A Conversation with The Fray’s Isaac Slade – HuffPost 1.20.12

Mike Ragogna: Isaac, how are you today?

Isaac Slade: Well, Mike. Yourself?

MR: Very well as well, thanks. Let’s catch everyone up on The Mighty Fray’s history before we talk about the new Scars & Stories. How did you guys come to be a band?

IS: I like the name “The Mighty Fray.” (laughs) We actually had some copyright infringement problems when we first started because there were other bands called The Fray. So, that could’ve been a good alternate name.

MR: Thanks. (laughs)

IS: We started in 2002 in a little town just outside of Denver called Arvada. I had a little band that sucked and a lot of heart, and Joe King had a really great straight up rock band that was touring around the country in a van all through High School. After both of our bands broke up, we joined forces in 2002 and played a gig for my little brother’s graduation. We even put out a little fish bowl and asked for name suggestions. Somewhere between that fishbowl and the dry erase board that we put up in my room that night, we played with some band names and decided to call it The Fray. Then from 2002 to 2004, we played the hell out of Denver until everyone got tired of us. After that, we got a record deal and put a record out in 2005. Things started heating up in 2006, and being on Grey’s Anatomydoubled everything that we had done. After that we sold a bunch of records, we played a bunch of shows and here we are.

MR: Grey’s Anatomy did a lot as far as putting you guys out there. And it didn’t hurt to have a big hit with “Over My Head (Cable Car).”

IS: Yeah, that was the first song that we got really noticed for. I had a chance meeting with a guy named Dave Herrera who writes for a local paper in Colorado called The Westword. He and I were getting dinner to pitch this cable access Wayne’s World­-style public access music show that I was trying to get going. (laughs) At the end of the interview, he asked if I had anything else going and I told him that I had this band that I was working with. He came back to my studio and I played him a couple of our songs and he just fell in love with them. That was pretty awe-inspiring because we all knew of him as a writer. His was the first publicity that we, as a band, ever got. Then “Cable Car” started getting a little spin from the local ClearChannel station, which was unheard of at the time – a big, bad station like ClearChannel didn’t play anything local, really, but there was a DJ named Nerf who really wanted to get us started, so he played it. After that, we started getting some good traction on the airwaves and that song became our first hit.

MR: Then, of course, you broke through internationally with “How To Save A Life.”

IS: Yeah. That song came out of the first record demo when we were working on, “Cable Car.” This was all before we had a record contract. Initially, I wanted it to be the last track on the record – I wanted it to be a tiny little shoe-gazer track. I was listening to a lot of really sad, pensive music and I wanted it to be like that. But the big bad Don Ienner, a record Executive for Columbia Records, thought that it could make a great single. So, he had us go back into the studio and make the drums and piano sound bigger and give the song a bigger build. We didn’t really change anything except those two things and made it third on the album. Then the spaceship took off. (laughs)

MR: Then, of course, there was “You Found Me.”

IS: Yeah. That was a couple of years later on our second record that came a little bit on the tail of the first record. We toured for 35 months and a lot of us got married and one of us had a kid. It was just an absolute upheaval of everything that we’d known. At the same time, a lot of our families were going through really difficult times. The economy was crashing and terrible things were happening to good people. That song kind of came out of that time and out of us trying to make sense of it all and not know how to. It was just writing a big question mark.

MR: And you guys also were on a very significant song by Timbaland. “Undertow,” right?

IS: Yeah. Joe is actually friends with Timbaland and he asked Joe to write a song for him, so Joe pulled us into it. It was a lot of fun, actually.

MR: Let’s not forget Christmas EP.

IS: That song actually came from that same recording session. We did that Timbaland song, and our manager was saying that we should come out with something for Christmas. We didn’t want to do a full symphony album Michael Bublé style quite yet, so I just busted out seven songs and we recorded it in about two hours. It’s just me and an acoustic guitar.

MR: You guys as a band have somewhat of a Christian background as well.

IS: It’s funny because the things that we learned from growing up in that background are similar to the stuff that Kings of Leon learned. You kind of sniff out the real stuff and try to drop everything else behind you, and I think we did that. There is a lot of strange stuff there, but there are some really good people and they taught us some incredible things. They taught us that you only live once, and that if you want to say something you better say it well and you better say what you mean. Otherwise, you might not get another chance. And I think that that’s something that came through on everything that we’ve done up to this point, and I think it’s something that we’ll carry with us in the future.

MR: Let’s talk about the new album Scars & Stories. This album really is about scars and stories, isn’t it.

IS: Yeah, that name actually came from a song that didn’t make it onto this record. That particular song had about four verses listing all of the ex-girlfriends I’ve ever had in these loving little folks song couplets. The fifth verse kind of turns into a love song for my girl. It’s essentially a confession of all of the things I’ve been through. Some things feel a little bit of a mistake, but looking back at my life, every single one of those things led me to where I am now. I also like the idea of scars, you know? Scars are kind of sexy because they mean you’ve lived life. You’re not living in some sheltered ivory tower, you’re out on the streets looking for what you want. You can get beat up when you do that. Sometimes, scars end up being an important part of a relationship – when you get to that point of confession and storytelling. Ultimately, if that person accepts you, those scars become a map to where you are now and sometimes, even a clue to where you’re going.

MR: Can you tell us about “1961,” like why 1961?

IS: That song came from a trip that Dillon and I took to New Orleans to try to do some writing – we rented a house and chilled down there for about a week and a half. We wrote that song about The Berlin Wall and the division it represented in regards to one unified city becoming two cities still under the covering of a country. They’re both German, but in a sense, they were as far from each other as they could possibly be. I think that’s how our relationships can be sometimes. Not to sound cliché, but we all as people build these walls that don’t really come down until someone comes into our lives, tears them down, and says, “Enough!”

MR: And there’s the song “Munich.”

IS: I think “Munich” one of my favorite songs on the record. I have a sweet spot for science – I think it’s one of the most artistic professions out there. There’s this large particle collider out in Switzerland that is kind of helping scientists peel back the curtain on what creates gravity and mass. Some very big questions are being raised, even some things that Einstien proposed, that have just been accepted for decades are starting to be challenged. They’re looking for the God Particle, basically, the particle that holds it all together. That song is really just about the mystery of why we’re all here and what’s holding it all together, you know?

MR: Also, can you talk about “The Fighter”?

IS: “The Fighter” was actually inspired by a Norman Rockwell painting, though I can’t remember the name of the painting. I just sat down at a piano and stared at the painting. He is one of my favorite painters. It’s a scene where the fighter and his opponent are going at it and there’s a girl standing in the crowd shouting, “No!” I just really like the idea of this desperate and hopeless fighter trying to get through life. I think he and his girlfriend both know he’s going to lose, but he has to go through with this fight. I know people like that. I’m like that.

MR: I think we’re all that, really. Is there any advice that you’d like to share with new artists?

IS: I actually do some work with a local non-profit, and we have a Battle of the Bands every year and I produce a little EP for the winner of the competition. (laughs) I actually did a little three-day session in the studio with the winners recently. They’re all about 19 years old, and I said to them, “We can do four or five songs if you want so that you guys have $5 EPs to sell at your shows. We can do every song you’ve ever written or we could just do one really good song. I think this song is the one, and I think we should get it on the radio.” (laughs) The guys were a little upset because they had already planned an EP release and release party, but I told them that they were thinking too locally. I told them that I thought they were really good, and that they could totally get their song on the same station where we got our start. Really, my advice is very specific in that I believe it all comes down to one song. There will probably be one song that you’re known for that will open the door for your career and that’s the difference between playing shows around your hometown and getting the interest of a huge label. There are exceptions like Ani DiFranco and even O.A.R. to some extent – they don’t particularly have one song that everyone knows, they just built up a grass roots fan base. If you have the financial means or patience do that, by all means go for it, otherwise, for the rest of us, it all comes down to one song. If you haven’t written it yet, keep writing only because it will open doors that no other amount of sweat equity could open.

MR: What is the immediate future for The Fray?

IS: We’re gonna come play this album for you! (laughs) We’re coming to a town near you.

MR: Awesome. Well, Isaac, thank you so much for stopping by. It was a pleasure talking to you.

IS: Thanks so much for having me, Mike.

Transcribed by Evan Martin