Since forming in 2006, the Burlington, Ont. group has routinely attracted millions of views from around the globe with its low-budget videos.
How’s it done? For starters, the five musicians are immensely talented multi-instrumentalists who have mastered everything from guitar to glockenspiel, ukulele to a Harpejji (electric stringed instrument that sound like a guitar/piano hybrid).
They are also constantly experimenting to create infectious pop melodies with unconventional ‘instruments’ such as tap shoes, kazoos, whirly tubes, shakers — even standard zippers.
Above all, they aren’t above showboating.
The band’s videos — whether showcasing the group’s unique take on cover songs or original tunes — tend to entertain and amaze.
One even got the musicians invited onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show to demonstrate how five people can all play one guitar at the same time — and still pull off a terrific version of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know.
The band members have tapped out a cover of Adele’s Hello on a surfboard, and played toss-and-catch with their instruments — in the midst of playing them.
All five musicians are shown hanging by their arms from a pole in a video for the original song Hold On from their new album Sing it All Away. And in a video for the group’s hit, Rule the World, dancers ride around on Segways, acrobats flip in brightly coloured body paint and trumpeters are caught on a 360-degree camera.
The circus-like elements are necessary, said the group’s singer Sarah Blackwood, “because we’re entertainers… We feel like putting on the best show we can, and entertaining people. It’s also more exciting for us, as well as the audience.”
Blackwood, who also plays guitar, ukulele, glockenspiel, kazoo, melodica and bongos, promised more thrills — and surprises — during the band’s performance Wednesday with Marianas Trench at Red Deer’s Centrium.
“There’ll be dancing and tons of stuff. It’ll be an exciting show for sure.”
Blackwood estimates the spectacle will require the efforts of 20 people, including additional horn players and technical support.
Although the Juno Award-nominated band signed with Columbia Records in 2012, group members are still proud of building their fan-base independently, without help from record labels, management or booking agents.
A recent media interview — which was interrupted several times as Blackwood supervised the process of loading instruments into the tour bus — shows they are still pretty hands-on when it comes to managing day-to-day activities.
Blackwood and her life partner Gianni “Luminati” Nicassio (the group’s long-haired vocalist who also plays bass, guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, drum and theremin — and produces music and videos) have two pre-school children who travel with them on the tour bus.
One is their three-year-old son, who famously screamed so loudly he got himself and his mother kicked off a U.S. United Airlines flight last year. Blackwood had complained at the time this action was completely unnecessary, and was backed by several passengers from the flight.
Touring with kids is fun, she maintained. “It’s different every time… It’s like we’re one big, happy family on the road.”
The band also includes Ryan Marshall, who plays among other things, the trumpet, piano, and harmonica. Mike “Bearded Guy” Taylor, performs on an unusual assortment of instruments including organ, xylophone, didgeridoo, accordion, euphonium, slide whistle and tuba, while Joel Cassidy plays congas, cajon, spoons and kalima — as well as guitar and bass.
Blackwood is excited about touring across Canada with the popular Marianas Trench, and hopes the concerts help Walk Off the Earth get more radio play.
She believes her group’s success with social media demonstrates what can accomplished through sheer dedication and the expression of a unique vision. “We just took things in our own hands and (had an attitude of) let’s do this ourselves…”
Tickets to the 7 p.m. show with Marianas Trench and Kieran Mercer are $35-$80 from Ticketmaster.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com