This World Fair was an American rock act based out of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. 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 line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife software s ...

. 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 Under the Influence of Giants (sometimes abbreviated UTIOG) was an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released their major label debut album in August 2006, which was a number one hit on the Top Heatseekers chart. ...

Guster Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and fo ...

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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 Records ...

. 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 Ari Seth Herstand (born June 1, 1985) is an American musician, songwriter, author, actor, blogger based in Los Angeles, California (previously Minneapolis, Minnesota). He is the CEO and founder of the music business education and artist advocac ...

's 2008 album, ''Whispering Endearments'', at

Pachyderm Studio Pachyderm Recording Studio is a residential music recording studio located in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, United States, 35.8 mi (57.6 km) southeast of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. It is located in a secluded old-growth ...

near Minneapolis. This World Fair headlined the

Chipotle A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoking (food), smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican cuisine, Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex cuisine, Tex-Mex and So ...

Rhythm Kitchen stage at

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Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and co-headlined a national tour with the

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band

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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

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, the lead singer of

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, as well as

Michael Guy Chislett Michael Guy Chislett (born 6 April 1982) is an Australian musician and 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... Care ...

who is the lead guitarist of

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. A three-song sampler of this album was released in the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

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 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 Zimmer, John Powell, Harry ...

, 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

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. 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 (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. 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).

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

TWF's official purevolume profile

TWF's official MySpace profile

TWF's official YouTube channel
Alternative rock groups from Minnesota Musical groups from the Twin Cities