This World Fair

This World Fair is a rock band based out of Minneapolis Minnesota. The brainchild of This World Fair is Chris Kalgren who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitar player. He is supported by a touring band consisting of drummer Alexander Young, guitarist Matt Lennander and guitarist Zack Carroll. 

According to the bands MySpace Chris Kalgren began writing music and formulating the idea of This World Fair while he was still a student studying engineering at the University of Wisconsin as Kalgren said, "I played guitar all the time in college, it was a great release for me because engineering is pretty dry and super intense." This release of creative energy helped Kalgren create the well crafted lyrics and guitar driven sound that makes This World Fair successful. 

The band is self-described as the 'pop-side of rock and the rock side of pop.' The mix of Kalgrens soft but surprisingly edgy voice against the deep rock tones of the instruments creates a simple bliss for the listeners ears that is balanced and controlled. 

Grammy-award winning producer Stephen Short of Ping-Pong Music first noticed This World Fair through their MySpace. Since this first exposure the band had the opportunity to work with producer Al Clay (who has worked with bands such as The Pixies, Pink and Blur) to create an album. 

During the recoding process with Al Clay the band received the opportunity of a lifetime as their song "Don't Make Me Wait" was offered a spot in DreamWorks 2007 summer blockbuster, "Distrubia." The band only had 12 hours to pull the song together due to their previous recording commitments. Kalgren reflects on that moment on the bands MySpace as he wrote, "we pulled an all-nighter and wrote the song. Sometimes the muse shows up and sometimes it doesn't." Thankfully for them the muse showed up and they were able to finish the task and ended up getting the song into the movie. 

This World Fair has been busy as they have completed three national tours between 2006 and 2008 and have performed with bands such as Guster, Phantom Planet, Giants and Barcelona. The band will continue to promote their music as they prepare for a tour later in 2009. 

To listen to music by This World Fair click here.