Here comes the sun

Isaac Slade, lead singer of The Fray, chats about the American rock band's latest album and current world tour.
Eugene YigaBy Eugene Yiga
12 Sep 2014

Bizcommunity Eugene Yiga:You guys released [your fourth studio album] 'Helios' earlier this year. How'd you come up with the title?

Isaac Slade: For our album cover, we did a photo shoot at this big solar panel field just outside of Las Vegas and they had big four metre-wide mirrors full of heliostats [that] shine all this light to these big steam towers. If you look on the cover, they're 175,000 of those.

So while we were in that field, Ben [Wysocki, the drummer] said: "You know, Helios would be a good name for this album." And we were looking at the camera trying to be deep and somebody said, "Actually, that's a good idea."

Bizcommunity And how do you feel about bringing the Helios Tour to South Africa?

We're really excited. I got to go there in 2010 to do some writing and I came back with stories and pictures. The guys all crowded around and wanted to go. So we've been working pretty hard-core for the last four years to get there.

Bizcommunity Do you have any other plans for your stay?

I'm not sure how long we'll all get to be there; I know Joe, my band mate, is coming down a few days early to get some quiet time and hang out. I rented a car last time and got to drive on the wrong side of the road to me, and hike Table Mountain, and drive around [Cape] Point, and go out on the town. So I'd love to do that again.

Bizcommunity And do you have any plans for when you're done touring?

Not really. I think we're focusing on finishing strongly here, doing the rest of the world tour, and a few other dates. But we're going to take some time off and just start writing again for the next record.

The Fray performs at Joburg's Coca-Cola Dome on 19 September and Cape Town's Grand Arena on 20 September. Book at Computicket or www.bigconcerts.co.za.

About Eugene Yiga

Eugene graduated from the University of Cape Town with distinctions in financial accounting and classical piano. He then spent over two-and-half years working in branding and communications at two of South Africa's top market research companies. Eugene also spent over three-and-a-half years at an eLearning start-up, all while building his business as an award-winning writer. Visit www.eugeneyiga.com, follow @eugeneyiga on Twitter, or email hello@eugeneyiga.com to say, um, hello.
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