| THE FRAY / "with eight seconds left in overtime" |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Monday, 30 March 2009 22:51 |
 from left to right: Ben Wysocki [ drums ], Dave Welsh [ lead guitar ] & Joe King [ rhythm guitar].
If not for the luck of a single draw... 'Grey's Anatomy' sound-mark song 'How To Save A Life', would have been written by Belladonna, or Stratford. Same band, same songs, such "quality names". When you leave the naming of your band to the mercy of a suggestion bowl, it's lucky that the naming-powers-that-be were on the side of Denver natives, Isaac Slade, Ben Wysocki, Dave Welsh and Joe King. THE FRAY originally assigned meaning to their name, from fabricated tales of lyrical composition battles. They now agree unanimously that 'The Fray', now "means the one thing that takes more time than anything else in" their lives. "Lyrics aren't as much of a source of argument because it's kinda obvious when they don't work. More so, just arrangements of songs. Or individual parts of song. The structure of a song. Chords." The silver lining to every storm-cloud, is a rain of vision. In 2002, vocalist Slade's brother departed on deteriorating terms which inspired 'Over My Head (Cable Car)'. "That produced some of the crisis behind the song. It caused a lot of relational things. Family issues, for both of them. It was rooted in that experience." Rhythm guitarist King, reminisces that "all of us have wanted to be musicians, as long as we can remember. Isaac and I, were wandering out of high school... We were in college, kinda doing the same thing. Studying. Also wanted to start up a band. We ran into each other at a music shop, we both decided to get together and start writing. We formed the band and took it from there." Today... THE FRAY sans an under-the-weather Slade, seek happiness in the form of lamb sandwiches and sheep-seeing in New Zealand, washed down with kosher coffee-drinking. "A flat white in New Zealand on a sunny afternoon. I'll then find the sheep, post-sandwich making. Just to appreciate what happened." ... and the thing they fight for above all else? "I fight for more sleep each night. I'd like to start a petition to make the day thirty hours. Instead of twenty-four. Sleeping for at least thirteen hours each day!" P.S. We have a soft spot for any men that love Disney films... "I actually love those old Disney films. It could be that I have a six year old and we own all of them... and I'm just used to them being around. But there's something very magical about those classic films. Compared to today where it's crazy animation stuff, 3-D over-stimulation. Going back to those beautifully crafted movies with an amazing soundtrack to it and these amazing characters... I am a sucker for those old ones."
"If you're really being honest with what's happening. Everyone's ugly somewhere. It's a lot easier to talk about the good sides of yourself."
COUP DE MAIN: Why did you decide to self-title your latest album? THE FRAY: It was a bit of procrastination. Then also, it just made sense after a while. We wrote out a list of potential names and hunted through lyrics, hunted through songs... just to see what would be a good face, or theme of the record. But we couldn't find it. It just seemed like we came back to the idea of having a self-titled. 'The Fray', made sense. It's a lot more about the whole record and not just one song. I think it really reflects that. The next phase of where we're going. We all, just resolved on it. CDM: How did the concept behind the album artwork come about? THE FRAY: The artwork came from some of our friends who did the artwork for the first record as well. When it came time to start thinking about artwork for this one... it was pretty early on while we were in the studio actually. Before the record was done. Before some of the songs were even written. We started talking about it. They're really good friends of ours that have seen us through a lot of this and known us for a while. So, we were just chatting about everything that had happened to us and what we thought about who we were as a band now. It was time to do it again, make another record, put it out. They came up with this idea of representing us with the imagery of a fluorescent sign or a neon sign. The analogy of it being in places it doesn't belong and the juxtaposition of it being this obnoxious, bright shiny light trying to sell something. In all these either beautiful or ugly places, that it doesn't really belong. All the parallels to have that, sort of lined up with the way we felt about some things we've been through lately. So, they made signs of all the song titles. It took almost a month to make one sign, so we had to decide on the names of the songs pretty quick so they could get 'em all made in time. Then they took them around Colorado and around Denver our hometown, to some spots that were either really cinematically pleasing or places that actually meant something to the band and to us, individually. CDM: It's interesting that although your album is all about people and relationships, people are completely absent from the photographs... THE FRAY: They did a really good job of making the kind of images that you can use, (for) what you like with them. That's good art. You can make it what it is, for yourself.
THE FRAY: It's super important. We're not only just a group of musicians collaborating, we're a living organism of artists, business-men, sales people... For some reason, there's all those different aspects of what we're doing. We have to do it all together. All the time. Getting along is pretty essential, to being able to work together as a team. CDM: Some people are talented talkers. But more often, like in your song 'Absolute'... people have difficulty expressing emotions. What holds us back? THE FRAY: The culture back in the States, is not terribly keen on having people talk about their feelings all the time. People mislabel it as, what gets talked about in gossip magazines or all the tabloid news-stand crap. But nobody can actually... Well it's not really encourage. People (should) sit down, (ask) 'ohhh what's really going on?' Beside, what you bought. Or, what you think is cool these days. That conversation especially for guys, really... doesn't happen. Speaking through experiences of my own, simply most times it comes down to pride. If you're really being honest with what's happening. Everyone's ugly somewhere. It's a lot easier to talk about the good sides of yourself. CDM: Explain the opening line in 'You Found Me', "I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad"... THE FRAY: In a roundabout way, it's just poetry. Not really literal. He's there. Just the idea, of what would it be like if you did walk up to a corner and he was hanging out... and what the interaction would be? I think everybody has that. Everybody can imagine what that would be like. If he was just a normal person. CDM: So, it's in reference to Joan Osbourne's "What If God Was One Of Us?". THE FRAY: Exactly! So, it's the idea of having some type of interchange with this dude that's on the corner, hanging out. CDM: Similarly, I liked the lyrics in 'Say When' of, "maybe God can be on both sides of the gun"... THE FRAY: That's like Part B to the, 'You Found Me' theory. If you have this conversation with God or whatever deity people would imagine into being, obviously it seems like at first glance, he can be on either side of the problem. It's classic throughout history. At every big battle, each side thought that God was on their side. You know what I'm saying? He's the guy that sentences the person to death... and he's also, probably hanging out with the guy that's in the electric chair. It's that weird contradiction of how can it be so duplicitous at times. CDM: 'Say When' paints a timeless, 'bigger picture'... THE FRAY: What is, the bigger picture? I think that's a lot of what it means to be human. Having a pretty messed up perspective of what's happening and how much more there is going on, than just a bunch of humans running around in circles on this planet. I think there's a lot of that. Depending on what you believe in and the way you live your life. There's a lot of that, that will make sense later in this life. Or the next, I think. THE FRAY's 'The Fray' is in-stores now.
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