Pro7ect songwriters retreat is returning to Brighton’s Hotel Pelirocco from March 12 – 17, 2017 for another week of musical collaboration—and for the second year running acclaimed producer Andrew Levy will be taking part in the event.
Now in its fourth year, this retreat gives songwriters and artists the opportunity to work with A-list producers to write, record and produce music. The face-to-face collaborations with producers such as Liam Howe (Lana Del Ray/Ellie Goulding/FKA Twigs), Stew Jackson (Massive Attack/Phantom Limb) and Andrew Levy (Brand New Heavies) has resulted in success, with a number of songs from previous events attracting attention from the international music industry.
“It’s a great experience—an eye opener and very inspirational,” says Levy, who is already confirmed to take part in the 2017 retreat.
“Being thrown into a creative environment with people you don’t know is an odd thing to do, but fun,” adds Jackson.
“Our aim is to facilitate creative retreats where songwriters, producers and musicians join forces to inspire musical collaboration,” says Lisa Fitzgibbon, who co-founded Pro7ect with Ivor Novello nominated producer/composer Ian Wallman. “The benefits of collaboration are obvious this year, for example, 14 participating songwriters and artists wrote and recorded 15 songs in four days. That level of creativity would be hard to sustain on your own, but when you get a group of like-minded people together, it is amazing to see what they can achieve.”
The Hotel Pelirocco has 19 individually themed rooms each reflecting a different aspect of Rock’n’Roll culture. Since its inception, it has attracted many celebrity and music industry guests including the Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Scissor Sisters, New Order, Chrissie Hynde and the Chemical Brothers.
For the duration of Pro7ect@The Hotel Pelirocco, four pop-up recording studios are installed at various locations around the hotel. Each studio is equipped with the latest recording technology from renowned equipment manufacturers such as PMC, Focusrite/Novation, Roland and Audio Technica. Participants work in teams led by a producer and write a track a day for four days. The teams are changed each day and the songs are either written for one of the artists in the room or to spec using tip sheets supplied by Pro7ect. Every evening there is a feedback session where teams play the result of their day’s work to the entire group.
“This approach works really well–as can be seen by the successes we’ve had with songs written during previous Pro7ect@The Hotel Pelirocco retreats,” Fitzgibbon adds. “Elle Exxe is recording two of our songs on her new LP and another tack has gone to a synch option for TOWIE. A track written this year is also an option on the next Brand New Heavies album, while singer/songwriter Eddie Prove may include at least two tracks from this year’s retreat on his next album."
Songwriters and artists who have taken part in previous Pro7ect@The Hotel Pelirocco retreats have nothing but praise for the experience.
“It is a spot-on venue and the producers provide a level of knowledge and expertise that can only elevate songs as they’re taking shape,” says C Kowalchuk who participated in 2015. Fellow 2015 participant, Love Lemon, adds, “I had no idea what to expect in the slightest, but it was definitely awesome! The hotel was friggin amazing!”
Details of the producers taking part in Pro7ect 2017 will be announced over coming months. The cost of participating is between £789 and £969, which includes food and accommodation for five nights.
Places are limited and anyone wishing to take part should visit hotelpelirocco.co.uk/hp/pro7ect to apply.
