It’s not every day a group of church buddies from Denver gets nominated for two Grammy Awards.
But life has been extraordinary for the four young men who are the Fray, which picked up a pair of Grammy nominations in the pop and rock categories Thursday.
Singer-pianist Isaac Slade, drummer Ben Wysocki, and guitarists Joe King and Dave Welsh quickly went from playing weekday gigs at local rock clubs just three years ago to selling out Red Rocks and big rooms across the country – Canada and the U.K. too.
The Fray is possibly the biggest band ever to come out of Colorado. Its record sales recently passed those of Big Head Todd & the Monsters’ “Sister Sweetly,” and while Firefall had two platinum records (more than a million sold) in “Elan” and “Firefall,” the Fray is on track to go double- platinum with its debut alone.
The band learned of the nominations Thursday after a sold-out industry show at London’s Borderline. The members were boarding a Nashville, Tenn.-bound plane in London when they got the call from manager Jason Ienner.
“All of us were really surprised and stoked,” Slade said during a layover Thursday night in Chicago on his way to Nashville. “If we were expecting anything at all, it would have been best new artist because the field is significantly smaller. Instead we got these two huge nominations.”
“It doesn’t all happen at once,” Slade told The Denver Post a few months ago regarding his band’s meteoric rise. “It’s been little teeny steps here and there. We’d be like, ‘Oh, we sold out the Fox.’ ‘We sold out the Gothic!’ Little steps like that. But in hindsight, the story’s crazy.”
The Denver piano-pop group has spent the better part of the past 16 months on the road in support of its debut full-length album, “How to Save a Life.” Fans have rewarded the Fray with sold-out concerts in increasingly larger venues and sales of more than 1.5 million albums in the U.S.
The band’s nominations are for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal for “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal for “How to Save a Life.” The competitors are heady company indeed: U2, Green Day, Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Raconteurs, the Pussycat Dolls, the Black Eyed Peas, Death Cab For Cutie and Keane.
“U2, Coldplay, Green Day, all huge heroes of ours,” Slade said. “Red Hot Chili Peppers – that’s just ridiculous. I don’t even want to talk about that.”
The news comes on the heels of a big week for the Fray. “How to Save a Life” was recently certified as a gold release in Canada and Australia. As well, the band took over the No.2 spot on the all-time digital album chart, second only to Coldplay, a band that has been a touchstone for critics and fans in describing the Colorado band.
At Monday’s Billboard Music Awards, the Fray picked up three awards. The industry magazine ceremony honored artists who have performed well on its radio, retail and digital charts, and the Fray swept the digital categories for “How to Save a Life’s” performance on iTunes and other carriers of MP3s. The album’s first two singles, “Over My Head” and the title track, are certified platinum digital singles by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Success “has given us the international insight into the human character,” Slade told The Post in September, “but we’re pretty much still sheltered little church kids.”
The band plays Friday night in Nashville. After a Dec. 15 show at Madison Square Garden and a holiday respite in Colorado, the Fray will tour until early March – stopping only once to play in Colorado for a sold-out Feb. 3 show at Vail’s Dobson Arena.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Behind the music
2002: The band formed around singer-pianist Isaac Slade and guitarist Joe King. They started writing music, eventually attracting drummer Ben Wysocki and guitarist Dave Welsh.
2003: The band members continued to write and expand on their live repertoire, nailing down their sound in the “Reason” EP.
2004: The Fray enjoyed success selling out local venues and began to attract more fans and media attention. The band signed with Epic Records.
2005: “How to Save a Life” was released in September, and the single “Over My Head (Cable Car)” caught on throughout the country. The band toured with Weezer and Ben Folds.
2006: The band’s meteoric rise hit full steam this year with sold-out tours and the live release “Live at the Electric Factory: Bootleg No. 1.” Its studio record crossed the 1.5 million sales mark, and the group’s music was licensed for TV shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scrubs,” “NCIS” and “Bones.”
-Ricardo Baca
