One of Canada’s favourite indie-pop bands, Walk Off the Earth, will perform its infectious tunes on oddball instruments at a free Canada Winter Games concert in downtown Red Deer tonight.
The band that won a 2016 Juno Award for Group of the Year will perform along with Busty and the Bass in the large heated tent off Celebration Plaza, next to Central Middle School. The show is part of the 52 Degrees North Music and Culture Festival and begins at 6:30 p.m. (tent opens at 6 p.m.)
Walk Off the Earth is known for using ukuleles and a theremin (an electronic instrument played without physical contact) in shows across the country.
Band members also have made a habit of throwing instruments to each other, making their concerts a visual, as well as acoustic, spectacle.
The band that was formed in Burlington, Ont.in 2006 has produced the hit singles Red Hands, Rule the World and a cool cover of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know.
Walk Off the Earth made the news in a sad way last month when it was announced that group member Mike “Beard Guy” Taylor died of natural causes at age 51 in December. The four remaining group members threw a memorial concert for their band mate that included performances from Scott Helman and members of the Barenaked Ladies, live streamed by the CBC.
The band’s 2019 world tour will go ahead in memory of Taylor.
Busty and the Bass Busty and the Bass is a nine-member electro-soul band that was started by McGill University’s jazz students. What began as casual mash-ups of jazz and hip-hop gradually escalated from basement jam sessions into performing live across the globe.
Along with some sonic experimentation, the band members’ M.O. is to have fun. Busty and the Bass has put out a unique version of Macy Gray’s I Try as well as the single Up Top.