The story

Kjetil Sæter (guitars & vocals), Ronny Kristiansen (drums) & Tor Erik Hagen (bass).

Wolfnaut started life in the mid-1990s in the town of Elverum, a two-hour drive northeast of the Norwegian capital Oslo. In this heavily forested area of Innlandet, far from the pictureperfect fjords and mountains of Norway, the local music scene at the time consisted mostly of either 1980s heavy metal or danseband, groups playing swing, schlager, country and early rock music to a dancing audience. There was little in between.

The four young guys who got together to form what is now Wolfnaut, was not really into hair metal or danseband. But they had a common love of the guitar-driven hard rock music of the 1970s: Giants like Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin, and proto-punk bands like The Stooges and MC5. But what really triggered the quartet to write and record their debut album «Welcome to the Cactus Mountains», was the desert and stoner rock bands that set California on fire in the mid-1990s.

«Welcome to the Cactus Mountains» was recorded during a couple of freezing days in Henning Ramseth’s (later of RamZet fame) studio in 1998. The album includes classics like the title track, the slow ode to high «Lords of the Chillum”, the macho manifesto «Swift the Hammer Goes» and the brooding «Hang on to Yer Asteroid». It was also during an intense session in the studio that the band decided on a name. In addition to being a wizard behind the mixing desk, studio owner Ramseth was also a shredding guitar god. And on the wall in his studio, he had a poster of Eddie Van Halen’s new guitar: «Wolfgang». There are lots of real-life wolves in the forests of Innlandet. In addition, the guys felt they were a gang on a mission to spread growling hard rock to their local scene. And since these were pre-streaming times, and the gang had no idea that there were hundreds of other artists and bands named Wolfgang around the world, the name stuck. A decision they would later come to regret.

Listening to «Welcome to the Cactus Mountains» today, you would probably conclude that the short and energetic songs does not sound all that much like the down tuned and heavy stoner sounds of bands like Kyuss and Sleep. But the amalgam of catchier Lizzy-inspired twin-guitar based songs and more doom-laden tracks, went down a storm in the local pubs and clubs. Wolfnaut’s live shows in their hometown in the late 1990s became the stuff of legend. At one show the police pulled the plug because the band was too loud! The album was well received locally and received a solid review in Kerrang! («Wolfgang are a stoner band (from Norway, where there’s probably not a great deal else to do). As such they make a pretty good hash of it …»)

The first iteration of Wolfnaut lasted a couple of years. A new album was begun, but never finished. Some moved away to study or to work, others stayed behind. But the band never formally disbanded. In the mid-2000s the guys got together again, playing gigs and writing new songs. But they never made it to the studio. Educations had to be finished, newborn children had to be nurtured … and prison sentences had to be served.

The real rebirth of the band happened by chance when local fans demanded that the band play a gig in 2013. The gig was so much fun that the band decided to do another. And another. The fire was lit again. Founding guitar player and main songwriter Glenn Thomas Solberg had been involved in a serious car accident leaving him with a permanent neck injury. He wanted to be part of making a new album, but for live duty a new man was brought into the fold: Morten Jacobsen Wærhaug. Morten had honed his hard rocking skills in the critically acclaimed Norwegian trio Jaqueline. With a new and seasoned player in the band, Wolfgang entered legendary Athletic Sound studio in Halden, Norway. 2016 finally saw the release of the bands second album: «Castle in the Woods».

«Castle in the Woods» was, like its predecessor, recorded live in studio, meaning that drums, bass and rhythm guitars were tracked with the guys playing together in the same room. The band wanted an old-school vibe and fired up their vintage Marshalls and Fenders. The result was an album leaning more towards the bands fascination with the twin guitar attack of bands like Thin Lizzy and early Iron Maiden, than the stony desert rock sounds they had aimed for on their debut. Standouts include the catchy title track, the driving boogieshuffle «Silver Razor Sharp», the dark and doomy «Child of Dragonfire» and the full-on assault «Sister of the Wonderlands».

«Castle in the Woods» was very well received. «I enjoyed this immensely... It’s solid, organic and everything is turned up to the max», wrote Powerplay Magazine in the UK. Scream Magazine in Norway went one further: «Guitar driven hard rock mixed with metal can arguably not be done any better than what these boys deliver.» In the following years, the band broadened their audience by gigging far-beyond their hometown of Elverum, going all the way to Germany for the first time. The band also got to play the big stages. Contributing the live soundtrack to local kickboxing hero Robert Paulsbyens World Championship win in front of thousands of people in Terningen Arena in Elverum, was one of many high points.

After a short Norwegian tour before the covid-lockdown in 2020, the youngest member of the band, Morten Wærhaug, decided to leave due to growing family obligations. And with original guitar player Glenn Thomas Solberg now permanently absent, the band was reduced to a trio. Instead of delivering a serious blow to the band, this change in line-up made the remaining members more determined to add to their legacy with a brand-new album. Four new songs had already been worked into the live set, and during some intense sessions during the summer, the rest of the album was hammered into place.

And then there were three. Without the driving twin-guitar attack of the previous album, Wolfnaut has taken a deeper dive into the pool of stoner rock that was the main inspiration for starting the band in the first place. The new album is groovier and heavier than anything the band has released before. The album was recorded in Audioskop studio in Sofiemyr, Norway, during autumn 2020. Again, opting for a live feel, most backing tracks were recorded live in studio. The album is a dry and dense affair. Everything is pretty much turned up to the max most of the time. No ballads, no acoustic tracks. The full-tilt boogie. The vintage grit of the vintage sounding Marshalls and Fenders ruling the guitar rooster on «Castle in the Woods», is replaced with an even heavier growl from Orange amps and classic fuzzes like Big Muffs and Fuzz Faces.

With this second reinvention of the band, the guys also decided it was time for a total overhaul. A lot has changed in the distribution of music and the ability to reach audiences around the world since the band released its debut album in 1998. The first time the band had a serious discussion about leaving the name Wolfgang behind, came on a long drive home from a gig in Duisburg in Germany a couple of years ago. The band was very well received, but after the gig a new fan asked about the name: «Why Wolfgang? Why not Helmut, Gunther or Hans?» («Wolfgang» is a common first name in the German speaking world.) And he obviously had a point. On Spotify, YouTube and other modern distribution channels for music, there are hundreds of Wolfgangs.

During the mixing of the new album a decision was made to adopt a new identity. And the choice of a new name was made easy with the band writing and recording a new song that they feel is the best thing they have ever done, the eight-minute epic celebration of spiritual space travel: «Wolfnaut».

The growling Wolfgang that once aimed to spread the message of great hard rock to their local community, is now ready to spread the word to an even wider audience, all the way to space if necessary. Please welcome WOLFNAUT!