After four years, Arctic Monkeys reunited to be a part of “HELP(2),” a charity album that helps children who are in war zones.
The first “HELP” album came out in 1995, featuring artists such as Oasis, Blur and Radiohead. It raised $1.6 million and with that, War Child, a nonprofit organization that helps children in war-conflicted areas, was able to build a music center in Mostar, Bosnia, which utilized music therapy to help support children distressed from all sides of the conflict.
War Child UK was founded by David Wilson and Bill Leeson in 1993 and collaborated with social entrepreneur Willemijn Verloop. They were horrified by the Bosnian conflict, which was a terrifying global conflict following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence from Yugoslavia. Thus, they wanted a way to get funding so they could protect, educate, aid with mental health and stand up for the rights of children.
“HELP(2)” was made to aid the extreme problems and conflicts happening now in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and many more. Producer James Ford helped put together this album and chose artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines D.C., Pulp, Beabadoobee and many more. Although there were other artists that Ford wanted in the album, they said it would be “too political” to contribute to the album.
“Everything feels very scary and politicized at the minute,” Ford said in an interview on March 5., with NME. “But helping children in war zones is a fairly apolitical and uncontroversial thing.”
Arctic Monkeys’ song that’s featured in the charity album is “Opening Night.” Originally, the song was a demo written during the band’s 2013 era for their AM album but since it wasn’t released, they decided to finish it and add touch-ups for “HELP(2).” When the band was selected for the album, they knew they had to do it because of the conflicts that were happening all around the world and not just for the love of music, uniting them.
“We are proud to support the invaluable work War Child does and hope the record will make a positive difference to the lives of children affected by war,” Arctic Monkeys said in an interview with That Epic Alper.
Pulp’s song that was written for the album is called “Begging for Change,” which was originally for their latest album, “More.” The song has a backing chorus with musicians Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest and Carl Barat. Before Pulp contributed to this album, they donated the $33,552 they got from winning the Mercury Music Prize in 1995 to War Child UK, helping with the first “HELP” album.
