INTERCONTINEN7AL, The World’s First Rock Band To Record Across All Seven Continents, Releases “Lighthouses (Acoustic Remix)”
INTERCONTINEN7AL, the project that bills itself as the first rock band in history to record music across all seven continents, releases “Lighthouses (Acoustic Remix)” out now, a moody, folk leaning reinterpretation of a track originally featured on the band’s 2022 record, Volume 3.
The original “Lighthouses” began almost by accident. Bandleader Matt Smith was experimenting with synth effects on his phone in September 2021 when he recorded a one-minute descending bass line in A minor with a trip hop feel, uploading it to the band’s shared BandLab folder just to see if anyone connected with it. A month later, his cousin Alex Burke added haunting piano chords to the intro, and the darker turn convinced Smith the song needed to become something more, a minor key duet about a relationship reaching its end. He wrote the lyrics and vocal melody in about 20 minutes, drawing on the feeling of his own past relationships winding down.
Remarkably, the vocal take that made the final mix was his very first attempt, recorded straight into his phone’s microphone, a performance he could never quite recreate no matter how many times he tried. Bandmate Becca Drayer joined as the female half of the duet, and Argentina based Gustavo Prida reworked Smith’s original drum programming to give the track its finished shape.
Two years later, in October 2023, Smith set out to rebuild the song entirely. He stripped away the original synth bass line and replaced it with a slide Drop D acoustic guitar riff while keeping the melody intact, softened the drum programming into more of a brush kit feel, and brought in longtime collaborator Marcin Nawrocki from Poland to record a new bass line to anchor the track. The rework took years of returning to the mix in stages before Smith felt it was finally ready for a wider audience this fall.
The result trades the original’s electronic texture for something rawer. “You were my beacon, but now our love has weakened,” the duet opens, building toward the song’s central image: “When the lights go out, safe harbor cannot be found, when the lights go out, best swim before we drown.” Reviewing the track, Alt77 likened the Smith and Drayer duet to “the equally darkly romantic duets between Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell.”
INTERCONTINEN7AL’s story is unlike any other band. What began in March 2020 as members of the Columbia, Maryland band Toast trying to keep collaborating remotely during the pandemic grew, through Smith’s use of BandLab’s public creator tools, into a project spanning more than 30 musicians across 15 countries.
Inspired by the Foo Fighters’ Sonic Highways concept, Smith set out to find a musician on every continent, including Antarctica, eventually recruiting two researchers stationed there to record parts for the progressive rock track “Manor Hill.” The band takes its name and stylized “7” from Tool’s “7empest,” and its catalogue now spans seven volumes of original material. Within these volumes, there are five original songs that include instrumentation recorded on all seven continents. All five songs are compiled together on the band’s ‘World Over’ EP. True to its collaborative spirit, every dollar of streaming revenue from INTERCONTINEN7AL’s music is donated to humanitarian causes, including Stand Up 2 Cancer, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, St John’s Hospice, the International Rescue Committee, the International Justice Mission and the GoFundMe COVID-19 Global Relief Fund.
That story has earned the band coverage from more than 200 news, music and media outlets, including Rolling Stone en Español, Spin, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Denver Post and Earmilk, among many others. The Big Takeover has called the project’s music-first approach one where the songs “speak volumes” despite the scale of the recording feat behind them, while Earmilk described the experience of the band’s World Over EP as “an audio journey unlike any other.”
As a project built entirely on remote collaboration across continents, INTERCONTINEN7AL has no touring plans, true to the borderless, virtual nature of how the band has always operated. With “Lighthouses (Acoustic Remix),” the band proves that same spirit works just as well stripped down to a single acoustic guitar and two voices as it does with musicians recording from opposite ends of the globe.
INTERCONTINEN7AL Band Members:
Matt Smith, Castle Rock, Colorado, USA, guitar, vocals, production
Becca Drayer, Columbia, Maryland, USA, vocals
Marcin Nawrocki, Torun, Poland, bass
Gustavo Prida, Buenos Aires, Argentina, drum programming
Alex Burke, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA, bass, synth
Josh Pearlson, Johannesburg, South Africa, guitar, synths, bass
Jukerok, Cairo, Egypt, guitar, piano
Aymar de Lichtervelde, Princess Elisabeth Station, Antarctica (resides in Brussels, Belgium), guitar, piano
Stijn Thoolen, Concordia Station, Antarctica (resides in Boston, Massachusetts, USA), percussion
Nerse, Chiang Mai, Thailand, violin, guitar, banjo
Tanabata (aka Tnbt), Kanazawa, Japan, drums
Robert James Shoveller, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, guitar
Andrasta, Cleethorpes, United Kingdom, vocals
Miami73, Chambéry, France, guitar
Rousevision, Darmstadt, Germany, guitar, piano
Kelly Wandless, Gateshead, United Kingdom, vocals, guitar
Michael Ahart, Wicomico Church, Virginia, USA, percussion, production
Emily Betz, Columbia, Maryland, USA, vocals
Hope Gray, San Francisco, California, USA, vocals
Jamie Miller, Columbia, Maryland, USA, drums, djembe, cajon
Nereo Paulus, Buenos Aires, Argentina, bass, guitar, vocals, mandolin
Darren Fellows, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom, piano, guitar
Jeff Hobbs, Bexhill-on-Sea, United Kingdom, guitar
Rieneke van Laarhoven, Arnhem-Nijmegen, Netherlands, vocals
David Green, Chico, California, USA, guitar, vocals
Debby Greene, Columbia, Maryland, USA, vocals
Devin Heritage, Edgewater, Maryland, USA, bass
Dale Pearson (aka Dirty D), San Diego, California, USA, saxophone (deceased)
Ben Gaither, Columbia, Maryland, USA, vocals, guitar (deceased)
Ruslan, Chelyabinsk, Russia, guitar, synths
Yaroslav, Kyiv, Ukraine, guitar, drum programming
Hi, Matt! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
Hello all! My name is Matt Smith and I am the founder and band member of INTERCONTINEN7AL. Our group is truly unique in that we are the first rock band in history to record music across all 7 continents, and is comprised of over 30 musicians from 15 different
countries. Our songs “Manor Hill”, “Puerto Aisen”, “Night Shift”, “The Chamber”, and “Butterflies” (available on our World Over EP) are the only original compositions to ever include instrumentation recorded on all 7 continents – featuring percussion and/or guitar from research stations in Antarctica. The band’s music spans a multitude of genres, including alternative & hard rock, folk, pop, blues, jazz, Latin, funk, metal, gospel, trip hop, prog, classical, reggae, bluegrass, bossa nova and even showtunes.
The idea of recording on all seven continents sounds almost impossible. At what point did this stop feeling like a fun pandemic experiment and start feeling like a mission you were actually determined to complete?
While the initial concept of using BandLab for online collaborations was focused primarily on working with fellow bandmates and artists locally in Maryland, we soon began to realize how far we could stretch the concept. After we started getting participants from Europe, South America, and Australia (by sheer coincidence, and not necessarily targeting those specific locations), it dawned on me that it may be possible to get musicians from literally all over the world if we focus on recruiting talent from the remaining continents. I was inspired by the Foo Fighters’ record Sonic Highways, and wanted to take that concept and adopt it to more of an international focus. Once this theme emerged, then there was no going back for me!
Recruiting musicians is one thing. Recruiting researchers stationed in Antarctica is another. How did those conversations even begin, and what did it feel like when those recordings finally came back?
Great question. By utilizing Google, Wikipedia and other open source sites, I tracked down email addresses for most of the active research stations in Antarctica (around 25 or so), and in September of 2020 I reached out to each one individually to inquire if there were any musicians on site who had access to an instrument and would like to participate in our project. Many stations did not reply, or stated that they did not have anyone that met that description on site, but we were fortunate enough to get two positive replies: Aymar de Lichtervelde from Belgium, stationed at Princess Elisabeth Station, and Stijn Thoolen from Netherlands, stationed at Concordia. I coordinated with Stijn and Aymar via WhatsApp, and was able to walk them through how to use the application BandLab.
I vividly remember finally getting Stijn’s egg shaker recording back via a WhatsApp attachment, and then Aymar’s classical guitar intro shortly thereafter. I literally got goosebumps immediately upon listening to these recordings, as I couldn’t believe that I was listening to someone’s instrumentation coming to me from Antarctica (and collaborating with them as well). It was truly a dream come true, and at the same time didn’t feel real. I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure that it was 🙂
INTERCONTINEN7AL includes musicians from countries that don’t always see eye to eye politically. When everyone is creating the same song, does music erase those borders, or does it simply remind you that people are more alike than they’re different?
Yes, this I feel is one of the most important aspects of this project, in that we are all able to find a common ground through making music. I believe that music is one of the great unifiers of modern civilization, a true universal language, and it really does break down these types of barriers. The last thing this world needs is more sources of division, so being part of a band like INTERCONTINEN7AL has been by far the most rewarding creative endeavor of my life.
Every dollar of streaming revenue goes to humanitarian organizations. Why was it important that this project have a purpose beyond making music?
Since our project originated during the COVID-19 pandemic, it made sense to try to put our collective energy towards something positive when it felt like the world was falling apart. We decided to donate all proceeds to a GoFundMe fundraiser dedicated to helping first responders and those that were most negatively impacted by the pandemic. As we continued to make music and release more albums, it was universally decided to continue donating our proceeds to charity, but alternating the fundraiser theme in order to showcase our diverse philanthropic interests. Over the last several years, the band has supported Stand Up 2 Cancer, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, St. John’s Hospice, International Rescue Committee, and International Justice Mission.
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