In partnership with DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions
After its hugely successful debut outing in 2022, DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions is back to offer three more unsigned artists the ultimate experience of recording their own original music at Abbey Road Studios.
DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions strives to unearth and support grassroots music talent, with the aim of accelerating the local to global journey of three lucky emerging artists. These three winners will each have the opportunity to record in the same legendary London studios where classics by the likes of The Beatles, Kate Bush, Oasis, Amy Winehouse and many more have been made.
As well as undergoing a professional recording experience at Abbey Road, this year’s winners will also receive guidance and mentoring from gold-selling record producer Hannah V, Abbey Road’s team of engineers and Grammy-nominated producer, DJ and record label executive Jax Jones. The entries will be judged by Jones and Hannah V along with NME’s Associate Commissioning Editor (New Music) Sophie Williams.
It seems like the perfect time, then, to catch up with the initiative’s inaugural winners from 2022 – Mo Othman, Rosie Charles and Kohzee – to see how they’ve each been able to take the next step in their music careers following their individual success with DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions.
Mo Othman
Who: Soulful pianist and singer from south Manchester
Key track: ‘Tears’
What happened next: Mo Othman may have started crafting his impassioned sound in his university lodgings, but being named as one of the DHL FAST-TRACK winners for 2022 upgraded his creative process like never before. “I went from recording music in my bedroom and living room at uni to recording at Abbey Road Studios: it’s crazy,” he tells NME now. “I remember walking in and seeing all these different portraits of legendary artists, from The Beatles right through to Kano. Everyone at Abbey Road was so welcoming as well. When I’m next in London, I’m definitely going to stop by and say hi to everyone, and maybe even write a song in the canteen next to one of The Beatles’ pictures.”
His time at Abbey Road with Hannah V helped Mo turn his new single ‘Tears’ into a song that he likens to a “cinematic experience”. With more new music (including material that’s he since worked on with “producers I never thought I’d be working with”) and live shows on the way, Mo says that the biggest lesson he’s learned from the DHL FAST-TRACK experience is to “never give up on my dreams”.
“You never know where you’ll end up in life, and I’ve got to be consistent with not giving up. I know that many people are rooting for me to do well in the music scene. There were days that I would doubt my abilities, but the DHL FAST-TRACK initiative has allowed me to live and breathe the life of an artist, and I absolutely loved it. There’s no going back now: I’m more hungry than ever, and believe that I will come back to Abbey Road as an established artist.”
Rosie Charles
Who: London-born, Manchester-based soul-meets-R&B singer/songwriter
Key track: ‘Bus Stop Lover’
What happened next: Rosie Charles still “gets giddy” whenever she remembers the moment she found out she’d been selected as one of the winners of the 2022 DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions. “I remember running into my parents’ bedroom and jumping on their bed, screaming with joy! We all couldn’t believe I would be recording my own music at Abbey Road.”
Once at the hallowed studios, Charles then experienced unprecedented levels of giddiness when she was invited to have lunch with none other than Noel Gallagher. “He came and listened to my song ‘Bus Stop Lover’,” she recalls to NME. “I’m a massive Oasis fan, so this was absolutely crazy to me! He said he really liked my song and gave me tickets to his concert – which was amazing!”
Describing how being one of the winners of last year’s DHL FAST-TRACK initiative remains “the highlight of my music career so far”, Charles has since gone on to support Craig David at Twickenham Stadium, line up a performance at the Royal Albert Hall and put the finishing touches to her debut EP.
“The biggest lesson I learned from the DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions is to put yourself out there as much as possible, because only good things will happen from doing that!” Charles concludes. “I had no idea any of this would happen when I applied to the competition, and I am so glad that I did. I had always dreamed of recording at Abbey Road, and it was more magical than I ever could have imagined.”
Kohzee
Who: London-based trio with an equal love for hip-hop and jazz
Key track: ‘Sand’
What happened next: Zirak Khan, Charlie Higgins and Oscar Black’s slick brand of jazz-infused hip-hop (or, as they put it, “home-grown, organic beets”) quickly caught the attention of the 2022 judging panel – not that the three-piece were convinced that they’d prevail in the competition, mind. “When we first found out [we’d won], we thought it was a prank!” the band tell NME. “But when we got on our first call with the DHL team, including Hannah V, we thought: ‘This is a bit too elaborate to be a prank.’”
Kohzee went on to record their latest single ‘Sand’ at Abbey Road with their newfound “mentor and sister” Hannah V, and the band are now hoping to team up with fellow winners Othman and Charles for a special joint gig in Manchester in the summer.
One of the band’s biggest takeaways from the overall experience was the chance to become part of Abbey Road’s storied history. “Knowing we are grassroots artists and yet we are part of the beautiful history of music and culture of Abbey Road, and knowing that everyone that is anyone has recorded here, and to know that we have also tagged our name on that wall of honour, it means the world to us,” Kohzee say. “The blueprint we learned from working with Hannah V has been applied to our next two singles, and it’s given us confidence and empowered us to keep pushing. Working with the best in the business while they’re gassing us up and complimenting us at every step, calling us ‘a fantastic genre-bending trio’, it’s really validating for us!”