John Lennon, The Maccabees, The Last Dinner Party & more for War Child's Secret 7" record auction

9 April 2026, 14:11 | Updated: 9 April 2026, 14:12

Artists are invited to submit their record sleeve designs for this year's project, which will be exhibited at 1800 Studios from 18th August to 30th August 2026.

War Child has announced the details of its landmark 10th edition of its Secret 7" Record Auction for 2026.

The late Beatles legend John Lennon, The Last Dinner Party, The Maccabees, Skunk Anansie's Skin, Gabrielle, Glass Animals and Bastille are the seven artists set to contribute their tracks for this year's campaign, which will see artists submit original designs for record sleeves.

Artists have until 1st June to submit their designs to be considered for inclusion in the exhibition, which will be available to purchase via an online auction, which will raise money to support the organisation’s vital work delivering specialist mental health support, immediate aid, education, and protection to some of the world’s most vulnerable children.

The artists’ identities and the track inside will remain a mystery until the record is in the hands of the buyer.

All 700 record sleeves from this year's Secret 7" project will be exhibited at 180 studios from 18th August to 30th August 2026.

Read more:

• HELP(2): Producer James Ford tells the stories behind every track
• Matt Helders talks HELP(2) & Arctic Monkeys' return: “No one’s sick of each other in this band”

The 7" tracks confirmed for this year's project are John Lennon's Out the Blue from his 1973’s Mind Games album, The Last Dinner Party’s Let’s Do It Again! from the recent War Child HELP(2) album, Gabrielle’s 2001 number four hit single Out of Reach, The Maccabees’ 2009 track No Kind Words, Skin’s Purple from her 2006 solo album Fake Chemical State, Glass Animals’ 2016 track Take a Slice and Bastille’s 2022 song Hope For The Future.

Artist can find out more details about the project, submit their artwork and listen to all seven tracks here.

Secret 7” takes seven tracks from some of the world’s best-known musicians, with every song being pressed just 100 times onto seven-inch vinyl, creating 700 limited-edition 7” records. Artists, designers, illustrators and creatives from around the world then create a completely original sleeve inspired by a track of their choice, turning each vinyl into a one-of-a-kind collectible. Previous editions have included sleeves by some of our greatest living artists and designers, including Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor, and Es Devlin.

Across nine editions to date, Secret 7” has raised over £900,000, supporting War Child’s vital work protecting, educating, and standing up for the rights of children whose lives have been torn apart by war. 100% of proceeds from Secret 7” go directly to War Child’s work, including in the Middle East where an estimated 102 million children are at risk due to the escalating violence. War Child and its local partners are mobilising to reach as many of these children as possible with life-saving emergency assistance, protection, and mental health first-aid.

Speaking about this year’s tenth edition of the Secret 7” campaign, War Child’s Fundraising and Engagement Director, Charlotte Nimmo says; "All of us at War Child are incredibly excited to be announcing the return of Secret 7” for its tenth edition. This year we’ve got some incredible tracks from some of the biggest names in music, all to help raise funds for War Child's work. Right now over 520 million children have had their lives impacted by conflict worldwide. The need has never been so great and it is increasing daily. We hope that, through this creative endeavour, we can offer music and art fans something truly unique to take home that brings them joy when they see and listen, and know that they helped have a tangible impact on children's lives in the process.”

The news comes after War Child Records released their charity record HELP(2) in March.

The collaboration - which included contributions from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Wet Leg, Pulp, English Teacher, Depeche Mode, Wolf Alice's Ellie Rowsell , Damon Albarn and Fontaines D.C. - is available to stream now.

Read more:

• What's the best indie compilation album?

Recorded predominantly across one week in November 2025, the record which "carries forward the spirit of the original" HELP album was formed under the stewardship of acclaimed producer James Ford and was brought to life through a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios.

HELP(2) also includes contributions from Anna Calvi, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers.

In addition to the musicians taking part, renowned filmmaker and Academy Award Winner Jonathan Glazer acted as Creative Director for HELP(2), working with Academy Films to oversee filming and art direction for the project.

A press release reads: "Glazer and Mica Levi’s concept was simple - “By Children, For Children” - with his team handing the cameras over to children in order to see the world through their eyes and serve as a constant reminder of the reason for the endeavor to the audience and all involved.

"Each child operated their own small camera and was invited into the studios to film the artists recording without any restrictions. In addition, Glazer’s team worked with fixers and filmmakers in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan to gather footage filmed by children on the ground in these conflict zones. The results are a stunning piece of work that, ultimately, connects the album to the children the music seeks to help".

See the artwork for HELP(2) here and pre-order the album at https://store.warchild.org.uk/pages/sign-up.

See the full HELP(2) tracklist here:

1. Arctic Monkeys - Opening Night
2. Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest - Flags
3. Black Country, New Road - Strangers
4. The Last Dinner Party - Let’s do it again!
5. Beth Gibbons - Sunday Morning
6. Arooj Aftab & Beck - Lilac Wine
7. King Krule - The 343 Loop
8. Depeche Mode - Universal Soldier
9. Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng - Helicopters
10. Arlo Parks - Nothing I Could Hide
11. English Teacher & Graham Coxon - Parasite
12. Beabadoobee - Say Yes
13. Big Thief - Relive, Redie
14. Fontaines D.C. - Black Boys on Mopeds
15. Cameron Winter - Warning
16. Young Fathers - Don’t Fight the Young
17. Pulp - Begging for Change
18. Sampha - Naboo
19. Wet Leg - Obvious
20. Foals - When the War is Finally Done
21. Bat For Lashes - Carried my girl
22. Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis - Sunday Light
23. Olivia Rodrigo - The Book of Love

HELP(2) is available to pre-order here.

War Child UK is driven by a single goal - ensuring a safe future for every child affected by war.

Using 30 years of experience and proven methodologies, War Child aims to reach children as quickly as possible when conflict breaks out and stays long after the cameras have gone to support them through their recovery.

War Child works with local communities and governments to help protect and educate children, and support them to heal and learn, for a safer, brighter future. Because one child caught up in conflict is one child too many.

War Child understands children’s needs, respects and stands up for their rights, and puts them at the centre of everything it does. War Child boldly campaigns on the root causes of conflict and helps to amplify children’s voices, so that it can advocate for change on the issues that matter to them.

Together with its partners, War Child delivers vital work in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Every day, its local teams are in communities and refugee camps creating safe spaces for children to play, learn, and access psychological support. War Child also specialises in responding rapidly to emergency crisis situations as they happen, offering immediate and critical aid impartially to keep children safe and help them through their trauma.War Child UK is a member of the War Child Alliance, a global foundation made up of five fundraising offices and 14 programme offices.

The story behind the original record and its recording is now legend: all of the songs were recorded on one single day, Monday 4th September 1995, mixed the following day, and released to the buying public a few days later, on Saturday 9th September. The idea to record in 24 hours came from John Lennon, who, when discussing his 1970 record ‘Instant Karma’ said that records should be like newspapers, reflecting events as they are happening.

‘HELP’ sold over 70,000 copies on day one and reached No.1 in the UK compilation charts and would have reached No.1 on the UK albums chart had it been eligible. Following its release, the record won both a specially created BRIT Award, collected by Thom Yorke, and a Q Award to recognise its impact. It was also nominated for the 1996 Mercury Prize; Pulp won that year with ‘Different Class’ but donated the prize fund to War Child.

HELP(2) is available to pre-order here.

Read more:

• Arctic Monkeys on The Car album: "We're still listening to the same instinct we were in 2005"
• The story of Arctic Monkeys' When The Sun Goes Down and why it's the band's bleakest song to date