaic guitar pop, the song is something of a grower, but The Fray’s real breakthrough came with title track How To Save A Life.

 

Intensely infectious, the hit song is already running the same course as James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful and Maroon 5’s She Will be Loved, meaning you should be quite sick of hearing the song on every station by now!

 

Despite comparisons to British counterparts Keane and Coldplay, The Fray owe more to the likes of Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind.

 

Their sound emanates that all-too-familiar “American” country inflection that has graced generations of American rock bands since the day Gram Parsons blurred the boundaries between the two genres.

 

In contrast to Parson’s musical endeavours however, The Fray’s take is increasingly polished and perhaps too devoid of any rough edges and the vitality such “flaws” can bring to the music.

 

There is no denying this band knows how to churn out a good melody, but a little more diversity would instil a longevity and authenticity to their music!

 

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=50724

[green eyes88]

i bought their album about 2 weeks ago and i just cant stop listening to it, i really really love. Thier songs are really great

 

i especially like "look after you" and "she is"... and "how to save a life" is also lovely but everyone knows that one already :wacko:

"fall away" is really good too

[busybeeburns]

The Fray: 'We're not Coldplay II'

 

 

The Fray have the biggest-selling download album ever. But they tell David Sinclair they're still feeling a bit, well, yellow...

 

It has been impossible to avoid "How to Save a Life" by The Fray. With its twinkling piano part and cleverly undulating melody line, the single has been all over the radio and hasn't budged from the Top 20 for the last four months. Meanwhile, the debut album of the same name has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide (becoming the biggest-selling digital album ever in the process), propelling the four-man group from Denver, Colorado into the spotlight.

 

It has been a hectic time. Now in London, at a special recording session for AOL, the pressure is beginning to tell. While an invited audience of about 100 or so people stand around watching on the studio floor, the band struggle to get an acceptable take of their new single "Over My Head (Cable Car)". But every time they get to the crucial line in the chorus - "Everyone knows I'm in over my head" - the pianist and singer Isaac Slade's voice cracks into a squawk. By the time they get to the fourth take there is a mood of tension not helped by the ghostly hush which has enveloped the audience throughout the performance. "Did they pay you to come?" Slade asks them, sarcastically. At the band's hotel, after it is all over, an almighty row ensues.

 

"We had a huge fight," Slade says, ruefully, the next day. "Everybody yelling at each other. It was one of the most awkward shows we've ever done. We all had different ideas of what was supposed to be happening. We're really critical of each other. Of everything. It has helped us to get better, over the years. But it's kind of exhausting." "Luckily, it wasn't a live taping," says guitarist and singer Joe King, with heroic understatement.

 

Slade, 25, and King, 26, take their music and their group very seriously. They were school friends, and started The Fray in 2002.

 

"I think, if anything, we were twice as serious as we needed to be," Slade says. "We viewed it very much as a business. I had a band before we started, that was pretty good. But I couldn't book a show. Joe was much more business-minded. He knew that if you didn't write something down and do it, then it didn't get done. So we'd make lists and schedules and plans and draw up our strategy for how to reach more people."

 

They eventually settled on a line-up that includes the guitarist Dave Welsh and the drummer/percussionist Ben Wysocki. For a while, Slade's younger brother, Caleb, played bass in the band. But that didn't work out. The story that gets around is that he wasn't good enough. Not surprisingly, the parting of the ways produced a fair degree of tension. It also inspired the lyric for "Over My Head", a fairly succinct dissection of the brothers' relationship.

 

"We had a bit of a fight over the song," Slade says. "We fight a lot. We're brothers. But the song was really about how scared I was of losing that relationship. And it was also about just how much hard work it takes to keep a relationship going. If you're not honest and you just keep smiling, a relationship is pretty easy. As soon as everybody starts saying what they're thinking, you run into problems. But real relationships are going to be like that."

 

There were more interpersonal issues to be resolved. Both Slade and King are excellent singers and started the band as equals. King still takes the lead on about a third of the songs. But Slade has the more distinctive voice and the more instant charisma. When they got a record deal with Sony BMG, the label felt it was important for the band to have a clearly defined singer. Slade became the frontman of the group, and King was effectively sidelined.

 

"It's just how the monster works," King says, carefully. "Naturally the singer who's singing the singles will have the spotlight on him and will get asked questions about songs that we both wrote. I definitely had to deal with that. When things started to take off, we were doing interviews and I'd hear him say 'I' a lot. And it would kill me. So I called him out on it. I told him I really have a hard time with you saying 'I' when it comes to The Fray. If you think this is an 'I' thing that is not how I see it. It's definitely been a bit of a struggle for me."

 

"It's not that I try to act like a lead singer," Slade says, sheepishly. "I just sing a little higher than everybody else."

 

Success came comparatively quickly for the group in America, where their brand of high-quality, arena-grade, indie-rock struck a chord with an audience steeped in the traditions of bands like Counting Crows and Maroon 5. And success has now followed on smoothly in Britain, although not, by and large with the critics, who have dubbed them an American copy of Coldplay (or "Coldfray").

 

"I don't take offence," King says, "because Coldplay are a great band, and they're the architects of bringing the piano back into the forefront of rock. I don't want to be told we're just trying to be like Coldplay, because we're not. But I guess we're more like Coldplay than like the Scissor Sisters. It's not bad company to be among."

 

In America, the Fray have found themselves categorised as a Christian rock band. "We are not a Christian band," Slade says. "But in the States 'Christian rock' is a genre, and they will list you on that chart for all sorts of reasons."

 

In the case of The Fray, the reason seems to be the fact that King and Slade both come from families with strong religious backgrounds. Both are lapsed churchgoers, and say that they believe in God. But both are adamant that, although their music has a spiritual dimension, they never wanted to be classified as "a Christian band". Even so, is there perhaps more than meets the eye to a lyric such as "How To Save a Life", which was written about a crack-addicted kid who Slade took under his wing at summer camp one year?

 

"The kid was trying to piece his life back together after deciding that everything he was into was destroying him completely," Slade explains. So how do you save a life? "It's different for every person. There's no Band-Aid you can just throw on everybody's wound and it fixes it."

 

Whether the Fray belong in the Christian-rock category or not, there is no doubt that the band take a more grown-up approach to life than many. All four are married, and King has two daughters.

 

"Early on my parents made it very clear to me that you could learn something without having to go through it," Slade says. "I look at my friend and he's completely addicted to OxyContin. He's burning millions of brain cells every minute. He's got the wrong friends. He hates his job and he can't get out of it. And he's thousands of dollars in debt. So, I look at that, and I sympathise. But I don't say to myself: 'Wait a minute, I've got to try that'."

 

Do they find the music business a comfortable world to inhabit? "Sometimes I feel so uncomfortable it's amazing," King says. "Sometimes I don't even know who I am. That's the way the music business is. You're constantly having to say the right thing, or sing the right part, or look good in this photo-shoot. It's really exposed."

 

"I thought it would be worse," Slade says. "I thought it would be more rampant rock'n'roll. But actually it's pretty limited. Maybe it's because we're a soft-rock band."

 

The album 'How to Save a Life' is out now on Sony BMG; The Fray perform at the V Festival (http://www.vfestival.com), on 18 and 19 August

 

http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2600346.ece

[busybeeburns]

Fray Frontman Movin' on Up?

 

 

Isaac Slade's earned Grammy nominations and sold millions of albums. Now, he really may have hit it big.

 

The Fray's lead singer is in the running to inherit a $15 million English country estate from an aristocrat who may—or may not—be related.

 

While on tour, the 24-year-old heard about a reality show on the Discovery Channel last year called I'm Really a Royal, in which Sir Benjamin Slade conducted a worldwide search for distant relatives to keep his 13th century country mansion in the family.

 

Situated 140 miles west of London in the bucolic town of Somerset, Maunsel House includes a nine-bedroom manor with a bar, ballroom, library, and five reception rooms. The estate rests on 1,500 acres and also includes 12 other cottages, three lakes and a herd of cattle.

 

So the younger Slade and his wife Anna, 23, contacted the elder Slade and his partner, Kirsten Hughes, and a meeting was arranged for last week.

 

"We had a wonderful couple of days with Ben and Kirsty, who were amazing hosts," the rocker said in a statement this week. "For now, we're all just getting to know each other."

 

According to London's Evening Standard, the eccentric baronet, who has no children, often rents out the estate for events, including weddings, which brings in a sizeable income.

 

But the elder Slade, 60, decided he had grown tired of the constant and costly maintenance, strict British laws governing heritage sites that make upgrades difficult and a 40 percent tax, so he decided to leave.

 

Without and children or close family ("All my relatives in England have their own large houses and had no interest in taking on another place," he has said), Slade needed to find a genetically compatible someone to take over the digs.

 

The Discovery Channel show drew nearly 15,000 applications from various Slades overseas but no one really stood out.

 

Until Isaac Slade came calling.

 

"I'm just over the moon to have found Isaac—what an exciting discovery," Sir Benjamin told the Standard. "Aside from the fact he's a mega star, he is a thoroughly great chap with so much going for him. He isn't your typical rocker. He doesn't do drugs, he dresses and speaks respectfully and, most importantly, he says he wants to start up a family—which is what this ghastly quiet place needs."

 

The elder Slade even went to a Fray gig in London.

 

"We're pulling out all the stops—the champagne will flow all night," he said in anticipation of last week's visit. "I want him to fall in love with my house so I can jump ship."

 

Isaac and his missus subsequently stayed two nights.

 

"We'd love to have a place over here now that the band is taking off in Europe. This would be perfect," Isaac told the Standard. "I grew up on a ranch in a rural setting—my grandfather was a cowboy—there were always lots of horses and livestock, so I'm used to working outdoors and have an affinity with that way of life."

 

Not to mention having his own home studio.

 

The next step is for the two Slades to compare family trees to see if any of the branches intersect.

 

With influences that include U2 and Coldplay, the Fray broke through with their Grammy-nominated 2005 album, How to Save a Life, which has sold more than 2 million copies and had its lead single featured on the CW's One Tree Hill and ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

 

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=fb5cf132-89b9-4743-9bb6-de64137513a9&entry=index

[busybeeburns]

The Fray's piano pop hits girl target but lacks energy

 

 

MUSIC REVIEW: The earnest Denver band excited the audience with its two big hits but came up short overall.

 

The Fray can boast the most downloaded album in history and two of the most ubiquitous pop songs of the past year.

 

Monday night at Target Center, the Fray earned another distinction: The Denver pop band provided the answer to where have all the 'N Sync fans gone.

 

When the Fray played at Cities 97's Basilica Block Party last July, the place was packed with 20- and 30-something women. Since then, the Fray's "Over My Head" and "How to Save a Life" crossed over to Top 40 radio stations KDWB and KS-95. That explains why tween and teen girls, the ones who were fawning over boy bands just a few years ago, filled Target Center.

 

The young women had their cellphones ready for photo ops or to broadcast to other friends when the Fray sang their two hits. The only other time the girls got excited was when the Fray did an acoustic rendition of -- go figure -- Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." Well, at least this steadfastedly earnest band finally showed a sense of humor. And the fellows followed with an ad hoc "Happy Birthday" for their bassist Daniel, who was playing his first show with the band.

 

Actually, this was the opening night of the Fray's first arena-headlining tour, which will visit 36 other cities. There were no discernible opening-night kinks -- just the same old problem that plagues the Fray. Too many medium-tempo songs. Dave Welsh's guitar tried to add some different textures, but frankly it didn't make enough of a difference.

 

The most successful ploy at mixing it up was letting guitarist Joe King take over the vocals, bringing an almost U2-like vibe. When high-voiced piano man Isaac Slade was singing, the Fray's piano-propelled rock suggested Coldplay (Coldfray anyone?). But Slade, 26, is the most faceless frontman of a hit rock group. If he wasn't wearing his Army-green cap, would any of the 9,557 concertgoers have recognized him in a hall at Target Center?

 

Moreover, to make it as a piano rock star, it helps to have some energy. Slade got up from the keyboard just once to implore the crowd. By contrast, Coldplay's Chris Martin is a charming cheerleader in concert in the tradition of Elton John and Billy Joel. Thankfully, the Fray's lights, mostly displayed on a multi-textured backdrop, provided the much-needed energy and visual stimulation.

 

With only one album ("How To Save a Life") to its name, the Fray had to search elsewhere for material to fill out the 90 minutes. The quintet dredged up "Together" from an early EP, which brought a heavy, more prog-rock sound. The fellows introduced a few new tunes -- including the vaguely bluegrass-y "Dixie," the closest thing that could be called uptempo -- and encored with the can't-miss-crowd pleaser, Oasis' "Wonderwall."

 

Still, in the end, as an arena headliner, the Fray seemed in over its head.

[busybeeburns]

A lack of melodic substance so big, even screaming fans couldn’t fill it

 

 

The Fray made it the newfashioned way — by getting tunes placed in TV shows and taking advantage of the My- Space phenomenon. The band’s “How to Save a Life” album erupted from that Internet networking tool to become a surprise hit. No one seemed to notice that, though The Fray is a decent band, its music is essentially Coldplay-lite.

 

This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, if the band simply borrowed Coldplay’s model of piano-based Brit-pop, its dramatic sturm und drang over 6/8 time signature build-ups, and then added its own flavor to the mix. But the Denver-based Fray brings only well-played, extremely polite mush-mouthed miasma to the party.

 

The band thrilled an audience comprised predominantly of women in their late teens, early 20s and, at the far end of the spectrum, early 30s.

 

The band is currently at work on a follow-up to “How to Save a Life” but has taken the opportunity to spend its downtime away from the recording studio crossing the country on its first arena/shed tour. The house looked quite lite, population- wise, during the opening sets from Mae and OK Go, but filled to nearly three-quarter capacity by the time The Fray took the stage with its gorgeous light show and pristine sound.

 

Most of the set was drawn from the band’s hit album, though one new tune did arrive mid-set. That song sounded an awful lot like the rest of the band’s set — nice, but pedestrian, harmonically speaking, and lacking in intensity.

 

The main problem is pianist and lead vocalist Isaac Slade, certainly one of the less charismatic figures currently fronting a major rock band. Slade actually captures the MySpace-era zeitgeist quite well — he’s as unique as a ringtone, as worth watching as one of the shows his band’s music provides the backdrop for.

 

Which is not to suggest that The Fray is a terrible band. In fact, the group is remarkably tight, its performance revealing not a crack in the thick, balladheavy edifice.

 

“Over My Head,” the band’s breakthrough single, was extremely well-played, and the visual presentation — which itself was reminiscent of Coldplay’s effective use of the large blank screen behind the musicians — was impressive.

 

Something was missing throughout, though, and the adoring screams of the masses couldn’t eradicate it. The band just lacks substance in the melodic and harmonic department, which is a nice way of saying that the tunes are polite, but not substantial.

 

Things got a bit more interesting when guitarist Joe King took over lead vocals for a few tunes. Here, the band upped the ante, going after the band Coldplay ripped off — U2 — and almost getting within distance of the Irish band’s blend of arena grandiosity and emotional commitment. But again, The Fray ended up sounding like a decent bar band with a huge production budget covering the beat of the middle-of-the-road alternative catalog.

 

Happily, the group is still at the outset of its career, and has plenty of room to grow.

 

Concert Review

 

The Fray

 

Sunday night at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/music/story/101155.html?imw=Y

[grids]

The Song "How to save a life" is very good, but I'm not keen on the rest of the album

 

Me too:D

[twin4life]

i'm seeing them tonightt :) hope its good, but those reviews don't look too great

[mc_squared]

i'm seeing them tonightt :) hope its good, but those reviews don't look too great

 

Are they looking a bit frayed round the edges?:rolleyes:

[twin4life]

haha that was the cheesiest statement i've read all day