Back in 2012, a cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” went viral. Why? Because it featured five people playing one guitar.
Walk Off the Earth is a five-person band out of Burlington, Ontario, and they’ve taken the music world by storm. If you like music videos that break the rules and leave you with your jaw on the floor, check out some of their stuff. They do a cover of “Royals” by Lorde, in which they continuously pass four ukuleles’ back and forth, even dropped in from above for them to catch, without missing a beat. They also do Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” a cappella, complete with beat-boxing backup vocals. In their most famous video, “Somebody That I Used to Know,” each member of the band contributes to the song using a different part of the guitar.
Yet they do more than covers of popular songs. Walk Off the Earth has some incredible original songs. Their latest album, “R.E.V.O.,” was their first major record label. The music video for “Red Hands” was quite an accomplishment on its own: the entire thing was recorded in a single clip, but out of order. The video then rewinds and fast forwards to different parts of them singing the song. One can only imagine how many takes they do to get their videos right in a single shot.
It’s not just the music, either. The personality of the band is just as addicting, whether it’s the feisty Sarah Blackwood doing the rap portion of “Payphone,” Gianni’s bold, powerful voice, or “Beard Guy,” a member of the band who often appears in the background or plays smaller instruments like the kazoo or doesn’t do anything at all. It’s fun to go through each of their videos and look for him.
Walk Off the Earth’s videos can be found on youtube, or on their website www. walkofftheearth.com.