Fray-dom: Band builds its base one song at a time

The Fray will be at 9:30 Club Friday night in a show with Vedera. -- Courtesy Photo

WASHINGTON — The Fray will have you at the third song.

If past set lists are any indicator, that's when you should expect this alt-rock band to play its first hit, "Over My Head." And although the band will introduce plenty of songs from its upcoming album "The Fray," the band's big hits are what the audience wants.

" 'Over My Head (Cable Car),' the band's biggest hit … [won] the crowd over early," wrote Mark Brown of Rocky Mountain News in a review of a Denver concert last week, which lost momentum when new material was played. "Too often during the set the band had to compete with the crowd's conversation and cell phones."

As many bands — most notably one-time wunderkinds Panic at the Disco — will confirm, the love fades quickly when a sophomore disc isn't embraced as rapidly as a promising debut.

Of course it's too early to sound an alarm over the new disc, slated to be released Feb. 3. The Denver-based band was born from a classic word-of-mouth campaign and built its way through local gigs and radio play. And members of the band think that's how they'll continue to build the band's following.

"I remember on our first headlining tour, we would play cities where we weren't on the radio at all, and the venue would be full of people singing our lyrics," said co-founder Joe King. "Some people think we came out of nowhere quickly, but we had been working hard for four years before the mainstream public had heard about us."

The Denver-based band is still working hard. No resting on its laurels for this group, even though it was nominated for a Grammy and has seen several songs move to the top of the charts.

"The grassroots is where music lives and breathes, where it finds its energy and its passion," said guitarist Dave Welsh.

The grassroots is also where the band has found musical inspiration. Consider that the incredibly popular "How to Save a Life" was inspired by co-founder Isaac Slade's experience as a mentor to a crack-addicted teen. The song resonates with many.

That's especially true when Slade and the other band members see videos of young students playing their songs.

"That was me eight years ago, learning my favorite songs, from my favorite artists, and playing the songs that moved me," said Slade.  "It just hit me that someone was now doing the exact same thing as I was but with my music." 

If You Go
The Fray with Vedera
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW
Info: $50 and up at various ticket outlets; stubhub.com