The American four-piece are very in indeed, thanks to regular play on TV series such as Grey's Anatomy. But despite their evangelical roots, the group doesn't have any interest in being known as a Christian band, guitarist Dave Welsh tells Brian Boyd.
HIS time last year The Fray turned up for a post-Grammy record company party. When they hit the red carpet on their way into the venue, a shout went out from one of the paparazzi - "they're nobodies".
This year The Fray attended a post-Grammy record company party, only now they had a top 10 album and two top 10 singles to their names. They are officially somebodies.
It was a busy year for the four-piece from Denver, Colorado. How to Save a Life, their debut album, became the biggest selling title of 2006 on the US iTunes store, and their songs were streamed a very impressive 16 million times on their MySpace page. The Fray also became one of the most licensed bands around as their songs were heard on numerous TV shows, including Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. Their album and single of the same name have taken up position in the Irish and UK top 10 charts.
"It may seem that things have happened very quickly for us," says guitarist Dave Welsh. "But we couldn't get radio play or a record deal for our first three years. We kept sending our songs into local Denver radio stations, but we always got knocked back. Eventually we got one play and that led to us winning a radio station "best new band" award, and from there it began to snowball for us, particularly on MySpace."
Welsh is under no illusions about how important MySpace was in building the band.
"We were only ever being played on Denver radio stations after the initial breakthrough. But while we were waiting for other radio stations to play us, we decided to tour around the US. Sometimes we would only be playing to three people, but as our MySpace profile increased we found ourselves playing in cities where people would be singing the lyrics to our songs back to us."
The Fray's massive success is not difficult to fathom: the band are the perfect amalgam of Coldplay and Counting Crows, two names that are constantly used in reviews of their work.
"I certainly wouldn't take it as an insult that those two bands are mentioned in terms of what we do," says Welsh. "They would be two influences among many that we have. I think in terms of the Coldplay comparison, we only get that because of our use of piano. It's an instrument that doesn't feature that much in American rock music. I think that's why it took us so long to get radio play. The radio stations were playing stuff such as Nickelback and Staind but never anything with a piano on it. I suppose we should take these comparisons as a compliment but, really, it's more about what we can do with our own music."
The Fray were formed in 2002 when schoolfriends Isaac Slade (piano) and Joe King (guitar, vocals) invited Welsh and drummer Ben Wysocki to join the band.None of them grew up listening to traditional rock music. All four come from traditional Christian backgrounds where not much "secular" music was played.
"People have mentioned to us that there does seem to be an almost evangelical-type style to our songs. That's because we all had an evangelical background and that was bound to come out in the music. We don't call ourselves a Christian band because that term has so many connotations, and people can take it the wrong way. We make music that represents what we believe in and we just think the term 'Christian band' can be very limiting. We want to play to as many people as we can. We're musicians first, not pastors or preachers."
How to Save a Life came from pianist Isaac Slade's experiences working at a Christian halfway house where he was mentoring a teenager. The song is about Slade's desire to turn the boy's life around.
The song was picked up by the music producer for Grey's Anatomy after she saw the band play a show in Los Angeles. It was used in a pivotal scene and was deemed to have worked so well that it is now used in all of the show's TV promotional slots.
"We were really shocked to see how well the song worked on the show," says Welsh. "We had seen other bands' songs used to really good effect on television, but we were just blown away by how well our song seemed to fit. It's what most people say to us when they meet us - 'we heard you first on Grey's Anatomy'. And it didn't stop there. An episode of Scrubs used the song, as did One Tree Hill. and it was also used on quite a few MTV reality shows."
As the Fray's record sales on this side of the Atlantic look to at least match their US returns, Welsh is already feeling the pressure of being in a "now" band.
"We've seen so many bands just disappear after their first album. What we are really intent on now is building up the grassroots fan base because that is where the music lives and breathes and where it finds its energy and passion. It's great for us at the moment because currently we're the support band for The Feeling on their UK tour and the pressure is off us because we're not the main attraction each night. But we're still kind of shocked at how well the album is doing over here, that we're not just an American success story.
"At the moment we're just writing like crazy to make sure the second album can equal this one."
How to Save a Life is on the Sony-BMG label
