VASHON, Wash — With hit songs like, 'How to Save a Life' and 'Over my Head', Isaac Slade has lived the dream of every rock musician as the lead singer of the multi-platinum selling band, The Fray,
"The Fray was incredible. It was a journey that I thought would last for three to four years, and then I'd come back home with some stories," said Slade. "I told somebody it was like a rocket ship; we all just tied our lanyards onto him like, 'Wouldn't it be great if,' and then the thing started to go and we're like, 'Oh, gosh, here we go!'"
He may have looked like he was having the time of his life on stage, but after 20 years, Slade walked away from fame to focus on his health.
"I just was having these major panic attacks on stage," Slade said. "And I just had some mental health stuff and some relationship stuff I needed to go home and see about."
Home is no longer Colorado where The Fray was formed, but Vashon Island, where he and his wife moved to a few years ago.
"She has a bunch of family up here, I have a bunch of family up here," Slade said. "So, we just kind of scoured. We're looking for a couple of hours outside of Sea-Tac. And this little paradise just showed up with this crappy little cabin right on the water and it was like, game over."
Now instead of the spotlight, Slade spends his days as a happy husband and a stay-at-home dad.
"The biggest criticisms I get are like the school lunches I made my kids just send back and I just walk around in obscurity. And it's fantastic!"
But you can’t separate a musician from music. Recently Slade opened a record store in downtown Vashon.
"It's Side Stack Records. We have 6,000 vinyl records and then a bunch of cool stuff I like,” said Slade. "I wanted to make Side Stack Records a place where a 15-year-old could come in and want to get into any genre, whether it's jazz or country or classical or like, what is punk again? Just come in and democratize the whole process."
While making music is second nature, Slade admits he's still learning the process when it comes to selling it.
"I used to have so many fancy people [who] did all this stuff for me and now you know, I got a little team but we're all just taking it nice and slow. There's one Instagram post. I don't know how you found us because I'm trying to like lay so low," joked Slade. "The word is starting to get out, despite my best intentions."
Far from the roaring crowds, Isaac Slade is more than content in his new life - on the island that helped save his life.
"These people are my people, and I hope I am their people too."
If you want to stop by and say hi you can usually find Isaac behind the counter on Mondays.
Side Stack Records is located at 17616 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon, WA 98070
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