The band continues to ride the wave that started for them in mid-2012 when they captured the attention of the nation and were voted into second place in the final of the nationally televised show Australia’s Got Talent.
None of this was overnight success. The band has certainly earned their stripes over the years.
The Wolfe Brothers consists of two brothers, Nick and Tom Wolfe, and their best mate, guitarist Brodie Rainbird.
They all grew up together on the same road in a rural area just outside of Hobart. During their high school years they all began playing music in different bands, covering songs by their glam rock and heavy metal music heroes. After leaving school they got together to form The Wolfe Brothers, and for six years were weekend warriors playing covers in pubs and clubs across Tasmania.
Their on-stage energy and tight sound earned them a legion of fans across the home state – everyone loved to party at their local with The Wolfe Brothers whenever they were in town.
When the band decided to record some original songs they were drawn to the music that they loved most – modern country rock. The Wolfe brothers, Nick and Tom, grew up on a healthy diet of Australian country music thanks to their Mum, and the rock element came from their Dad who still plays drums in his own rock band.
After recording a four-track EP and selling thousands of copies at their gigs, the band put their own money into recording a full-length album. Laying down the album in their bedrooms and lounge rooms on a portable recording system, the band was shortly thereafter signed for management by Stephen White Management (SWM), joining the company that manages Lee Kernaghan.
SWM took these original recordings to a friend in Nashville by the name of Luke Wooten, who had worked on a number of Lee Kernaghan albums. Luke is one of Nashville’s hottest producers and has produced albums for Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and Kellie Pickler. He also owns and runs the world-class Station West Studios in Nashville.
Luke loved the sound of the band and agreed to mix the home recordings from Tasmania. The end result became “IT’S ON”, the band’s debut album. It was the start of The Wolfe Brothers realising the dream of taking their music around Australia and making a living on the road.
Since the release of “IT’S ON” in January 2013 The Wolfe Brothers have been on the road touring and playing to
sell-out crowds across the country as Special Guests on Lee Kernaghan’s 2013 – 2014 Beautiful Noise Tour and
also on Lee’s 2015 The Songs And The Stories Tour. These tours have enabled The Wolfe Brothers to travel the length and breadth of Australia over the course of the last 3 years.
Tom Wolfe said “touring with Lee has been a dream come true for us. He has taught us so much and it is still a little surreal to look across the stage and realise we are actually performing with one of our childhood heroes – the great Lee Kernaghan. Taking our music all over Australia on Lee’s tours has given us the opportunity us to build our own fan base and thankfully we have all been able to make music our full time profession and we have all left our jobs – Nick was a postman, Brodie was a refrigeration mechanic Casey was a dental mechanic who made dentures and false teeth and I was a builder’s labourer”.
The Wolfe Brothers debut LP “IT’S ON” spawned three Top 10 singles, including their first #1 song and #1 video ‘The Girl, The Bottle, The Memory’. The album entered the ARIA charts at #2 on the country chart and #18 on the overall chart. It also earned them the recognition of their peers and saw the band nominated for four Golden Guitar Awards at the 2014 Australian Country Music Awards held in Tamworth. “Just to be nominated was amazing for us,” said drummer Casey Kostiuk. “To be nominated in four categories blew us away, especially being one of the finalists for Highest Selling Album of the Year. “
The band finally met Luke Wooten face to face in Nashville in June 2013, when they performed at the CMA Global Artists Party. After some late-night bonding in various honky tonks around Music City, they became firm friends and agreed that Luke would fly to Australia to produce the band’s second album.
In March of 2014, The Wolfe Brothers were presented with the trophy for CMC’s New Artist Of The Year at an awards ceremony held at CMC Rocks The Hunter Festival. Luke Wooten flew in for the awards and the festival, and then travelled north with the boys to spend 2 weeks recording the tracks for their next album at Studio 301 in Byron Bay.
“We were incredibly excited about recording our second album from the start with Luke,” says Nick Wolfe. “He is a gifted producer who delivers sonically incredible work. We were all very happy with the batch of new songs that we had to choose from for the album. The hard part was choosing what songs would make it onto the album! We had a shortlist of about 30 new songs after spending the month of February doing demos in an old warehouse in Hobart”.
Guitarist Brodie Rainbird explained “when we finished recording in Byron Bay Luke took the tracks back to Nashville to mix in his studio. Luke involved us in every mix on every song. We would make our suggestions and he would implement them into each mix. We are all extremely proud of the end result”.
In their usual fun approach to life, the band titled their second album “Nothin’ But Trouble”.
The album was released on Sept 5th, 2014 and entered the ARIA Country Charts at #2 and debuted at #13 on the all genre ARIA Chart. The lead single ‘That Kinda Night’ was released on 11th July and became the groups second #1 single. The album’s second single ‘You Got To Me’ was released to radio on 21st October, 2014 and became The Wolfe Brothers third #1 hit on the national charts and the CMC video chart.
The 3rd single off their “Nothin’ But Trouble” album was the haunting and beautiful story of a father passing the baton to his son – “Born and Bred”. The song’s video was filmed in their home state of Tasmania and was in fact shot on a sheep farm where Nick Wolfe once worked as a farm-hand. “Born and Bred” also hit the #1 chart position.
Then for the fourth and final single off the “Nothin’ But Trouble” album the band released another party time anthem called “One Beer At A Time” in August 2015. This video was also shot in Hobart at one of the boy’s favourite pubs and featured a group of the band’s friends in what could well be the best drinking with friends anthem of all time! The “That Kinda Night” album garnered the band 2 Golden Guitar finalist nominations at the 2015 Australian Country Music Awards in the Group Of The Year and Song Of The Year categories.
Then on the 18th September 2015 the band released their first Live production – a double disc set that features the band live in concert on DVD and also CD. The Wolfe Brothers Live at CMC Rocks QLD 2015 captures the band at its best with a great live performance that features all their hits and a classic old Aussie cover of the Dingoes hit – “Way Out West”.
The band finished 2015 with a massive 30 date national tour as Special Guests on Lee Kernaghan’s The Songs And The Stories In Concert. On the completion of the tour in mid November 2015 the band flew to Nashville to write and record their third album with producer Luke Wooten at the famous Station West Studios.
The trip to America was the first time the band had done anything without their drummer, their mate and founding member Casey Kostiuk. Realizing the time that it would take to make inroads into the American market Casey chose to resign as a member of the band and remain at home with his family to raise his two young sons.
The liner notes in the new album read “To our brother Casey Kostiuk. Though you may have officially stepped back from the band, you’ll always be a Wolfe Brother mate. We wish you the best in life, and respect you for putting the family first and allowing the band to continue to grow and evolve. We look forward to making music and sharing good times with you wherever and whenever we can into the future”. Casey will continue to play drums with the band in Australia.
The Wolfe Brothers spent the better part of three months in Nashville working on their next studio release, which the band believe is their best work to date. The album is called “This Crazy Life” and will be released on May 27th, 2016. They recorded the album under the guidance of acclaimed producer Luke Wooten [Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and Kellie Pickler]. Word out of Nashville is that the songs on the album are ones that will make the industry sit up and listen!
“The time we spent in Nashville was nothing short of amazing,” says Nick. “From the moment we got over our jet lag,
we began working hard on writing and making new music. We spent the first month writing every day and wound up with a collection of over 40 songs. We had the opportunity to co-write with some really respected writers, guys like fellow Aussie Phil Barton, who wrote the US number one single Women Like You for Lee Brice.
We also worked with Brett Beavers, who has written many number ones for Dierks Bentley, among others, and many more great writers. Nashville is such a creative and inspiring place and I truly believe the songs we’ve put together for this record are leaps and bounds ahead of our previous material. There’s a real inspired feeling within the band and I don’t think we’ve ever been so driven. It’s going to be great to bring these songs back home for everyone.”
Upon their return home to Australia The Wolfe Brothers were nominated as finalists in three categories in the CMC Music Awards held in Brisbane in March 2016 – Group Of The Year, Australian Video Of The Year and Oz Artist Of The Year. They took home the CMC Group Of The Year Award.
Lead guitarist Brodie Rainbird said “we have worked really hard on this album and we can not wait to head out on the road to play the new music. One of the highlights for me was to have Brad Paisley play guitar on the last track on the album “Throw ‘Em Back”. Brad is not only a superstar in America but he is one of my favourite guitar players so to record with him on one of our songs was incredible. We will be touring America this year so our dream is continuing to come true. It has always been our goal to tour overseas so to tick that box is very special for us. But what is so important to us is that the fans that have supported us from day one love the album and are as proud of it as we are. We did our best and hopefully that will shine through”.
The album is called “This Crazy Life” and is scheduled for a May 27, 2016 release.
The title song will be released as a single in April, 2016.
The album is a result of the band writing in Nashville and Australia with over 30 different writing partners.
“There is only one way to make dreams come true and that is through hard work,” says Tom Wolfe. “This is something all of us agree on and live by. The good thing is we actually love doing everything that is required to be successful in this business. We are having the time of our lives right now. This is truly our dreams coming true – and we will never take this gift for granted.”
The Wolfe Brothers are the real deal. They are what modern country music is all about. They write great songs.
Their performances are nothing short of electric. They are already Tasmania’s greatest musical export and there is no reason based on their music and live performances why they cannot become one of Australia’s successful musical exports.
Source: http://www.thewolfebrothers.com/