The Fray

The Fray are an American alternative rock band. It was formed in 2002 in Denver, Colorado. The group’s founders, Joe King and Isaac Slade, have known each other since their school years. The stuff they played together interested the participants of Slade’s previous band, Ben Wysocki and Dave Wesh. After these two had joined the group its formation was completed. Allegedly, The Fray became a solid name of the new outfit after the flights between the members over the songwriting issues had become an integral part of the process. All of the musicians had obtained quality training and never parted with their instruments since early childhood, which had them all involved in the creative activities. The young men took a short period to captivate the local audience with their perfect live performances. In the early 2004 they were know to a tiny group of music lovers. In December 2004, they had sold-out concerts before the crowds of five thousand, and in summer 2005, they musicians had a joint tour with the big group Weezer. Considering the fact that there were two stations heavily promoting the demo-version of their first hit Over My Head (Cable Car), one will see why The Fray signed up a contract with Epic Records soon. The rumors about the young talents from Colorado went far out of the state borders and spread all over the country.

The Fray’s first, self-released, EPs were distributed in extremely limited amounts keeping the public waiting eagerly for their first official release. The fresh group’s debut full format record, How To Save A Life, saw light in 2005 and made a big stir with the above mentioned Over My Head (Cable Car), the single that reached out for the Top 10 singles according to Billboard. The album received the platinum status and was downloaded through MySpace about a million times only in a month. Meanwhile many performers curse Internet, the global net became the band’s main agent of keeping in touch with their fans. The lyrics of many songs featured on the long player reflected personal experience and emotions of the musicians. For instance, the title track How To Save A Life is Slade’s recollection of his work as a mentor for drug addicted teens. This song had such a strong response that it inspired some people to found the same-titled non-profit organization.

The music by The Fray did not match the stylistic definitions of any of the established genres, but it was distinguishable for the top level of the execution and variety of ideas. In 2006, the musicians were nominated for two Grammies at a time. It took The Fray just a moment to move from the tiny club stages to the huge venues where they appeared as headliners regularly. In 2007, they went to play in Australia, where their songs became radio-hits number one, and also in Japan, Germany and New Zealand. The same year, in summer, they had an American tour and on completion of that one, the musicians escaped to the studio working on the subsequent release. The Fray kept on working with Epic Records and those specialists who helped them prepare the debut album. They named the new CD The Fray and released it in February 2009.