\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tArctic Monkeys<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoebe Fox*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tArctic Monkeys have their own relationship with War Child going back to 2018, when they played a show at the Royal Albert Hall and donated the proceeds to the organization. A live album from that concert, released two years later, yielded even more funds for children affected by war. \u201cI think we\u2019re just shy of \u00a31.5 million from the show and the record,\u201d Clarke says.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen the band met up at Abbey Road toward the end of 2025, it was their first time together in a studio in a few years. They decided to revisit an unfinished song that Turner had been toying with for more than a decade; Helders estimates that it first surfaced \u201cin Joshua Tree, when we used to record out there.\u201d (Dedicated Monkeys scholars can deduce that it probably entered the picture during the sessions for 2009\u2019s Humbug<\/a><\/em> or 2013\u2019s AM<\/a><\/em>, both partially recorded in the California desert.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe never got to scratch the itch of completing this song,\u201d Helders says. \u201cIt was just one of those that wouldn\u2019t go away in his head, I think. There was never a full version of it. We\u2019d jam it out and try to write parts for it. It never got over the finish line, but it was too good to just leave alone.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tNow, they tried taking another run at \u201cOpening Night\u201d in the style they\u2019ve evolved into on later albums like Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino<\/a><\/em> and The Car<\/a><\/em>. \u201cAnd it just worked,\u201d Helders says. \u201cIt\u2019s different to what it was going to be if we did it 10, 15 years ago, but we were all really happy with it\u2026 It\u2019s almost like this song was waiting until we were good enough to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe rest of the HELP(2) <\/em>sessions, the bulk of which took place over three days at Abbey Road, featured some other familiar faces, too. Back in 1996, when Pulp won the Mercury Prize for their era-defining album Different Class<\/em>, they donated their winnings to War Child, feeling that The Help Album<\/em> <\/em><\/strong>ought to have won instead. Three decades later, Jarvis Cocker and company stepped up to contribute a characteristically droll rocker called \u201cBegging for Change\u201d to the new project.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tDamon Albarn<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe original Help<\/em> album, released at the height of the Britpop craze, included an instrumental track from Blur. This time, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon dropped by Abbey Road to sit in with the indie band English Teacher, while Albarn teamed up with Chatten and rapper Kae Tempest to polish off a new song called \u201cFlags.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was quite major chords, which is unusual for me,\u201d the Blur\/Gorillaz singer tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cSo when conversation of War Child came, I thought it was quite a good thing to present as an idea.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlbarn is a fan of both Chatten and Tempest, calling them both \u201chuge talents,\u201d and he was delighted to form an impromptu trio with them in the studio. \u201cFlags\u201d wound up featuring guitar from Johnny Marr, Portishead\u2019s Adrian Utley, and Dave Okumu, as well as backing vocals from Cocker, Bar\u00e2t, Declan McKenna, Marika Hackman, the members of Black Country, New Road, and several other musicians who were around that day.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe did it all together, like a band,\u201d Albarn says. \u201cWhen you do music for charity, it can be a bit trite somehow. But I don\u2019t think we got distracted by that sense of, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re doing a charity record.\u2019 We all just enjoyed recording together in Abbey Road.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAll of this action was recorded on hand-held cameras wielded by a crew of grade-schoolers that Glazer, the filmmaker behind The Zone of Interest<\/em> and Under the Skin<\/em>, sent to Abbey Road to document the sessions. \u201cIt\u2019s to tell the story through the eyes of children,\u201d Clarke says. \u201cAt one point, they\u2019d be sat next to Damon on the piano stool, or sticking a camera up Jarvis\u2019 nose in the vocal booth in Studio Three.\u00a0It had a wonderful effect on the atmosphere, because once you\u2019ve got kids running around, it just takes the stress away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\n\t\tComing Full Circle<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n
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