Leland Whitty
PHOTO : BRENT GOLDSMITH
To
address the embouchure change from the euphonium to the trumpet , Marshall says he “ cheated ” by using an atypically large trumpet mouthpiece .
Since then , Marshall and his WOTE bandmates have built their career essentially being musical chameleons , expanding their chops by finding commonalities between instruments they know and ones they happen upon – say in tiny little music shops in Vienna , Austria , or kindergarten classrooms , for example .
The soaring horn leads that anchor the band ’ s empowering hit “ Rule the World ” prove the power that orchestral instruments can bring to the pop realm , and WOTE ’ s winning take on it in particular – a take that ’ s been heavily influenced by their approach to pop covers .
“ Any time an artist covers a song , you ’ re learning something – whether it ’ s chord structures you may not have thought of for pop music or even just recognizing where the hooks can come from ,” he says . It really just expands the sonic palette that ’ s then used to compose new material , and has certainly led WOTE to push the envelope with new instruments and new sounds .
And whether it ’ s a trumpet , baritone , or any other of the ( probably ) hundreds of instruments to have found their way into a WOTE recording , there ’ s also a visual appeal – one that ’ s very important to the band ’ s live show and brand overall .
“ The way Walk off the Earth has always been – even when we were just a three piece , it was always about entertaining the crowd , and being an entertaining act more than just a musical group ,” he says . “ So when we ’ re throwing instruments across the stage or switching instruments on the fly , we want the crowd to see it and say , ‘ I need to see that again because it blew my mind .’”
Leland Whitty
BadBadNotGood
LELAND WHITTY
P . Mauriat System 76 Saxophone ( 2 nd Edition Unlathed ) Vintage Mouthpiece Rigotti Reeds Francois Louis Ligature Malekko Spring Reverb Pedal Malekko Ekko 616 Dark Analog Pedal Audio-Technica ATM350 Clip-On
Microphone
After several years and releases as a trio , Toronto ’ s BadBadNotGood became a quartet at the foot of 2016 when saxophonist Leland Whitty – a longtime collaborator – officially joined the group . The child of two musicians , Whitty picked up the violin at the young age of six before trying out the saxophone at 14 . “ Towards the end of high-school , I was gigging around Toronto in a few different bands ,” he says . “ I went to Humber College to study music , which is where I met all the BBNG boys and so many other amazing musicians .”
His first collab with BBNG was the group ’ s cover of Tyler the Creator ’ s “ She ” in late 2011 , leading to features on cuts from both BBNGII and BBNGIII , the group ’ s heralded mixtapes from 2012 and 2014 , respectively . Leading up to the release of 2015 ’ s Sour Soul with Ghostface Killah , Whitty was playing more and more shows with the band and started joining their writing , production , and recording sessions . “ At that point , it just made sense to have me around for every show and session ,” he says . “ It was a very organic process . I ’ m so glad everything worked out the way it did .”
He says his chemistry with the group stems from their willingness to let their collaborators realize their undiluted artistic vision throughout the process . “ It ’ s always been that way since I started working with them ,” he says . “ Having done more and more sessions over time , though , the actual approach of writing each song varies a lot as we ’ re always trying to come up with new ways of writing and recording .”
The group ’ s latest release , 2016 ’ s IV , is the first to feature Whitty as a fully-fledged member , and he doesn ’ t waste the opportunity to have his presence felt . From his sax duel with Colin Stetson on “ Confessions Pt . II ” to a swirling solo on “ Chompy ’ s Paradise ,” there ’ s no doubt Whitty played a big part in making this BBNG ’ s most sonically ambitious and explorative release to date .
“ Working with Colin was an incredible experience for me ,” he says , speaking to the album ’ s fourth track . “ It was very humbling to see this person who has completely changed the way saxophones had traditionally been played stand beside us and work on music in a very organic way .”
The process stemmed from free form improvisation , Whitty
WALK OFF THE EARTH
reveals . “ The first day , we kind of just got to know each other and spent about seven hours just improvising and eventually solidified some of the ideas from the jam into a song structure . We then spent the second and third days getting sounds and recording the songs .” Adding a bit of a tease , Whitty says there ’ s still a full song and some shorter improvisations in the bag from the sessions with Stetson .
As for “ Chompy ’ s Paradise ,” that ’ s a more solitary showcase that let the saxophonist flex his musical muscles . “ The initial intent was to write a kind of melancholy chill summer jam ,” Whitty offers . “ The middle section was meant to take you out of that realm briefly with some brighter sus chords and a more energetic solo .” It ’ s lost on him how many takes they did , though ultimately there were a few options to choose from .
Having spent the first half of the year on the road with a fairly aggressive touring schedule , the boys took a bit of a break in the summer before jumping back into the studio with electronic musician , producer , and frequent collaborator Kaytranada . Considering the result of their partnership on “ Lavender ” from IV , here ’ s to hoping much of that sees the light of day …
BADBADNOTGOOD
PHOTO : CONNOR OLTHUIS
CANADIAN MUSICIAN • 45