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The Fray gets 2 Grammy nods

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 7, 2006 at midnight

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The rest of the world found out before they did: Denver band The Fray just got nominated for two Grammy awards.



The nominations, announced Thursday morning in Los Angeles, were for: Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the song "Over My Head (Cable Car)," and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the song "How To Save A Life."

At the time of this morning's announcement the band was heading for a jet to return from London, where they made a whirlwind trip to do an industry showcase at the legendary club The Borderline, the site of such rock royalty as secret R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Oasis shows in the '90s.

The band members — guitarist Joe King, singer/songwriter/pianist Isaac Slade, drummer Ben Wysocki and guitarist Dave Welsh — got the news about an hour after it was announced when manager Jason Ienner managed to get them on cell phone just before they boarded the plane.

Denver native India.Arie also picked up three nominations. Two were for her song I Am Not My Hair, including best female R&B vocal performance and best R&B song. Her album Testimony: Vol. 1, Life and Relationships, was nominated for best R&B album.

In an e-mail sent to the News on Tuesday night from a London hotel, Fray guitarist King said the top thing on the band's collective mind was "waiting for the 16th to come because then we come home for the holidays and relax." That comes after several radio-show concerts, culminating in playing Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15.

But that hardly means things are slowing down. The band's album "How to Save a Life" has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States and is going gold in Canada and Australia, and a 10-date U.K. tour set for February after the disc started taking off there as well. But they'll precede that with another U.S. leg of the tour starting in Iowa on Jan. 10 and ending in Vail on Feb. 3.

When the album was on track to go platinum (1 million units) back in August, it was selling 30,000 copies a week. It's now up to 1.3 million sold but has kicked up the pace to 50,000 a week.

Ticket prices for the Fray's September 2005 CD release party at the Paramount Theatre ranged from $15 to $17.50. Now their Feb. 9 show at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip commands $50 prices; they're $36 at Dobson on Feb. 3 but it's sold out.