35 million views in under 2 weeks. That’s the response the Canadian-based band Walk Off The Earth got to their
YouTube-cover of Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know’ in 2012. D’you remember it? 5 people playing the song on one guitar? For those who thought they were nothing more than a one-hit-wonder, here’s something new: the band’s
currently preparing for their third tour throughout Europe after traveling around the US this month. So yes, they’re still around, and better than ever. Ha! In your face.
WALK OFF THE EARTH
Where are you at the moment? We’re back in Toronto now for the Juno awards, where we were nominated in three categories. We’ve just done all the US gigs and are preparing to set off to Europe in April to continue our tour.
How do Sarah and Gianni [both band members] combine the touring with the upbringing of their son? Little Giorgio’s only two years old! He just fits in as part of the crew. Sarah is an incredible mom and just makes it work. Everybody involved in this band is one big family, so when she needs help, anybody kind of chips in and makes it happen.
You’ve gotten very big after some amazing covers on YouTube in 2012,
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outlineonline.co.uk
why did you decide to start covering? Covering music you like, and that inspires you, is always a good way to elevate your music in front of people you don’t know. It gives them something to listen to that they’ve already heard, rather than your own music. We did it that way, via YouTube to allow people to hear the style that we have, because we put a bit of Walk Off Te Earth in every cover we do as well.
How would you describe that ‘Walk Off Te Earth’ signature style? We get asked sometimes if we have a genre, or what style of music it is, and it’s hard to answer because we have so many different influences in there. You know, there’s five people in our band
so that’s quite a lot, and they all have a great contribution in our sound. Personally I’m more of a singer- songwriter while Gianni has more reggae, hip-hop and funk [influences] and Sarah has that country and folk kind of thing. Everybody just brings in something different and I think the sound that ends up is something very organic, really roots driven, but at the same time has, like, a party feel. It’s happy and people want to listen to it.
How do you decide which songs you cover and which not? It has to be a bit different than what our sound is like. We want to bring the song, whatever it is, into a different direction and make people listen to it. Take a Taylor Swift cover for example;
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