Over the pandemic, bassist Larry Boothroyd collaborated with over 60 musicians in various states of lockdown from across the world to create the 23 song, double LP, Specimen Box II: Remote Communion. The project includes current and former members of Dead Kennedys, Victims Family, Built to Spill, Alice Donut, World/Inferno Friendship Society, and Nomeansno, among others.

The project began when Larry Boothroyd sent Denver drummer Brian Polk the message: “Are you able to record your drums? Wanna start a track? I’ve been trading files with people during this lockdown.” 

At first, the pair didn’t have high expectations — certainly not that this one song would serve as a catalyst to releasing a double album. But after Boothroyd added a bass track to Polk’s drums, the former requested another song, which led to another, and then another...

“The first Specimen Box album took 10 years to finish, and had just found a home on Valley King Records during the onset of the pandemic,” says Larry Boothroyd. “The last thing I was thinking about was starting another one, but the world suddenly found itself with an abundance of free time. When Denver drummer Brian Polk posted that he was going down to the studio to play his drums, I asked him to send me a short, structured drum track. I still didn't know where this was heading, but the last album was an 80 minute instrumental, so I wanted to try something with a more traditional song format. It all came together nicely, so we kept it going, and before long, there was 80 more minutes of material!”

For most of the record, the process of writing a song while all musicians were isolated in different parts of the world went like this: First a remote drummer would record a drum track. Second, Larry added bass. Then the files were digitally transferred to guitarists, keyboardists, horn players, vocalists, and anyone else with an instrument willing to contribute. After these musicians added their parts, Boothroyd mixed them together in his home studio in San Francisco. Soon, enough material was gathered for a proper album. 

The double record is being released by Valley King Records, the Bay Area label that put out the first edition of Boothroyd’s Specimen Box: Four Walls — another double LP spearheaded by Boothroyd that featured 114 different musicians from all across the globe.