Walk off the Earth
| Walk off the Earth | |
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Walk off the Earth performing in Toronto at the Canadian National Exhibition 2013
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Burlington, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Indie rock, alternative rock, reggae rock, ska, folk |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Columbia,[1] SlapDash |
| Associated acts | Gianni and Sarah, G Spot Tornado, Pink Belly, The Creepshow |
| Website | walkofftheearth |
| Members | Sarah Blackwood Gianni "Luminati" Nicassio Ryan Marshall Mike "Beard guy" Taylor Joel Cassady |
| Past members | Peter Kirkwood |
Walk off the Earth is a Canadian alternative rock, ska, and reggae rock band that was formed in 2006 in Burlington, Ontario, and has gained success around the world by making low-budget music videos of covers and originals. The band built its fan base independently with no help from record labels, booking agents, or management. In February 2012, the music industry publication Crazed Hits reported that the band had signed a recording contract with Columbia Records.[1] The band is well known for its covers of pop genre music on YouTube, making use of uncommon instruments such as the ukulele and the theremin, as well as looping samples. The band's recorded music and videos are produced by member and multi-instrumentalist, Gianni "Luminati" Nicassio.
Contents
History
The band's first big success came from covering the songs of The Gregory Brothers. The video of the band's live cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" became rapidly popular on YouTube in early 2012, gathering over 127 million views in four months[2] and received positive responses from both Gotye and his co-singer on the song, Kimbra.[3][4] The band has also covered "Rude" by MAGIC!, "Someone Like You" by Adele, "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO, "Payphone" by Maroon 5, "Roll Up" by Wiz Khalifa and dozens of other tracks.[5][6] In December 2012, the band released an original single titled "Gang of Rhythm".[7] On March 11, RollingStone magazine streamed their unreleased R.E.V.O. LP in its entirety. The full length R.E.V.O. album was released on March 19, 2013, after which they commenced in the R.E.V.O. Tour through the U.S and Europe. They began another US and Europe tour, Gang of Rhythm, in 2014.[8] The most recent tour is The sing it all the way tour through Europe and North America 2015-present
Members
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- Current members
- Gianni "Luminati" Nicassio – bass, guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, drums, vocals, theremin, glockenspiel, piano, cajon, cello, bongos, harmonica, double bass, percussion, kazoo, keyboards, beatbox, kalimba, whirling sound tubes[9]
- Sarah Blackwood – guitar, ukulele, vocals, bass, glockenspiel, percussion, piano, mandolin, kazoo, harmonica, whirling sound tubes
- Ryan Marshall – guitar, bass, trumpet, harmonica, vocals, ukulele, piano, glockenspiel, melodica, percussion, kazoo, bongos, whirling sound tubes
- Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor – piano, keyboards, organ, vocals, xylophone, glockenspiel, trumpet, melodica, didgeridoo, accordion, kazoo, euphonium, slide whistle, tuba
- Joel Cassady – drums, cajon, bongos, congas, percussion, vocals, bass, organ, piano, spoons, ukulele, guitar, kalimba, whirling sound tubes
- Touring members
- Lee Bolt - guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin, ukulele, ukulele base
- James "Ervy" Ervin - trumpet, percussion
- Zach Gerber - drums, guitar, bass, vocals, percussion
- Past members
- Peter Kirkwood – drums, vocals, percussion
Popularity
- The band's cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know", with accompanying video where all five members are shown playing on one guitar, went viral in early 2012 and has so far gained almost 170 million hits on YouTube.[10] The production is live, taken from the 26th cut of a 14-hour session.[11]
- Ellen DeGeneres featured the band on her January 23, 2012 show where they played live, again on one guitar.
- The band's cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" with four of the five members and guest beatboxer KRNFX using only vocals (in the style of a capella) and uploaded to YouTube on January 1 of 2013 has since gone viral.[12]
- The band appeared in the Season 4 premiere of CTV's The Listener, performing two songs and socializing with the main characters in the bar.
- They were included in the YouTube 2012 review, doing a part of an acoustic version of "Gangnam Style" on one guitar, a reference to their viral video.
- The band's YouTube video of Lorde's "Royals" was featured in the 2014 Grammy Awards.
- The band's original single "Gang of Rhythm" is the theme song of popular Catalan TV show El Foraster.[13]
- The band appeared in the Soundtrack of the animated movie La Guerre des tuques 3D in 2015, performing the song "You're my sweater"
- The band won a 2016 Juno award for Group of the Year.[14]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award ceremony | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Juno Awards | Breakthrough Group of the Year | Nominated |
| Video of the Year — Little Boxes | Nominated | ||
| CASBY Awards | Molson Canadian Favourite New Artist | Won | |
| YouTube Music Awards | Response of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Juno Awards | Group of the Year | Nominated |
| Pop Album of the Year — R.E.V.O. | Nominated | ||
| Juno Fan Choice Award | Nominated | ||
| Canadian Radio Music Awards | Best New Group or Solo Artist: Mainstream AC | Nominated | |
| Best New Group or Solo Artist: Hot AC | Won | ||
| Best New Group or Solo Artist: CHR | Won | ||
| SOCAN Song of the Year — Red Hands | Won | ||
| Fans' Choice | Won | ||
| 2016 | Juno Awards | Juno Fan Choice Award | Nominated |
| Pop Album of the Year — Sing It All Away | Nominated | ||
| Group of the Year | Won |
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [15] |
US [16] |
AUT [17] |
NLD [18] |
SWI [19] |
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| Smooth Like Stone on a Beach |
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— | — | — | — | — | ||
| My Rock |
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— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vol.1 |
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— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vol.2 |
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— | — | — | — | — | ||
| R.E.V.O. LP |
|
7 | 90 | 29 | — | — |
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| Sing It All Away |
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2 | 71 | — | 79 | 74 |
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| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||
Extended plays
- 2012: R.E.V.O. (EP)
- 2013: iTunes Session
- 2014: A Walk Off the Earth Christmas EP
- 2015: Sing It All Away
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | AUT | BEL (Vl) |
DEN | FRA [23] |
IRL | NED | SWE | US Bub. [24] |
UK | ||||||
| "Somebody That I Used to Know" | 2012 | 13 | 30 | 30 | 12 | 80 | 48 | 9 | 45 | 9 | 80 |
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R.E.V.O. | ||
| "Red Hands" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | — |
|
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| "Gang of Rhythm" | 2013 | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Shake" | 2014 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Rule the World" | 2015 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|
Sing It All Away | ||
| "Hold On (The Break)" | 2016 | 66 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||||||||
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. theguardian.com.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Whirling sound tubes also called Sound Hoses or Whirly Tubes can be made of various size and the physics is explained nicely in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuGnsW0ysrA
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ LesCharts.com French and European chart positions for Walk off the Earth's version "Somebody That I Used to Know"
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External links
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- WaveCat playlist
- Walk off the Earth at allmusic.com
