Work Format: Street posters

Thirty years on from the original HELP compilation, War Child’s new release brings together some of the biggest names in music.

Back in 1995, War Child brought together some of the biggest names in music to record an album in one day. The result, HELP, raised over a million pounds for the charity, which had been set up to support children caught up in the Bosnian conflict. Fast forward to 2021 and a label, War Child Records, was set up to re-release four albums released by the charity between 2002 and 2009.

Each album saw artists covering beloved records, collaborating with other artists, or donating new songs. 1 Love was released in 2002 with a track list that included Sugababes and The Prodigy (the latter remaking The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’). The following year saw Hope released, in response to the Iraq War, with exclusive tracks and covers from the likes of George Michael, Spiritualized, Beth Orton and Yusuf Islam. 2005’s Help! A Day in the Life celebrated the tenth anniversary of the original and in 2009, War Child Presents Heroes had a collaboration between Lily Allen and Mick Jones from The Clash and covers from Beck, Estelle and Franz Ferdinand.

Now, HELP(2) is poised to repeat that success. Recorded over one intense week at Abbey Road Studios in November last year and executive produced by James Ford, the project was unveiled via the surprise release of a brand-new Arctic Monkeys track. Alongside original recordings, the album features a run of standout covers, including Olivia Rodrigo’s take on ‘The Book of Love’ and Fontaines D.C.’s powerful reimagining of Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’.

Additionally, there’s an all-star band pulled together by Damon Albarn. Alongside vocals from Kae Tempest and Grian Chatten, ‘Flags’ also features Johnny Marr on guitar, Adrian Utley from Portishead, Dave Okumu of The Invisible, Seye from Gorillaz and Ezra Collective drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso.
 
It was collaborative in every sense of the word. “They were in the studio for two days,” recalls War Child’s head of music, Rich Clarke. “First day, Damon decided he’d really like to incorporate a children’s choir. The A&R team hastily found two children’s choirs and they took the second day to record it. Then on the second day he decided it would be amazing to have an adult choir as well. The call went out, and we had all of Pulp come in, and all of English Teacher. Carl Barât, Marika Hackman, Declan McKenna, Let’s Eat Grandma. Everyone mucked in.”

Money raised from HELP(2) will go to War Child’s work in 14 counties, where they partner with local organisations to provide emergency support, protection and care, education and community support during and in the aftermath of conflict. It also offers a sunny moment in otherwise unrelenting realities.

“For last few years, taking the Ukraine conflict as a starting point, the news has been saturated with violence,” says Rich Clarke. “We didn’t think there’d be war in Europe again, possibly in our lifetimes. The situation in Gaza. Sudan is finally making it into the news and that’s the largest humanitarian crisis in the world right now. There’s a feeling of helplessness, generally. This felt like a positive project people could lean into.” It’s certainly necessary: around 520 million children are affected by conflict, roughly double the number thirty years ago.

HELP(2) visuals were led by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Glazer and frequent collaborator Mica Levi, and the album artwork is now visible across London on poster and billboard sites donated by BUILDHOLLYWOOD and UNCLE. “I’m going to cycle down Camden Road on the way home, take a pic, pop it on my Instagram,” says Clarke. “Doing it as a billboard is a real ‘wow, it’s real!’ moment. That’s the picture you send your mum, isn’t it? It hits harder than forwarding the PDF file.”

How did this work with the children who contributed remotely?
We worked with Academy Films to get crews out to Gaza, Yemen and Sudan, where handheld cameras were given out to children. They filmed their peers just being children. They run, jump, play, climb, laugh, fall over, drop the camera. It’s deeply moving, but positive and empowering. It humanises conflict; it’s not far away or distant. Childhood is universal.
 
Are there any plans to record artists from conflict zones?
It’s something we’ve explored in the past. We’ve worked with musicians around Kinshasa in the DRC and there’s been a talk of a musical exchange with our programmes in Jordan and Lebanon. There’s a desire to do it but we just haven’t found the right way. A lot of musicians here are from backgrounds in the conflict countries we work in, so we’re always really keen to link that up; to tell that story, to shine a light. We’re in 14 countries and only a few are on the news agenda.

It’s easy to imagine that charity sits in a different place to culture. I think that’s a false binary. Is this something that War Child thinks about?
The first seeds of change often come from culture: art, theatre, music. That’s the first form of protest often, the first form of reaction. Culture and charity seek change, serve a purpose, and to make a difference.

Are there challenges in being vocal and active about conflict even when you’re just focusing on children’s experience?
Yes. It is and it isn’t. Like every charitable organisation, we’re politically neutral. There are challenges with some of the more politicised conflicts. Ultimately children are always the innocent victims of war. War is waged for many different reasons and different agendas and we do our best to navigate it. 

The track list for HELP in 1995 wasn’t printed on the inlay because there wasn’t time between recording and release. What else has gone down in your organisational history about that time?
The challenge and the excitement of getting in there and laying down in a single day. Two of the artists were The Stone Roses and Stereo MCs – I think it took them five years and eight years respectively to make their second albums. In 1995 the logistical piece was massive: to record it in the day and have it in the shops five days later. There are stories of private jets, tapes missing ferries – somehow it all got together. It went to print on the artwork before Eno who mastered the album had finished sequencing. There’s no track list on the vinyl this time either, for a similar reason. There was an artwork production deadline – but it’s also an homage to the original. We put a sticker on the front this time.