We caught up with Marshall (Vocals/Guitar) of Walk Off The Earth and chatted with him before their upcoming show at The Observatory North Park on June 3rd, 2015.

Don’t miss the show and get tickets here!

New album, Sing It All Away, drops June 16th, 2015! Preorder link available here.

WOTE Sarah Edit - Smoke 1 (1)

Thanks for taking the time to chat with ListenSD! We’re excited about the June 2nd show; we’ve heard that your live performances live up to the visual standards that your videos set. How do you balance the visuals and experience with the music, so that the focus achieves a balance between the two?

We definitely try to push the limits. The goal is to create an unforgettable experience for anyone who comes to the show. We make sure that their eyes are glued to the stage from the minute it starts until it’s over. And if they have to go pee they’ll just have to hold it. We also really dig incorporating the crowd in our set. Whether it’s a massive chant or a stage party. And when the crowd sees how much fun we genuinely are having, it typically flows over and makes for an incredible atmosphere.

The band is well known for your covers, as well as the original music. The reception to the original music has been uniformly positive; do you feel there is an expectation, though, to keep recording covers, or incorporating them in to the live shows?

We love playing cover songs. I think every artist does.  Taking a song that is already a great song and putting your own twist on it is fun as hell. I can’t ever remember being at a concert where I haven’t seen a band incorporate a cover song in their show.

How have things changed since joining a major label? 

Columbia allows us a larger reach then we would ever have had on our own. It’s hard to cross the border from YouTube to radio. They’ve definitely helped that transition. And they’re all around awesome peeps.

What bands have you been listening to, as you tour across the country? 

Top of my play list right now is Yelawolf, Ben Howard, and Lord Huron. I can see those getting a lot of play on my headphones for this next tour.

Given how you’ve given credit to social media for helping to raise the band’s profile, how do you feel about the disturbing trend of audiences being on their phones during shows, recording entire songs or sets? It’s something that has become somewhat of a hot topic in San Diego, which has, fairly or not, begun to garner a reputation for that sort of thing. 

We’re obviously big fans of recording videos! We love going online the day after shows and watching videos people put up of our shows, so it’s not really disturbing to us. If anything it likely gives people more reason to buy a ticket to the next show.

 

Interview By: David Israel

ListenSD