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Taking the rap: Busta Rhymes will star at the first British RockCorps concert

On a roll: volunteers get down to work at the former Lilian Baylis school site

Shady character: Maxwell Drummey

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Work your ticket to see the stars

Over the years I've blagged many gig tickets and even paid for them once in a while, but I've never had to do an afternoon of DIY in exchange for a seat at a concert. All that changed this week when I signed up to Orange RockCorps, an initiative imported from the US along with some bracing American can-do attitude.

It is described as a “pro-social music production company” but it's essentially a scheme that uses music to encourage a new generation of volunteers. The deal is simple and, given the cost of tickets these days, obviously appealing for teenagers. Register online and you can choose a project from dozens around the country. In return for four hours' work you get a ticket for a gig on 26 September that's not on sale to the public.

The first concert is at the Albert Hall and features Busta Rhymes, who has already been involved in food projects for the homeless in the US and may even roll up to a community centre over here. Guillemots have just joined the US rapper on the bill — and they will be getting into the spirit by planting trees next week.

“As a society, maybe laziness and apathy are creeping in more and more,” says the group's singer Fyfe Dangerfield. “I really like the idea of the audience putting in a few hours' work rather than paying some money. There are going to be a lot of kids who maybe couldn't afford to go to the Albert Hall who will be able to now.”

I opt for a local project at the Lilian Baylis old school site in Lambeth, where the charity Sport Action Zone provides sporting and educational programmes for excluded youths. When I arrive, there are 75 volunteers and we're all given a wristband, name badge and T-shirt and divided into groups and given a pep-talk. The sudden prospect of a bonding session concerns me, but it's pretty painless as we huddle together in a group hug.

Then it's time to get to work cleaning, sanding, varnishing and painting some tatty old classrooms and, within minutes, there's an extraordinary buzz — it's as if everybody's known each other for years. I meet 16-year-olds who heard about it on the radio and twentysomethings who saw adverts on Facebook, as well as a 38-year-old corporate lawyer and an unemployed 29-year-old aiming to train as an actor.

Talk turns to the concert, and I try to explain Guillemots' sound to a Busta Rhymes fan while dodging people in protective paper suits who are carrying trays of yellow paint. “It's chaos, because it's a four-hour project,” coordinator Tris Spencer, 28, tells me. “It's like Changing Rooms.”

What's curious, though, is that no one says they are there just for the gig ticket. Instead, the music element seems to have made volunteering a bit more relevant for young people (although there are no age restrictions). It's worked in the US with 35,000 volunteers since 2005 and concerts featuring Kanye West, Kelis and Panic at the Disco.

Crucially, 35 per cent of those who volunteer develop a habit for it. “I've never done anything like this before,” says Natz Patrick, 27, a singer and surveyor from Norbury.

Although this is the first of a few days' work, the transformation of the site in four hours is astonishing, with old classrooms now brightly decorated. At the end of the day, there's a thank you from the RockCorps team and everyone queues up in their paint-splattered T-shirts and exchanges their wristband for their gig ticket.

“Everyone in our group will sit together at the Albert Hall,” explains 19-year-old project coordinator James Gunn. “So it will be a big reunion.” I'll be there, too — I earned it.
www.orangerockcorps.co.uk

My night with Mr Peaches
So Peaches Geldof has married her nascent rock star boyfriend, guitarist Maxwell Drummey of Chester French. I happened to be at the first night of the iTunes Festival last month, where Peaches was presenting the TV coverage and Chester French were the opening band. Presumably someone is now sifting through footage to see if Peaches's interview technique has any of the on-screen sizzle of her mother's infamous probing of Michael Hutchence.

It was the American band's first UK gig, so Peaches and I are in the tiny minority who have actually experienced them. They are signed to Pharrell Williams's label and were supporting his band N*E*R*D. I was expecting a hip-hop act, but it turned out that Chester French were an over-excitable bunch steeped in classic rock that even Sir Bob would consider a bit passé.

But perhaps I misjudged them. There is no album out yet, but their four tracks on MySpace are memorably quirky, with some of Mark Ronson's retro stylings and shades of The Beach Boys and The Zombies. Their song, The Jimmy Choos, will get plenty of attention for its saucy lyrics about French maid outfits, while She Loves Everybody seems to be aimed — presciently, perhaps — at a troublesome little rich girl.

At least Peaches picked the coolest member, though. Maxwell wore shades throughout the band's set and apparently kept them on during their Vegas wedding, too.

 

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