City artists bidding for 'Band Aid' style Christmas number one

A local musician is using his experience with homelessness to "give back", taking part in an 18-artist song which the team behind it is hoping will be this year's Christmas number one. All streaming revenue from the track - 'Always A Home (At Christmas)' - will be donated to the Whitechapel Centre, Liverpool's leading homeless charity and an organisation which 29-year-old rapper Jordan Francis (stage name OTB) says "put me on the path I'm on now".

Jordan, originally from Bournemouth, arrived in Liverpool five years ago after experiencing a period of homelessness. He told the ECHO: “When I first came to Liverpool about five years ago, I’d come from being homeless and my sister put me up for a couple of months. That was all well and good but we’d not seen each other in about 10 years and the situation became a bit strenuous.

"I ended up reaching out to the Whitechapel Centre and other homeless charities, but it was the Whitechapel Centre which was able to contact my social worker and put me up in a hostel on Mount Pleasant. The centre acted as my guarantor for my first private property. I’m now in council accommodation and have been living there for three years.

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"I’ve been homeless multiple times in my life due to growing up in care, running away from homes and other stuff that happened in my adult life, but the Whitechapel Centre were the first people in Liverpool to reach back to me and made me feel like I’m not alone."

Production of 'Always A Home (At Christmas)' has been organised by Primal Live. Founded by Andrew and Samantha Sampson, Primal Live is an organisation which takes unknown musicians on a free-to-join six week development programme before they each go head-to-head in a huge Battle Of The Bands style song contest at Liverpool's Camp and Furnace. During the competition, audience members vote for the winner of each heat before a final round where the winner earns a professional studio recording package.

During their journey with Primal Live, each individual artist is tasked with raising money for the Whitechapel Centre. The initiative has made over £8,000 for the homeless charity to date. Now, the organisation is planning to top the charts this Christmas.

Speaking to the ECHO, Primal Live founder Andy Sampson said: “We came up with the idea for Primal Live in about 2019 but then covid hit and we had to go into lockdown and couldn’t put any events on. I’m primarily a fight promoter - I put on boxing events all over the country. So after the lockdowns were over, I just went back to doing what I know.

“Then, at the start of last year, we decided to have a go at Primal Live. The idea behind it is we sign up a load of novice artists and we put them into a workshop type of environment. They come once every week and are taught about social media, stage presence and all different aspects of the music industry.

"Then at the end of it, we have a song contest at the Camp and Furnace. So they all come in, compete and at the end, the winner gets a recording package from the SAE Institute."

The SAE Institute is a network of colleges around the world that provides creative media programmes. It has a campus in Liverpool.

Andy added: “If I ever do any fundraising personally, I always do it for the homeless. In years gone by, I’ve raised money for Cancer Research UK; by the time I left the last company I was with, we were doing boxing events all over the country and raised over £25m for Cancer Research UK.

"But personally, if I’m ever fundraising, it’s for the homeless. I’ve always thought about a unique way of doing it rather than fight sports, sleep-outs and sponsored walks, which are quite common. No one’s really doing music events, so we decided to do it this way."

During the first Primal Live event back in July, 15-year-old Ava Fitz was crowned the winner, with a special judges’ prize given to Jordan Francis who rapped about homelessness. The second event in October saw 19-year-old singer-songwriter Sam Leyden triumphant on the night.

Since competing, Jordan joined the Primal Live team and became one of the driving forces behind its upcoming single. He said: "The whole reason I joined Primal Live was because they’re supporting the homeless.

"After winning 'Best Original Song' at the first event Primal Live put on in July, I asked to join. Andy invited me along to the second Primal Live, to host the workshops. As a contestant, it was a really special experience and now, to be part of the team, is amazing."

Speaking about the idea behind the new 18-artist song, which is due to be released later this month, he said: “We were approached by one of the contestants on Primal Live who had an idea to do a Band Aid type song where all of us come together to do a song for charity.

“We came up with ideas and decided to create a completely original song. We have 18 artists here and everyone is capable of writing their own songs individually, so coming together collectively is an amazing thing.

"After the last Primal Live event we had on October 6, I spoke to Sam Leyden - who won the event - and JohnPaul Music, who is a seasoned veteran of the music scene. I told them about the song and Sam came up with a chord progression on the guitar and it developed from there."

He continued: "We took the workshop format from Primal Live and made it into a Christmas workshop, so everyone that wanted to be involved turned up every Wednesday evening. We’ve got all kinds of musicians: singers. guitarists - I’m a drummer myself - so we knew we could record it live and record it from scratch - we didn’t need a lecture on it.

“It was an amazing process; week one was song writing so I showed everyone Sam’s chord progression and asked each person for a word they feel relates to homelessness. Then I had everyone write a four line poem about how that word makes them feel, while trying to make other people feel the same way. We had about 10 different artists writing verses at the same time. I went through each one with our guitarist Sam, and we played the melody and fine-tuned the verse.

“The next week, Sam put all the lyrics together into the best structure possible so it all made sense. It’s great to have so many Liverpool artists from all different ages coming together."

Jordan added: “The song is very long - about five and a half minutes - but the way that it is written makes it feel like it isn’t that long and you keep listening. When you have 18 artists all contributing musically to the same song, it’s going to extend its length."

All the streaming revenue from the song goes directly to the Whitechapel Centre. However, Andy said: "Because streaming revenue is such a small percentage, as we put the song out on social media and began campaigning, we attached a JustGiving link, so anyone who wants to donate directly can go onto our JustGiving page and do it there, with the money going directly to the charity."

Jordan said that the song's aim is to be Christmas number one this year. He continued: "That’s the main goal for this song. It’s a very special song with a very special message. It’s not just a song for the homeless and raising money for charity; it’s also a song with local artists who have come together to put Liverpool back on its place as the city of music. Liverpool was once the most bustling city in the world for music and that is what the city embodies.

“I’m not from Liverpool, but from an outside perspective there is a very big stereotype about Liverpool which is so wrong and needs to be rectified. I feel as though this song is going to do for Liverpool what has been needed for years."

To donate to Primal Live's fundraiser for the Whitechapel Centre, click here.