STAFF

Meet Matt

The fan page represented all era's of BEP. "A Tribe" comes from the original group that will.i.am and apl.de.ap created, A.T.B.A.N. Klann, which stands for "A Tribe Beyond A Nation." "Behind" comes from BEP's first album, "Behind The Front", and "The Sun" comes from BEP's most recent album at the time, "Masters of the Sun Vol.1." So, if you were ever wondering what #ATribeBehindtheSun stands for in our bio, there you go. It is paying homage to where BEP Nation started from.

As the fan page began to get recognition from not only fans of the group, but also the Peas themselves, Matt decided to change the name to BEP Nation. From here, he attended his first Black Eyed Peas concert in Miami in 2021, and was able to meet will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and J. Rey Soul.

Founding and Managing Director

Matthew Willar has been a Peabody since 2009. He recalls watching the Black Eyed Peas on the Today Show, where they performed "Boom Boom Pow" Live. After watching the performance, he immediately found love for the group and started researching their history.

Matt started to venture into other artists when the Black Eyed Peas took a break in 2011. Some of his favorites include ABBA, Madonna, Lee Greenwood, Evanescence, Paula Abdul, TLC, and Bad Bunny. However, Matt says, "no one will ever top the Peas."

In 2019, although he had always been an avid fan of BEP, he started to get more into their music and even made a website dedicated to them. It gained little to no traction, which brought him over to Instagram where he created, "A Tribe Behind the Sun," a fan page dedicated to the group.