Easington Colliery Brass Band has reunited with Sam Fender for the soundtrack to this year's John Lewis Christmas advert, joining the North Shields singer on his cover of The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
The cover also features pupils of Fender's former school, John Spence Community High School in North Shields, alongside the brass band, adding a distinctly North East influence to the ad.
Reunion with former collaborators
The band previously worked with Fender on the track "Remember My Name" from his People Watching album. Peter Lawson, band manager of Easington Colliery Brass Band, described receiving the call about the new collaboration.
"It was around late August that I got a call from Polydor Records, and he said, 'It's all hush hush, but would you be interested in doing another recording with Sam?'" Lawson said. "We didn't know what it was, but we said yes straight away."
Sandy Smith, the original arranger of "Remember My Name," was also "involved straight away" in the new project.
Recording in North Shields
There was a moment when it appeared the band might not feature on the track. "They asked us to go down to London to do the recording, but we couldn't get the music organised in time and also get the time off work," Lawson said. "So they said a week later, we could do the recording up in Sam's studio in North Shields. And we did."
Lawson added: "Sam was there, listening while we played, and it was just great to see them all again."
On collaborating with Fender once more, he said: "It's just a fantastic feeling to think that they still wanted the band to be part of whatever venture they were going down."
A historic moment for the band
Keeping the collaboration secret proved difficult, especially given it was for one of the biggest Christmas ads of the year. "On that evening after we'd done the recordings, they did drop a subtle hint that it could be for the John Lewis advertisement at Christmas and a possible single for Christmas," Lawson said. "So we were just, we were just knocked over, you know."
Lawson highlighted the significance for the colliery band, which has been going for 110 years: "Nothing like this has ever happened, probably not just to us but to any other brass band in the country. It's such a massive thing, not just for Easington, but I would think like the brass band movement."
Family link to Easington
Lawson also revealed a personal connection Fender has to Easington Colliery. "[Sam] has a soft spot for Easington Colliery Band because when he delved into the history of 'Remember My Name', his grandma's father, who worked down the colliery at the time, had a short time at Easington, which he didn't know at the time," he said.
"So it was just a coincidence when he chose Easington Colliery Band to do 'Remember My Name' that he found in the history books that he had family links. I think he's very proud of the mining history of his family and being part of Easington Colliery, and that's why I think he's asked us also to do this, you know, so there is that big North East link."
Lawson added: "I hope our association with Sam doesn't stop here. They're just a fantastic bunch of people, you know, so down to earth. Lovely, lovely people."
The band were invited on stage for Fender's shows at Wembley Arena and St James' Park on his last tour. Easington Colliery Band performs this Sunday, November 8, at The Fire Station in Sunderland for a Remembrance service called Last Post, First Light. The John Lewis advert features Kristin Scott Thomas as Gloria, who "adores her grandchildren and desperately wants to feel closer to them," leading her on an adventure with an old toy to remind the kids "how much giving can give back," with Paul Whitehouse as Pickles the Dog.
