INTERCONTINEN7AL are rewriting the rules of music collaboration with their ambitious EP, World Over, assembled across all seven continents. At the core is Matt Smith, whose resourcefulness in discovering like-minded contributors on BandLab allowed the project to flourish, even in remote locations such as Antarctica. In this exclusive interview, the band discuss how they united guitar riffs, percussion, and vocals from every corner of the globe, building a powerful testament to collective creativity. They also reveal the personal passions that inspired them, the logistical headaches they overcame, and how they kept each track focused despite countless geographical obstacles.
INTERCONTINEN7AL, welcome to A&R Factory! Firstly, we’d love to congratulate you on being the first and only band to record original music across all seven continents with your EP, World Over! What inspired the bold intercontinental project?
Hello A&R Factory, this is Matt Smith, founder of INTERCONTINEN7AL. First off, thank you so much for taking the time to interview us about our project! The seeds of the group were planted back in 2020, out of sheer necessity regarding maintaining music collaboration and creativity during the onset of COVID. Members of the local Columbia, MD band Toast, comprised of myself, Jamie Miller, Ben Gaither, Emily Betz and guest singer Becca Drayer, searched for ways to continue working together during the pandemic.
After some online searching, I found the app BandLab, and started testing out uploading guitar ideas and riffs, while Jamie tried out recording some drum tracks. Later on, the band recognized the potential of BandLab’s public community and decided to publish internal song ideas – making them “forkable” and labeling them with hashtags (ex. #needsbass) so that any BandLab user can then add their ideas if they so desire. I posted an Alice in Chains Unplugged inspired acoustic song idea of mine, and 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 my song idea called Aslin into No Somos De Este Lugar – which ended up on our self-titled debut album. The band continued this process, where I posted a blues idea between myself 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. Things quickly evolved from there…
Your EP is irrefutable proof that geographical borders are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the music industry. How did you put the project into motion?
As I mentioned above, we began to accidentally create these musical connections through the app, and it was a very exciting moment for us. In the late summer of 2020, I vividly recall being in my backyard in Columbia, MD when a lightning bolt of an idea hit me: how about our band borrows the methodology of the Sonic Highways record that Foo Fighters released (creating music with local artists from cities across the US), and taking it to the next level by inviting even more international musicians and trying to include every continent. I decided to call it INTERCONTINEN7AL, stealing the 7 in the name after the band Tool’s song “7empest”. I started hitting the pavement, so to speak, and tried to fill in the blanks when it came to what continents were not already represented in our existing songs.
How did the process of assembling musicians from different continents come together? Did you already have connections worldwide, or was it a matter of seeking out the right collaborators?
For the remaining members, I messaged friends, former bandmates and family who were fellow USA musicians (i.e. bassists Devin Heritage, Alex Burke), and leveraged BandLab’s Explore and Creator Connect features to target by location as well as instrument type to try to find new potential collaborators for our project (i.e. guitarist Josh Pearlson of Africa). I got kind of nerdy and researched musicians’ profiles that our bandmates were following to see who these folks were collaborating with, to expand our network. One noteworthy addition to the group was when I received a notification in BandLab that Marcin Nawrocki from Poland liked one of my original song ideas, Albatross Flight. I reached out to him after getting that notice, and over four years later we are communicating every week and he has contributed an enormous amount to the group, both via music ideas as well as production, mixing, and mastering. But there have been so many fantastic musicians that we have added to the group over the years, each one has a unique “origin story” as to how they were introduced or referred to our band.
How did you ensure the authenticity of each continent’s contribution while maintaining a cohesive sound?
Excellent question – I think the key ingredient here is constructive dialogue about the process, and what the goals are for the final product. For example, if I’m uploading an alternative rock riff, and then share it with the group, I may suggest some melody or lyric ideas as well as what general direction I think we may want to take the song. That being said, one of the most exciting things about this band is seeing bandmates hear an idea and interpret it in a totally different and unexpected light, and then contribute something totally magical and unlike anything I was anticipating. Allowing yourself to be open to new ideas and creative journeys is a pivotal aspect of this entire process.
How were the tracks composed and recorded virtually?
BandLab was the core platform utilized to create the tracks. Basically, every song idea would start as a project in our band’s library. Anyone in the group can upload an idea – which could be recorded on their laptop or even their phone – using a DAW or home studio software application. For me personally, I always would use BandLab’s Studio to import ideas or record them directly from my phone. Once an idea is uploaded, it is available to anyone in the group to add their ideas…so basically opening up the “studio” on their device of choice, and then adding a new instrument or audio recording track. Once a new track is added and saved, a new revision is created in the song project. This allows for incredible version control, and for unlimited creative freedom because no previous idea is ever erased or written over. The fact that BandLab offers a multi-track digital studio that can be accessed by a group of people still blows my mind to this day!
Incorporating instrumentation from Antarctica is groundbreaking. Can you share how you managed to include sounds from such a remote environment?
To find these two musicians from Antarctica, I researched Wikipedia and other online tools to determine close to 25 active research stations, and then in September 2020, I emailed each and every one of them to see if there were any researchers on site that happened to be musicians. After some exhaustive efforts, I actually heard back from two research stations that said they had musicians who would be interested in participating, and my friends Aymar de Lichervelde and Stijn Thoolen entered the fold.
Both of these talented artists were able to record their percussion or guitar parts using microphones or their phones while at the station, and then sent their recordings to me via WhatsApp. I was then able to upload them into the BandLab Studio, along with the other existing tracks for the song “Manor Hill” that we were working on for the debut album. Since 2020, both Stijn and/or Aymar have contributed to the other 4 songs on this World Over EP, to continue the goal of having 7 continents represented.
What were the main challenges when recording the EP?
I would have to say the main challenge would be delays in communication between members, but this is expected due to responsibilities outside of the group. We are doing this primarily as a hobby; this band is not our full-time gig, and because all proceeds are donated to charity, we do not earn any income from the project. As a result, we have to carve out the time to make our recordings. It may take quite a bit of back and forth to finalize a song – for example, “Butterflies” took almost 12 months to finalize – but I personally feel the results speak for themselves.
What do you believe the intercontinental approach brought to the EP?
I think that our approach was able to find the happy medium between combining a vast amount of diverse influences and ideas, without songs sounding chaotic. I have to laugh because one reviewer from our first album listened to “Manor Hill”, and stated that they “expected an instrumental mess, quite honestly”, but were “pleasantly surprised” after they listened. Statements like this make me ecstatic, knowing that we have made the seemingly impossible possible – a cohesive composition that can highlight all participants’ efforts while maintaining a united message.
Do the songs on the EP draw from cultural or environmental themes of the continents represented? If so, how did those influences shape the creative direction?
In my humble opinion, I believe that a lot of these lyrics are of a more personal nature (or perhaps creating a fictional story based on real events), versus any general commentary on cultural or environmental themes. I personally wanted the music to feel genuine and organic, and not forced in any particular topic or theme when it came to lyric writing.
After making history with World Over, what’s next for INTERCONTINEN7AL?
We are already working on ideas for Volume 7, and have also just uploaded a playlist on various digital platforms called The Best of INTERCONTINEN7AL, which features the cream of the crop when it comes to our music – quite a diverse array of genres that are covered there. A terrific way to become ingrained with the group if you have just listened to World Over and want to check out more of our catalogue.
Find your preferred way to listen to the World Over LP via INTERCONTINEN7AL’s official website.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast
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