Quick Facts
Biography
Walk off the Earth is a Canadian indie pop band from Burlington, Ontario. The group is known for its music videos of covers and originals. The band is well known for covering pop-genre music on YouTube, making use of 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.
History
Walk off the Earth was formed in 2006 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The band began releasing music independently and created a variety of cover versions of songs including The Gregory Brothers. In early 2012, the band's live cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" on YouTube gathered over 175 million views in a mere four months, receiving positive reviews from both Gotye and his co-singer on the song, Kimbra. The band released an accompanying video in which all five members are shown playing on the same guitar simultaneously. The production was taken from the 26th cut of a 14-hour session. Ellen DeGeneres featured the band on her January 23, 2012, show where they played live, again on one guitar; the group was also included in YouTube Rewind 2012 "Rewind YouTube Style 2012", doing a part of its one guitar acoustic version of "Gangnam Style".
In February 2012, the band signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. The members appeared in the Season 4 premiere of CTV's The Listener, performing two songs and socializing with the main characters in the bar. They also covered "Rude" by Magic!, "Hello" by Adele, "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO, "Payphone" by Maroon 5, and "Roll Up" by Wiz Khalifa.
In December 2012, Walk off the Earth released an original single titled "Gang of Rhythm". The group uploaded a cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" to YouTube in January 2013, with four of the five band members and guest beatboxer KRNFX using only vocals.
On March 11, 2013, Rolling Stone streamed their unreleased R.E.V.O. album 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 US and Europe. They began another US and Europe tour, Gang of Rhythm, in 2014. The most recent tour was the Sing It All Away tour through Europe and North America, which began in 2015.
The band's YouTube video of Lorde's "Royals" was featured in the 2014 Grammy Awards. The band's original single "Gang of Rhythm" was chosen as the theme song for the Catalan TV show El Foraster. The group was also featured on the soundtrack of the 2015 animated film Snowtime!, performing the song "You're My Sweater".
Walk off the Earth won a 2016 Juno award for Group of the Year.
The band's latest video on "Issues" was filmed with The Next Step dancers Briar Nolet and Myles Erlick, and was featured in Dance Spirit magazine.
In August 2017, the band's single "Fire in My Soul" was certified gold.
Walk off the Earth performed during the half-time show of the NFL playoff game, January 14, 2018, Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints.
On December 30, 2018, it was announced that band member Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor had died from natural causes. He was 51 years old. Walk off the Earth subsequently cancelled their scheduled performance at the Niagara Falls New Year's Eve Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television special, a performance that was to open their 2019 world tour.
On January 7, 2019 the group announced a free memorial and tribute concert for Taylor. Presented by the city of Burlington and the Sound of Music Festival, family, friends and fans came together to celebrate Taylor's life and legacy on January 13 at Civic Square in Downtown Burlington. Special guests such as Scott Helman, members of Barenaked Ladies and more performed at the event, which was live-streamed by CBC Music.
On January 16, 2019, the band announced it would be continuing on its 2019 tour. In a video posted to their social media pages, the four members thanked their family, friends, and fans, stating that their tour would be devoted to honoring Taylor's memory. At the same time Marshall has written the theme song to the animated comedy series Corn & Peg for Chris Hamilton, Russell F. Marcus and Corus Entertainment.
Walk off the Earth sang O Canada at game 4 of the 2019 NBA Finals in Oakland, where the Toronto Raptors played the Golden State Warriors.
In December 2019, Ryan Marshall announced that he was going to be leaving the band on Twitter and Instagram.
In April 2020, Deadline announced that the band wrote and performed the theme song, "The Journey Starts Today", for the English dub of "Pokémon Journeys: The Series".
Members
Current members
- Gianni "Luminati" Nicassio – vocals, bass, guitar, ukulele, drums, percussion, banjo, mandolin, cello, glockenspiel, kalimba, harmonica, keyboards, double bass
- Joel Cassady – drums, percussion, vocals, ukulele, keyboards, guitar, bass, kalimba, sampler
- Sarah Blackwood – vocals, ukulele, guitar, percussion, glockenspiel, keyboards, bass, harmonica, mandolin
- Adam Michael – guitar, keyboards, bass
- David "Tokyo" Speirs – percussion, trumpet, flute, drums, bass
Touring musicians
- Lee Williamson – guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin, ukulele
- Zach Gerber – drums, guitar, bass, vocals, percussion
Past members
- Pete Kirkwood – drums, vocals, percussion
- Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor – piano, organ, keyboards, trumpet, euphonium, kazoo, accordion, melodica, didgeridoo, glockenspiel, percussion, vocals,
- Ryan Marshall – vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica, trumpet, ukulele, percussion, keyboards
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 | ||
| 2018 | Streamy Awards | Cover Songs — Girls Like You | Won |
| 2020 | Juno Awards | Group of the Year | Nominated |
| Pop Album of the Year — HERE WE GO! | Nominated |
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Sales | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | AUS | AUT | NLD | SWI | UK | US | US Alt. | ||||
| Smooth Like Stone on a Beach |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| My Rock |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vol. 1 |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vol. 2 |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| R.E.V.O. |
| 7 | — | 29 | — | — | — | 90 | 19 |
|
|
| Sing It All Away |
| 2 | 96 | — | 79 | 74 | 98 | 71 | 14 |
| |
| Here We Go! |
| 11 | — | — | — | — | — | 44 | — | ||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||
Extended plays
| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| CAN | ||
| R.E.V.O. |
| — |
| iTunes Session |
| — |
| A Walk off the Earth Christmas EP |
| — |
| Sing It All Away |
| — |
| Beard Ballads, Vol. 1 |
| — |
| Taekwondo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| — |
| Holiday Beard Ballads, Vol. 1 |
| — |
| Subscribe to the Holidays |
| 20 |
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | AUS | BEL (Fl) | FRA | GER | NLD | SWE | SWI | UK | US Bub. | |||||||
| "Somebody That I Used to Know" | 2012 | 13 | — | 30 | 80 | 41 | 9 | 45 | 54 | 80 | 9 |
| R.E.V.O. | |||
| "Red Hands" | 9 | 59 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14 |
| |||||
| "Gang of Rhythm" | 2013 | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Shake" | 2014 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Rule the World" | 2015 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sing It All Away | |||
| "Home We'll Go (Take My Hand)" (with Steve Aoki) | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Neon Future II | |||||
| "Hold On (The Break)" | 2016 | 66 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Sing It All Away | ||||
| "Fire in My Soul" | 77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Beard Ballads, Vol. 1 | ||||
| "Taekwondo" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Taekwondo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
| "Nomad" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
| "Fifth Avenue" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Mike's Song" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Here We Go! | ||||
| "I'll Be There" | 94 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Paradise" (Nicky Romero and Deniz Koyu featuring Walk off the Earth) | 2018 | Non-album single |