Flying By The Deceit Of His Pants

Sauntering into the lobby of a hotel in the plexiglass twilight zone that is Dublin’s half-built docklands, Chad Wolf grins blearily.

“Yesterday I was in Hawaii with my girlfriend,” he says sounding like someone who could do with serious amounts of catch-up sleep. “I flew straight to New York, did a show and then flew here. Man, am I bushed!”
Still, it takes more than killer jet-lag to take the shine off the South Carolina native’s old school charm. Sitting down to a much needed cup of coffee, he’s endlessly laid back and polite: a Southern Gentleman straight out of central casting. So how did he end up hooking up with Swedish pop guru Max Martin (co-author of Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ among other hits), producer of his band’s debut album, Coming To Terms, and the megasmash single ‘Show Me What I’m Looking For’.
“I got to know Max as a friend, rather than as a musical collaborator,” Wolf explains. “I used to share an apartment in Los Angeles with a Swedish songwriter. He knew Max and eventually I would go and hang out with them. A few years ago, they wanted me to go back to Sweden with them to watch the World Cup. And I was absolutely broke, so Max said he would pay for my flights. People are always promising to do things for you in LA. The difference with Max is that he actually followed through on it.”
Surely working with Britney’s wingman was lethal to his credibility as a songwriter?
“Ah, man, I didn’t have any credibility,” Wolf smiles impishly. “I didn’t have anything. I’d been doing the singer-songwriter thing for a while, playing in bars and what not. It hadn’t got me very far. Working with Max has only been good for my career. Beforehand, I didn’t really have one to think of.”
In the United States, Carolina Liar have parlayed spots on television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and MTV’s The Hills into cult fame. But convincing TV execs to use their music wasn’t easy.
“I got a message from my manager – ‘get yourself over to [MTV parent] Viacom and bring a guitar.’ So I was brought into this big conference room where a bunch of guys with suits were waiting. I had to play three songs to all these unsmiling people. It was really intimidating. Talk about a tough crowd. They stood there, staring at me.”
Wolf’s childhood in Charleston was a colorful experience. He’s always delighted in sharing wild tales from his youth with anyone who will listen. The problem is that not everyone believes him – hence the name Carolina Liar.
“A producer I was working with said I was the biggest liar that he’d ever met. It’s really not true — it’s just where I grew up. I was always telling stories. I told him a story about how two neighbours of mine, when they got bored one day, loaded up shotguns with rock salt and started firing at each other. They were left black and blue with bruises. They did it ‘cos they were bored. Those are the kind of things that happen where I come from.”

Coming To Terms is out now.