INTERCONTINEN7AL, led by founder Matt Smith, has achieved a groundbreaking feat: creating music with contributions from all seven continents. In this interview, Matt shares the journey behind their innovative and ambitious project.
1. How
did the idea of creating music with contributions from all seven continents
come about, and what
inspired you to pursue such an ambitious project?
Hey, Matt Smith here - founder of INTERCONTINEN7AL. Great question! So the
origins of INTERCONTINEN7AL date back to March 2020, when COVID-19 was just
underway. Band members of the local Columbia, MD group Toast (myself, Jamie
Miller, Ben Gaither, Emily Betz and guest Becca Drayer) sought avenues to
continue collaborating and playing together virtually. The band discovered the
application BandLab, and were soon sharing drum tracks, guitar riffs, and other
ideas among themselves. A few months later, the band recognized the potential
of BandLab’s public community, and decided to publish internal song ideas
outside the band framework – making them “forkable” and unlocking them with
hashtags (ex. #needsvocals) so that any BandLab user can contribute. I posted a
grunge-inspired instrumental acoustic song idea of his tentatively called
Aslin. Within days, multiple lead/harmony vocal submissions were received,
including North America’s Hope Gray’s backing vocals and South America’s
Gustavo Prida’s lead vocals (sung in Spanish), transforming Aslin into No Somos
De Este Lugar. The band continued this process, posting a blues idea by Matt
and Jamie for external contributors, and this soon evolved into the song When
I’m Gone, with Robert James Shoveller from Australia on lead guitar. In late
August 2020, I was walking in his backyard when an idea struck him like a
lightning bolt: what if the band adopts the Sonic Highways concept that Foo
Fighters had (which was recording music with artists from several cities in the
United States), and expands it to move forward with further international
cooperation, seeking a musician from every continent to participate. The name
INTERCONTINEN7AL was born, with the 7 in the name inspired by the band Tool's
song "7empest". For the remaining musicians, I reached out to
friends, former bandmates and family members who were fellow North American
musicians (i.e. bassists Devin Heritage, Alex Burke), and used Explore and
Creator Connect features in BandLab to target by location and instrument type
to establish additional musician connections (i.e. guitarist Josh Pearlson of
Africa). I also reviewed musicians’ profiles that the group was following to
see who they were collaborating with, or who was commenting on their songs to
try to recruit other participants, to include Nerse of Asia. Europe is
represented by musicians such as Poland’s Marcin Nawrocki, who was recruited
after flagging one of the band’s song ideas for potential collaboration, and
the talented vocalist Rieneke from the Netherlands.
2. With 21 musicians involved, how did you manage the logistics of
coordinating such a large and globally dispersed group?
I tend to use a combination of group chat within BandLab to discuss projects
amongst the band as a whole, as well as individual one-on-one messages to
specific members to discuss particular details of a song (for example, I
recently was coordinating with Aymar via WhatsApp to finalize the guitar
recording and piano on the song "Butterflies"). It helps that
everyone has the same goal - to create the best songs possible for the album -
so generally any disagreements over songwriting or ideas have been very mild,
quite respectful across parties involved, and easy to resolve.
3. Recruiting musicians from Antarctica is a remarkable feat. Can you tell
us more about how you connected with Aymar de Lichervelde and Stijn Thoolen?
To locate the two musicians from Antarctica, I contacted over 20 active
research stations in September 2020 to determine if there were researchers that
happened to be musicians on site, and successfully recruited Aymar de
Lichervelde and Stijn Thoolen. The final result was the epic progressive rock
song “Manor Hill”, featuring musicians from all 7 continents to include Aymar
and Stijn who were stationed in Antarctica. Since then, both Stijn and/or Aymar
have added their talents to the other 4 songs on the World Over EP that include
instrumentation across all 7 continents.
4. How did the diversity of musical backgrounds and influences from various continents shape the sound of World Over?
I think these results come across very evidently with a song like "Puerto Aisen", where the guitars carry a heavy flamenco and Latin flavor, while there are some pop and even Middle Eastern influences within the vocal melody. In songs like "Manor Hill", one reviewer referenced Carribean flow, Celtic yarling, and showtunes, which were all elements that even I had not noticed or heard! So sometimes the underlying layers of these songs reveal themselves over time and multiple listens.
5. Recording virtually across the globe must have posed some challenges. What were the most significant hurdles you faced during the production process?
I would say the most difficult aspect was communication delays, as a result of everyone's busy schedules and other commitments outside of music. As we all have jobs, families and other obligations outside of this band, sometimes it would take quite a while to finalize a song. For example, the song "Butterflies" took about a year from initial concept until completion, but it was well worth the wait. But again, this is an expected aspect of the process, so patience is an important part of this framework.
6. "Night Shift" is highlighted as a track featuring a guitar intro recorded in Antarctica. What was the creative process behind this song?
So I have been working on this song "Night Shift" for several years, and brought it into the band "folder" and started inviting other members to participate. Eventually, it started to take shape as a potential "7 continent" track as we received more and more contributions from folks. Aymar had recorded a wonderful intro to our song "Manor Hill", so I had reached out to see if he would be interested in participating on another song. Happily, he obliged, and came up with another wonderful precursor to our song. We discussed what key the song was in, and the chords/notes that were utilized, and he sent over drafts of his idea which I immediately fell in love with. He then recorded his take while in Antarctica, and the rest is history.
7. BandLab played a crucial role in the creation of this EP. How has this platform transformed your approach to music collaboration?
I cannot emphasize enough how important BandLab was in this entire process. Not just the obvious role it played in actually recording and enabling the DAW framework for multiple musicians to access and insert recordings into the same workstation...but the additional features of chat and searching for other potential collaborators based on location. I feel like I will be primarily utilizing BandLab for the next several years for any future band efforts!
8. The EP spans a wide array of genres, from bossa nova to progressive rock. Was this diversity intentional, or did it evolve naturally during the collaboration?
A little bit of both - I primarily write and record rock influenced music, so that was likely going to come through in the final product, but when other folks like Jukerok or Aymar submitted ideas that were more diverse (Latin or bossa nova, for example), I jumped at the chance to try to build these concepts into more fully fleshed tracks. I personally enjoy the challenge of trying to work in other genres that I'm not as well versed or comfortable in.
9. How has the international music community responded to your project so far?
It's gone very well! We have been covered by almost 150 unique music and media sites and blogs, and even some news sources such as San Diego Union-Tribune and Denver Post in the US, Ground News in Canada and Ticker News in Australia. We are crossing fingers that we continue to get support from our friends all over the world :)
10. You’ve cited influences like Pearl Jam, Tool, and The Beatles. Can you share how these artists have impacted the creative direction of World Over?
I can certainly speak from my personal experience: rock is my #1 genre of choice, and Pearl Jam is my all time favorite band. So Mike McCready and Stone Gossard have always been major influences for me as a guitar player, in terms of song writing and recording solos. I also admire their philanthropy, so the decision to donate our proceeds to charity mirrors what PJ has done since their inception, and is a nod to them in that regard. As for Tool, I think one can listen to the song "The Chamber" off of our album, and hear echoes of "Eulogy" in how the song starts to build with the percussion elements. Also, the pop and psychedelic nature of Beatles compositions certainly inspires World Over EP across the board.
11. Over the four years of creating this EP, were there any specific moments or stories that stood out as particularly inspiring or challenging?
I still remember the moment that I received the "Manor Hill" intro recorded by Aymar at his station in Antarctica, which was in December 2020 and he sent it over WhatsApp...the final "piece to the puzzle" so to speak of creating a 7 continent song. That was something that felt remarkable to me, and it started to sink in that we were the first act to ever do that (have instrumentation recorded across the world) means the world to us as a band.
12. Do you plan to continue creating music with a similar global collaboration approach, or are there other innovative ideas you’re exploring for future releases?
Yes, so we are aiming to continue our goal of creating music across all 7 continents, with our next record Volume 7, slated to be released in December of 2025. Stay tuned for further news on that album!
Music Recorded Across 7 Continents - INTERCONTINEN7AL
Intercontinen7al (@intercontinen7al) • Instagram photos and videos
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