大象传媒

"You can make a phone sound like a really expensive mic"

Fraser T Smith had an incoming call from Dave Grohl at 2am. The Foo Fighters frontman had just listened to the charity cover of 'Times Like These', a song that would be complete with his vocal. It was a make or break moment for a project that brought together 24 big artists around the world to reimagine the track for Radio 1’s biggest ever Live Lounge.

It's the first song of its kind to be produced this way, with artists on lockdown due to the COVID-19 crisis, and Smith said Grohl had "the faith to wait until the end" to step in. And that wasn't the only first. On May 1st, ‘Times Like These’ went to Number One in the Official Chart, becoming Radio 1’s first Number One. And for the Foo Fighters fans, it’s also the first time one of their songs has made it to the hallowed spot on the UK chart.

The GRAMMY award-winning producer had managed to pull off the seemingly impossible, and not only did Grohl want to grace the track, but he spoke about how much it meant to him, which Smith called “a seminal moment”.

But how do you even begin to pull together 24 artists with very different home recording set ups? The brief was simple, a 'Stay Home' Live Lounge recorded in artists' living rooms (or the bathroom if you're YUNGBLUD), with the proceeds going to support vulnerable people significantly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

The performers were sent a backing track with Taylor Hawkins' percussion, and then they waited to see what come in.

Naturally, he did receive a few nervous messages saying, “is this ok?” and “what is everyone else doing?”, but he couldn’t have begun to imagine all the genius touches.

And if you haven't seen it yet, you can watch the video for 'Times Like These' below, it's just what you need today.

Every time you watch the video, you'll spot something new...

Taylor Hawkins lava lamp, you say?

"I was thinking if I add distortion to that it sounds like that beat in Kanye’s 'Love Lockdown', which is obviously a weird thing to think but that’s what my vision was for that sound."

How about Paloma Faith's incredible set-up?

Smith did message the singer to ask: “How do you look so fabulous? Do you have a permanent film crew based in your house?” Her reply? “I just did it with a torch and a sequin dress”, a hint to anyone looking to up their Zoom game.

The charity cover of the Foo Fighters classic entered the chart at Number 5 last week shortly after being released. And when it came to orchestrating Radio 1’s biggest ever Live Lounge, Fraser T Smith was the only man for the job.

Dave and Fraser T Smith in the Ivor Novello Awards Winner's Room in 2018

Before lockdown, you would have during that iconic performance of 'Black'. Smith co-executive produced Dave’s debut album 'Psychodrama', which went onto pick up the gong for British Album the same night. He also helped Stormzy mastermind 'Gang Signs & Prayer', and 'Heavy Is The Head' (both albums went to Number One) and has co-written hits such as Adele’s 'Set Fire to the Rain'.

It seems only fitting that his next challenge would see him bring 24 artists together during lockdown.

Once he had each artists' part, there was the challenge of piecing it all together. "The technical challenge was fitting it all together. What made it easier was looking at the overall arc of the song and how to get to Dua Lipa’s beginning line to Chris Martin at the end."

Along with the creativity of the artists involved, the other thing that pleasantly surprised Smith was “how you can make a phone sound like a really expensive mic”.

"A lot of the artists don’t have big home set ups, if you are not in the music industry, you think that most artists will have their own studio, but most artists don’t, so thats been really powerful for artists to harness creativity on their own."

This creativity when faced with adversity is something which Smith says is going to be positive for artists moving forward post-lockdown.

"As an artist, you have to create, and with limited resources, people are now having to dig in a bit with how they are going to record, and it’s so easy to do stuff on your phone, it’s great."

Smith said how it's always "terrifying" to reimagine great songs because you are "treading on greatness" but there couldn't have been a song more fitting than 'Times Like These' for the Stay Home Live Lounge.

"It’s almost like taking a sample where you can have a lyric that resonates at one point, and then you flip it to a different time, and it resonates in a different way, you know, “times like these you learn to live again” you can get any more poignant than that at this point."

"For all of us, we are looking at how humanity moves on from this terrible pandemic, and I think all those thoughts go into that song, and we are able to project out something that is really positive, and raise money for causes all around the world."

The video for 'Times Like These', premiered on 大象传媒 One’s The Big Night In. During the show, Dave Grohl joined Zoe Ball via video link up and said how "he got really emotional" when he found out 'Times Like These' had been chosen, calling it "one of the hugest moments in my musical life".

The Foo Fighters frontman said: "It’s a funny feeling because it’s a song I wrote at a strange time in my life, where I was sort of scared, but I was hopeful, I think it applies to today, and to hear it with a new set of ears was huge for me."

But Grohl couldn’t have imagined the chart battle that would ensue, as it was a close call between ‘Times Like These’ and The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights’ all week, but the charity cover finally clinched it, replacing Captain Tom Moore and Michael Ball’s fundraiser ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

Smith has co-written, mixed and produced 7 UK singles, as well as contributing to 18 number one albums, but for 'Times Like These' to make it to Number One, it was especially poignant to the producer who is no stranger to the Live Lounge.

Speaking to , Smith said: “To have produced this Number 1 with the Live Lounge Allstars means the world to me. Every artist stepped up to make this a truly soulful version of the Foo Fighters classic, and I want to thank the incredible Radio 1 team, DJ’s who have supported it, and everyone who’s downloaded and streamed this song to raise so much money for all the charities, in the fight against Covid-19.”