W is Double-Vee, not Double-You - the French had it right all along

Band: Walk Off The Earth

Country: Canada!

Notable Album: Smooth Like Stone On A Beach

Favourite Song: Rock Me Away

This is the return of Canadian bands on the Ska Blog!  I think this is the first Canadian band I've blogged about since resurrecting this bad boy a few weeks ago.  So let's celebrate together!


Yay! Celebrations!


Wasn't that a fun celebration?  I certainly had a blast, hope you did too.  And now on to the good stuff.


Today's post is slightly sad for me, in a way.  I used to have a very good friend who loved Walk Off The Earth, and I have fond memories of going with her to see a few of their shows.  Unfortunately, we aren't in contact with each other anymore, which is too bad, but I suppose things like that happen from time to time.  People drift apart, life goes on, ska is awesome - those are all facts that we just have to live with.

Marshall on guitar at Maxwell's Music House
Waterloo, December 2010

In any case, Walk Off The Earth hail from Burlington, ON - a very sketchy place, according to WOTE.  If you own their second album, My Rock, you'll know that in B-Town you have to carry a Gat - whether it be in your leg pouch, or your waist pouch, or your shoulder pouch - just remember that it has to be in a pouch nonetheless.  Walk Off The Earth has now released two full-length albums, and have been steadily releasing super cool covers of songs for the past few months.  They've recently done a cover of the Backin' Up song, and that song Magic that has Rivers from Weezer in it.  That song rocks.  Both versions.  I'm really impressed with the talent of the guys in WOTE - it's not every day that you see a ska/reggae band perform music with ukuleles or beatboxing (and I think Gianni uses a gun for percussion in one of their YouTube videos!).  Needless to say, their musical creativity is incredible and I certainly hope to see much more from these guys.




Smooth Like Stone On A Beach is WOTE's first full-length.  It has a lot more tracks than their second album, and showcases a much more diverse collection of musical styles.  They do everything from ska to pop to rap to a beachy-reggae cover of Rage Against The Machine's People Of The Sun.  It also features the original versions of 100 Proof Life and Broke, which both were re-recorded for My Rock.  This album was given to me at a Johnstones show at the Chili Pepper years ago - it was my first time seeing them and I only knew Rock Me Away, but we had a great time skanking up their set and being amazed that a bassist could also drum and play the guitar!  I had actually been supposed to see them the November before, opening for another Johnstones show at Port Mansion, but I had to work and we were late and they were done.  It was sad.


Rock Me Away is without a doubt the best song ever by Walk Off The Earth.  Sure, it's only got 2 chords and the lyrics are a little bit less than family-friendly, but this was the song that brought me to WOTE, and this is the song that keeps bringing me back to their music.  I can remember listening to Rock Me Away on their MySpace, just getting totally pumped for the show, and then going and experiencing it live for the first time - what an awesome two-and-a-half minutes that was.  The song is a perfect blend of laid-back-yet-danceable ska rhythms, quick slap bass lines, and enough quirkiness to keep the song exciting.  You can hear how much fun they're having, you can imagine the way it would be performed live, you know that if you wanted to you could cover it but it would never be as good - all of this is why Rock Me Away is still the best Walk Off The Earth song out there.  I can guarantee that if you like to be happy, you will like this song.


OK enough rambling from me for one night, gotta go stock up on food in case Canadians actually start living in igloos after this snowstorm.  Buy the album here, and we'll see what happens for the "X" band tomorrow.  Oh what an adventure this shall be.