WOTE is also up for the Juno Fan Choice Award, along with Justin Bieber, Arcade Fire, Celine Dion and other Canadian music stars.

The nominations were announced last Tuesday (Feb. 4).

Luminati was surprised WOTE is up for three Junos, including the fan category.

“That’s an incredible honour,” he said.

Voting for the Fan Choice Award continues until Friday, March 28 at 11:59 p.m. Visit www.junoawards.ca to vote for your favourite.

Continually trying to improve and communicating with fans are keys to WOTE’s success, said Luminati.

“We’ve really built a strong following of fans,” he said.

Luminati said the band plans to issue another video in a couple of months. “That’s something we’ll never stop doing.”

WOTE earned a 2013 Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year.

The Burlington band achieved fame two years ago for its YouTube video of Somebody That I Used to Know.

The Gotye cover featuring all five WOTE members playing one guitar has been viewed more than 156 million times.

The group includes multi-instrumentalists Luminati, Sarah Blackwood and (Ryan) Marshall on vocals with (Mike) Taylor on keyboards and Joel Cassady on drums.

Thousands watched the band perform at Burlington’s Sound of Music Festival in 2012.

“That was one of our biggest shows. It was incredible being in our hometown,” recalled Luminati.

“I love this city and I love being here. That was definitely one of the thrills of my life.”

WOTE is partway through a U.S. tour.

The band was preparing for a gig in Orlando, Fla. when the Post interviewed Luminati by telephone.

“Every show has been sold out,” he said. “We’ve really got a following in the U.S.”

Luminati is also looking forward to the band’s third European tour, which starts in April.

“The way they embrace music there is really inspiring,” he said.

Luminati and Blackwood’s son Giorgio Michael, who’s 7 ½ months, is currently along for the ride.

“He’s having a good time. He sleeps well on the bus, with the movement and vibrations,” said Luminati. “He’s sleeping better on tour than he does at home.”

He said more work will be done on the band’s next album during a tour break in Florida.

“We wrote 14 new songs and we’ll start hand-picking the better songs,” said Luminati. “Writing new songs was a big high for us. But we’ll still do covers.”

He’ll be working again with Tawg Salter, who helped produce WOTE’s gold-selling album, R.E.V.O.

“He’s kind of like my partner,” said Luminati. “We’ll be meeting up in Florida to work on the new album.”

He’s pleased that Salter (producer) and Howie Beck (recording engineer) earned Juno nominations in 2014.

Both worked on WOTE’s popular single Red Hands.

Nearly 700,000 downloads of the song have been sold worldwide, noted Luminati. “It’s still moving up the charts.”

Also nominated for a Juno is the Burlington couple Taes and Nick Adams, for their group Splash ‘N Boots.

Their recording Coconuts Don’t Fall Far From The Tree is up for Children’s Album of the Year.

- Special to Burlington Post