When Gianni Luminati of Canadian rock band Walk Off the Earth first came up with the idea of covering the Gotye song “Somebody That I Used to Know” in a video on Youtube, he had no idea the unique arrangement would garner worldwide attention, as well as critical acclaim, and give the Burlington, Ontario group its big break.
“I thought it was a cool idea,” he said. “But I didn’t think it was ‘300 million Youtube views’ cool.”
The video, featuring all five members of Walk Off The Earth playing the song live together on one guitar, quickly went viral and earned 127 million of those views in just four months.
But it was almost a completely different video, according to Luminati.
“I had originally conceived the idea for four people on one guitar,” he said. “But Taylor (band member Mike ‘Beard Guy’ Taylor) felt left out, so he ended up doing the ‘plinky’ thing on the guitar that definitely ended up making that video.”
Formed in 2006, Walk Off The Earth features the talents of Luminati and Taylor, as well as Ryan Marshall, Sarah Blackwood and Joel Cassady.
“Marshall and I originally started the band,” he said. “We both had reggae/rock bands, but he left his band and then we started working together. I had also produced some of Sarah’s songs, as well, so we knew each other.”
After the Somebody That I Used To Know video went viral, the band quickly built a loyal and adoring fan base – with no help from record labels, booking agents, or management.
“It was a perfect storm,” said Luminati. “The song was incredible, and it captured something people hadn’t seen before. And it led them to the other 30 videos we already had online.”
It also got them a recording contract with Columbia Records.
“We had a week to write that album and three weeks to record it,” he said. “It was pretty rushed, but I’m really proud of that album.”
The album, titled R.E.V.O, also earned a Juno Award nomination for Best Pop Album.
The band continues to make unique videos, both of covers and their own original songs.
“Producing videos is one of my passions,” said Luminati. “I produce the music so it is me who usually maps out the videos. Sarah is super creative too, so we talk about different ideas late into the night. We still have a bunch of crazy ideas we’ve not recorded yet.”
Walk Off The Earth has also been busy recently working on yet another album.
“We are pretty deep into working on our fourth studio album,” he said. “We’ve written about 20 songs in the past year, and we are recording 15 of them. It’s definitely our best work to date. We’ve been in the studio almost every day working on the new record.”
When not in studio this summer, Walk Off The Earth has been playing the festival circuit.
“We’ve been doing a lot of festival one-offs, especially in the States,” said Luminati. “We’ve been doing that pretty much every weekend this summer, which has been good.”
He said he enjoys the energy of playing the big festivals.
“Festivals are incredible,” he said. “You can find yourself playing in front of 20 or 30,000 people. But solo shows are fun too, where you’re playing for 2,000 to 4,000 hardcore fans. They both have their merits. We’re actually excited and looking forward to the Squamish festival, because it’s got a great lineup and we have something cool planned for the show.”
Find out what Walk Off The Earth have planned, Friday (August 8) at the Squamish Valley Music Festival.
