This World Fair was an American rock act based out of

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The line-up included the singer-songwriter Chris Kalgren (vocals, piano, guitar), along with a touring band consisting of Alexander Young (drums) and Matt Lennander (guitar). This World Fair internationally released their first full-length album, self-titled ''This World Fair'', on December 16, 2008. This World Fair performed hundreds of shows per year and toured extensively across the United States.

History

This World Fair formerly went by the name 'Kalgren'. ''Home'', which included "Waiting For You", was released independently in 2003 when This World Fair went by the name Kalgren. Four tracks were awarded Track of the Day by

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

. This World Fair were discovered in 2004 by the girlfriend of their manager,

Stephen Short Stephen Short (died 2015) was a British record producer who also operated Ping Pong Music, an artist management company. Songs he worked on went on to become chart-topping singles that had won Grammy Awards, Academy Awards, and Golden Globe Awar ...

. Under Short the band recorded a five-song EP, '' So Is Death & Love'', in 2005. In 2007, This World Fair toured with acts such as Under the Influence of Giants,

Guster Guster is an American alternative rock band formed in Somerville, Massachusetts. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University and formed the band in 1991. The mem ...

Phantom Planet Phantom Planet is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994. The band consists of Alex Greenwald (vocals, rhythm guitar), Darren Robinson (lead guitar), Sam Farrar (bass guitar) and Jeff Conrad (drums). The band is bes ...

and

Quietdrive Quietdrive is an alternative rock band based in Hopkins, Minnesota, USA, that was formed in 2002. Quietdrive released their first album, '' When All That's Left Is You'', on May 30, 2006, on Epic Records. In April 2008, Quietdrive left Epic Recor ...

. During early 2008, the band transformed from being a band into the stage-name of lead singer-songwriter Chris Kalgren. In January 2008, This World Fair headlined a tour across the Midwest. Throughout the month of February 2008, Kalgren produced Ari Herstand's 2008 album, ''Whispering Endearments'', at

Pachyderm Studio Pachyderm Recording Studios is a residential music recording studio located in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, United States. History The studio was founded in 1988 by Jim Nickel, Mark Walk and Eric S. Anderson, with acoustic design by Bret Theney of ...

near Minneapolis. This World Fair headlined the

Chipotle A chipotle ( , ), or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in differen ...

Rhythm Kitchen stage at

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's Third Ward business district. Summerfest is known ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and co-headlined a national tour with the

Universal Motown Universal Motown Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Universal Motown Republic Group. It was the contemporary incarnation of the legendary Motown Records label, and the " urban" half of the Universal Records ...

band

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in the mid-2008. ''This World Fair'' was released on December 16, 2008. The album was originally to be released in 2007, but it faced an eighteen-month delay due to the closing of Rethink. The album is This World Fair's first release on an international scale. It was produced in late 2007 by Al Clay at Sonic Ranch studios. During the writing process for the album, This World Fair worked with

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

, the lead singer of

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado, formed in 2002. The lineup currently consists of Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (guitar, viola), Drew Brown (musician), Drew Brown (guitar), Brent Kutzle ( ...

, as well as

Michael Guy Chislett Michael Guy Chislett (born 6 April 1982) is an Australian musician and record producer. He is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Christian worship band Hillsong United and was the lead guitarist of the rock band the Academy Is... ...

who is the lead guitarist of

The Academy Is The Academy Is... is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before temporarily disbanding, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added t ...

. A three-song sampler of this album was released in the iTunes Store on April 16, 2007. This World Fair recorded and co-wrote the track "Don't Make Me Wait" featured in the Dreamwork's film Disturbia, with

Geoff Zanelli Geoffrey Zanelli (born September 28, 1974) is an American composer working primarily in the medium of film, television, and video game scores. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zim ...

, the composer of the score from the film. It was released April 13, 2007. A music video for this song made by Disturbia's director, DJ Caruso, was produced by

Lakeshore Records Lakeshore Village Entertainment, LLC was an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum. Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Bev ...

. The music video is included as an extra feature on the home releases of the film. Music by This World Fair was featured in the second season of ''The Inferno'' on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. A song from This World Fair, titled "Plastic Soul", was featured on the soundtrack for the 2008 independent mystery film, ''The Other Side of the Tracks''. Past This World Fair and Kalgren members include George Hadfield (bass), DJ House (guitar) and Tyler Jorenby (drums). The band has since had all of their music removed from YouTube and any other streaming services.

References

External links

TWF's official purevolume profile

TWF's official MySpace profile

TWF's official YouTube channel
{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Minnesota Musical groups from Minneapolis