PAULA XIBERRAS
FROM TASMANIA
No Brakes on Big Dreams It was eight years ago that the Wolfe brothers came to prominence when they were runners up on television program ‘ Australia’s Got Talent’. Nick says it was a unique experience because going against tradition the guys were allowed to sing their own original songs. Their success on the show quickly changed their lives. From tradies, (Nick had been a postman in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley and worked on a fish farm in Margate, Tom was a carpenter, Casey fixed fridge’s and Brodie was a dental prosthetics) to trading Tassie for the US on a regular basis. It also teamed them up with good friend Lee Kernighan, as they became and remain a mainstay in his band with Tom and Lee often hanging out on skype doing some song writing. While the boys were happy in their jobs their dream from their school days, when they composed music on the school bus and performed in different cover bands was in Nick’s words ‘the bigger goal’ to take their music to the world. It was inevitable that this would happen with music part of the Wolfe family genetics. The brother’s greatgrandfather played the fiddle, their grandfather a multi-instrumentalist and their father a drummer. The brothers were encouraged in their music by their parents.
While these times of isolation have meant no live performing there has been cause for celebration. Rather than a restriction there has been an expansion in their music with a recording deal inked with global BMG, seeing them continue their profile in the US. Nick says it’s a continuation of ‘good things happening’ as they have been working for some time to ‘step up’. ‘No Brakes’ recorded on their last trip to Nashville is the first track of their forthcoming fifth album and the title is itself a metaphor for the seemingly no stops on their career as they soared to number one single on the country music charts. It’s not the first number one for the guys. Over the past seven years they have had thirteen consecutive number one singles in Australia, as well, The Wolfe Brothers studio albums have debuted at number two on the ARIA charts. The Wolfe Brothers also have sixteen CMAAS nominations behind them, including in 2019 winning Golden Guitars for album of the year and song of the year. As for the guys regular sojourn in the US it is not always about the music. From previous interviews I have garnered the boys are always on the lookout in the US for some good Aussie food and maybe they have found it. Nick tells me the bands favourite restaurant is ‘Cracker Musical Entertainer / Teacher Barrel’, in fact, they are obsessed with it, particularly because at heart the boys are very much grounded and the restaurant serves ‘normal’ food like the good old fashioned Sunday roast, a meal they will often replicate themselves, including the green beans! The boys remain committed to their Tassie farm and as Nick tells me that for all of their success they are as happy as 0413 259 547 they were when they scored that first gig at Irish Murphy’s all those years ago and 0doublexx7@gmail.com realised they had made it!
David MacConnell
www.maccdouble.com
THE IRISH SCENE | 78
THE WOLFE BROTHERS NEW SINGLE ‘NO BRAKES’ IS OUT NOW
