Unsigned musicians are being given the chance to harness creative inspiration from the house in which Sir Paul McCartney grew up.
The terraced house on Forthlin Road, Liverpool is now owned by the National Trust, which is giving undiscovered songwriters the chance to tap into their creative spark in the rooms where McCartney wrote hits with his friend John Lennon.
To mark McCartney's 80th birthday in June — and the 60th anniversary of the Beatles' debut single Love Me Do in October — the National Trust is launching The Forthlin Sessions, which will give unsigned artists the chance to visit, write and play music in the terraced house.
His younger brother Mike McCartney, who performed in the group The Scaffold, will help to choose the selected musicians.
“You could hear them [the Beatles] crafting the songs. I would be in another room and would hear them composing,” he said. “Our kid [McCartney] would play music all round the house, including in the bathroom.”
The brother describes the house as proof that “from nothing, you can create something special”.
“I'm proud of my family and the outcome of that house for all of us,” he said.
“If that can be shared with anybody, particularly young people, particularly if they have got nothing and they come here and see they can do something from nothing like we did, then I will be even prouder.”
The living room was described by one Beatles historian as “the crucible” of the Lennon-McCartney partnership, where hits including I Saw Her Standing There and Love Me Do were written.
The National Trust took over the property 30 years ago and used pictures taken by photographer Mike to return it to exactly the way it looked when The Beatles star grew up there, complete with mismatched wallpaper and patched carpet.
McCartney's younger brother said: “I hope some of the magic rubs off on them.”
Despite the decor, he described the family's former home as a “special house”, where their father gave the boys instruments because he saw music as a way out of poverty.
“I was 12 when my mum died and my dad had to bring up two boys so the house was in a sorry state,” he said.
“If you had a bath you were joined by the ceiling because all the paint would flake down. The armchair springs stuck out and ripped our clothes to shreds.”
Beatles historian Colin Hall said McCartney, the group's bassist, would skip school and come back to the house with Lennon to compose while his father was at work.
“I think the living room at Forthlin Road is the crucible where the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership was nurtured and began, that's where it took wings,” Mr Hall said.
He said visitors were often surprised by how small the former council house was. “Because the house is so ordinary, that is what's inspiring.”
Any unsigned music artist in the UK over the age of 18 will be able to apply for The Forthlin Sessions.
National Trust director general Hilary McGrady said: “Our places don't have to be stuck in time, they're here to keep sparking creativity, dreams and new ideas.”
To help inspire the new music, members of the public are being asked to share what 20 Forthlin Road has meant to them and a short film has been released based on a poem called An Ordinary House, An Ordinary Street.
