Photo by:
Editor’s note: The Fray has been nominated for two Grammy awards for Best Pop Performance by A Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best Pop Vocal Album.
The Grammy’s will be held Jan. 31. The Clarion got a chance to catch up with drummer and Colorado native Ben Wysocki.
You’ve been nominated for two Grammy’s…What does that feel like?
It feels a little surreal actually, but it’s an incredible honor we’re just trying to wrap our heads around it.
What has it been like starting as a high school band and getting to where you are today?
It’s been crazy. We’re all Denverites, we grew up in the Denver-Boulder area, that’s kind of our roots.
Our studio is in Denver, we’ll always be home at heart. That’s been good, it’s a great place to be from and it’s a nice home to return to.
We’re home recording in the studio this week, we try to work that in, keep writing and keep fresh and keep the new stuff coming.
What has been the biggest change?
All of our lives have kind of gotten turned upside down. The biggest thing to try to get used to is that we went from homebodies with real jobs and hobbies to globetrotter traveling pirates.
It’s a hard thing to get used to, we’re constantly moving, but that’s the price to pay for having one of the coolest jobs in the world and having the chance to do what you love.
How’d you decide on the name “The Fray”?
We were playing at a show and asked for suggestions, it was one that we liked the way it sounded and the Web site wasn’t taken.
Not a lot of thought was put into it, but if we had put a whole bunch of thought into it, it could come back to haunt you. I read an interview with Billy Joe from Green Day now, decades after choosing their name, and they regret it.
He was saying he doesn’t’ really like the name. But here we are, seven years into our career and we still stand behind it.
What’s been your favorite song to record?
Hmm… My favorite song to record… I’d say it’s a song called Uncertainty. It’s kind of a b-side song that hasn’t really seen the light of day.
It’s a song of Joe’s and it’s super old, super intimate and super simple. It has a quality to it that I’ve really grown to love. We recorded it when we were recording this second record, and there’s just something about that song, it’s a nice mood, definitely my favorite memory of recording. There was no pressure, very under thought and it’s remained as one of our favorite memories.
What’s the best part of it all?
The best part is simply the fact that it’s a dream of a lot of kids to be able to do this, and not only to be rewarded financially for it, but to have an audience. That’s not just the general dream of musicians, it’s really important to have an audience that cares about what you’re making and that has a lot to do with what you’re making.
It changes your process of creating your art. It’s such a rewarding thing on the deepest level to know that they’re receiving the art that you’re making and to be able to share it with people that actually care to listen, it’s the best part of it.
What’s been your favorite music video to make?
Well my favorite so far is the one we just shot for the song Syndicate. I haven’t seen it yet, we just did it a couple days ago. We haven’t seen or edited or put it together yet.
Most of it is very conceptual, pretty heavy narrative. It’s a pretty good thing. We approached it very differently, pure aesthetic and completely visual piece, which is kind of refreshing for us. It’s my favorite so far. I might take this back once I see it, I don’t know.
Do you have any crazy fan stories?
We kind of purposely keep a distance from the crazy ones. We’re not really the kind of band that attracts really crazy fans.
It’s been kind of different for us, but we did have one girl that made us custom fortune cookies, and she typed out our names inside, I don’t know I try to block it out of my memory. We’re just pumped to still be doing this, we’re really appreciative to our fans we wouldn’t be a band if our fans weren’t listening. We’re excited.
