SOUND UB 40 almost
Fans can’t help falling in love with UB40, but Robin Campbell tells he nearly turned down the reggae band that has become an international favourite together, because we could not write music.
“It all happened so quickly for us. We had a year of little gigs in pubs and small clubs and stuff just going around creating a buzz and then we did a few shows in London.
“Chrissie Hynde was told about us playing in London. It was our first London show and she came to see us and then came backstage and said ‘I want you to come on my tour.’ And that was it. We went from playing clubs to sell-out shows in front of several thousand a night.
“Chrissie had a number one album at the time and a number one single out and it suddenly blew our audience up to maximum. It was a milestone and it made us realise ‘yep, this is working.’”
It took the band three years though to have a number one hit, but then they brought out their Labour Of Love album and the single Red Red Wine.
“Everything changed again,” Robin chuckles, “we stepped up another gear and just kept going. It was a juggernaut that we couldn’t stop. We actually spent lot of time trying to play it down. We didn’t want to be just flavour of the month so we tried to keep out of the limelight.
“We wanted this to be a career, to have some longevity, not to be just this year thing and never heard of again – as happens to so many bands. We wanted to last for years.”
He adds: “We thought it would last 10 years and it’s now nearly 40 years. We’re not going to stop now. We’re going to keep on doing this forever. I can’t imagine doing anything else.” The band in 1985 (behind keyboard), Astro, Norman Hassan, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer, Ali Campbell – who left in 2008 -, and (in front of keyboard) Mickey Virtue, Robin Campbell and Brian Travers Ali Campbell left the band in 2008 and another Campbell brother, Duncan replaced him and they embark on a major 14-date UK Cities And Town tour next month, including a UB40 hometown concert at Birmingham’s Genting Arena. “We never stop really touring and we played India this year as well,” says Robin. “It was our first proper tour there. We had done one-off shows there and 20 years ago did a Bollywood awards in front of a live TV audience of millions. “I always wanted to go back and we met this promoter who was prepared to do it. We did four or five shows and it went so well they want us back next year and now several promoters are fighting over us.” Robin laughingly admits the deadline for the new album was a year ago, but says touring means finding time to get into the studio has been a challenge. “We spend so much time on the road and there is not an awful lot of downtime. We’ve done all the recording, we just have to finish it now. We’re bringing it out on Pledge Music, like a lot of people now, and for at least a year we’ve just kept apologising to our fans. It’s coming though ... we’ll just decide on a title at the 11th hour.”
A new generation of music fans are now discovering UB40 as well. “We’re not really played on young people’s radio any more, but we get these kids on the front row at concerts and they know all the words. Most of them weren’t even born when half the records came out,” says Robin in amazement.
“It’s re-energising and absolutely brilliant. We get our energy from the audience. It’s a drug you can’t get any other way. The feedback from the audience is like nothing else and audiences all over the world want to do the same thing – sing and dance and have a party.”
Robin, who turns 63 on Christmas Day, adds with a laugh: “We are old codgers out on the road. I love gigging. We get three or four generations coming along to concerts, grandparents and even great grandparents, and half the band are grandparents themselves.
“Concerts are great ... it just takes longer to recover afterwards these days.”