Walk Off The Earth

In 2006, multi-instrumentalists Ryan Marshall, Gianni Luminati, Mike Taylor, Joel Cassady, and Sarah Nicole Blackwood established Walk Off the Earth in Burlington, Ontario. Their inventive covers quickly drew notice, as the musicians frequently swapped instruments mid-performance or assembled tracks in elaborate one-take sequences where a single member executed every part. Two early independent efforts, 2007's Smooth Like Stone on a Beach and 2010's My Rock, preceded wider recognition that arrived through YouTube videos covering material by Adele, B.o.B, and the Gregory Brothers.

Momentum surged in 2012 when the band's one-guitar, all-members performance of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" gathered 70 million views in two months. The clip earned direct praise from Gotye himself and secured a Columbia contract, which yielded R.E.V.O.—an acronym for the group's motto "Realize Every Victory Outright"—early in 2013. Lead single "Red Hands" reached the Canadian Top Ten, the album climbed to number seven on the domestic chart, and the project earned Juno Award nominations for both Pop Album of the Year and Group of the Year.

Extensive touring across North America and Europe followed over the next two years, interrupted only by the late-2014 holiday EP A Walk Off the Earth Christmas. Mid-2015 brought the arena-aimed Sing It All Away, whose impact delivered the band's first Juno win for Group of the Year in 2016. Smaller releases appeared the following year, including the solo-piano sets Walk Off the Earth Presents: Beard Ballads, Vol. 1 and Holiday Beard Ballads, Vol. 1, both performed by keyboardist Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor. Taylor died suddenly from natural causes in November 2018; his bandmates paid tribute with a free 2019 memorial concert in downtown Burlington and issued the single "Mike's Song." Later that year they released the uplifting track "I'll Be There," previewing the October album Here We Go!, which peaked at number 11 in Canada, reached number 44 on the Billboard 200, and earned two additional Juno nominations, among them Pop Album of the Year.

Two projects surfaced in 2021: the July release Meet You There, featuring the anthemic "The Farther We Go," and the September children's collection Romeo Eats, Vol. 1. That same year the band joined former American Idol winner Phillip Phillips for the single "Hold On to Your Love." Romeo Eats, Vol. 2 followed in 2022 and captured the Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year. Walk Off the Earth resurfaced in 2023 with the non-album single "My Stupid Heart," which entered the Canadian Hot 100.