NICOLE KLEIST
Staff Writer
Carolina Liar’s lead singer Chad Wolf is not Swedish, but everyone else in his band is. An imaginative, humble individual, who, at age 22, left his home of Charleston, S.C., to try and be the next big thing. He worked his way out of the L.A. wasteland of part-time job/starving musician, to eventually be signed with his band by major label Atlantic Records. From playing shows around the area to actually being featured on MTV’s “The Hills,” Wolf’s work is finally paying off.
“Tonight our show [at the Viper Room] was one of the best shows we’ve ever had,” Wolfe said of his March 21st show. “We’ve been living in Laurel Canyon practicing every day and it was so great tonight to finally play loud and open up. We were goin’ for broke tonight.”
The band’s music is a taste of the southern and Swedish melodies swilling together to produce a very light-rock sound with a tinge of tang. With modern influences like The Killers, The Kooks and the Norwegian band A-Ha, Carolina Liar has a wide sound range that reaches an interesting variety of spectrums.
It was through a complex and very fortunate sequence of events that Wolf came to be friends with Swedish producer Max Martin, which would later segue into his success.
“No lie, on the very day I quit my day job, when I had no idea what I would do next, Max called at midnight and said, ‘I just listened to one of your songs. If you can write three more as good as this one, maybe we can work something out.’”
A few months later, Wolf was in Stockholm recording.
“I started really getting in with everyone from Sweden,” Wolf said. “These guys were really traditional and they trained more classically so it was interesting taking the blues jazz American thing and throwing it against something that old and seeing what fleshed out from it.”
The other members of Carolina Liar include Jim Almgren Gandara (guitar), Johan Carlsson (keyboards), Rickard Göransson (guitar), Max Grahn (drums), and Erik Hääger (bass).
Carolina Liar’s recent major-label record signing has turned out to be an overall positive and exciting experience.
“We signed with Atlantic last July and they’ve been treating us so well,” Wolf said. “All the stuff people say about labels hasn’t applied in any way, shape or form. Everybody is a partner and we work together. There’s never a decision made without all parties involved.”
Carolina Liar’s first single, “I’m Not Over,” can now be heard on Indie 103.1 and their upcoming album, “Coming to Terms,” will feature songs all co-written by Wolf.
“All these little things are starting to happen,” Wolf said. “It’s weird to sit back and watch it happen when you’ve struggled with it for so long. There was a time I did anything and everything I could. I was even a back-up dancer in a Celine Dion video. I’m not a dancer of any kind and I don’t think the song was released but they didn’t kick me off the set so I must’ve done something right.”
The next item on the band’s agenda is a nation-wide radio tour. Beginning in Seattle they will power through the United States for four weeks, with almost three shows every day, followed by a show in New York and will end, dead on their feet, at the Pemberton Music Festival in Canada.
This amount of press and exposure may seem like the perfect recipe for the indie-gone-major syndrome, but Wolf assures the band is about one thing: staying true to the heart of their art.
“It’s just about playing music,” Wolf said. “As long as we get to play and keep writing, that’s the most important thing.”
To check out more information about Carolina Liar and listen to their new single, “I’m Not Over,” visit their Web site at www.carolinaliar.com.
04-28-2008