‘The past couple of years: total mayhem’
Robin Campbell, founder member of reggae band UB40 chats with KEVIN COOPER
I imagine that you are all chomping at the bit to get back out on tour especially after lockdown?
Absolutely, yes. When it first happened it was like a holiday for about the first ten minutes. It was a case of “this is good; I quite like this” (laughter). But, as you most probably know yourself, it doesn’t take long for your thumbs to start twiddling, and everything to start itching. And then when it started to feel like you were being imprisoned. It was at that point that you started to resent it. What people don’t realise is that we didn’t earn a penny for well over two years. We actually got lent money by our promoter out of which we paid ourselves over the last two and a half years so we now find ourselves in debt to our promoter (laughter). In all honesty, I have to say that the past couple of years have been total mayhem.
In August 2021 we sadly lost Brian Travers, one of the original founder members of UB40. How hard was it or is it for you to carry on without him?
It’s massively hard for us to live with the fact that Brian is never going to be there again. All the time that he was ill, we were almost prepared for it. He had a long battle; he was fighting the tumours for at least two and a half years, and we just kept hoping, even though we all knew, we were all hoping that he would come back. We all hoped that at some point he would come back and say, “I’m here guys, I’m all right”. Brian was given the all clear several times and then, of course, as brain tumours so often do, they just kept returning. It’s horrible. The thing is that you think that you are prepared, but in reality you never are. I was quite surprised at how emotionally it knocked me sideways because I really thought that I had prepared myself for the inevitable, but when it happened, I really was quite shocked at just how much it affected me. I still miss him; we are always going to miss him. I think that I have been quoted a million times saying that there is a giant Brian-shaped hole in the band and there always will be. It is impossible to replace him. Obviously, we have got another sax player, but we are not replacing Brian, we are just replacing the sax.
And just how are things with Duncan (Campbell)?
What can I say? Physically, Duncan is in fine shape. You would never know by looking at him that he had ever had a stroke. He’s not limping, he doesn’t have any numb parts, he hasn’t got any facial drooping or anything like that. He looks absolutely normal as if he has never had a stroke. He walks normally, he speaks normally and, as I say, physically he is in fine shape. But he is still dealing with his cognitive problems; his memory is bloody awful. Duncan and I sat in a studio together for four weeks; we went through the songs over and over, we went through the setlist, while we played backing tracks and we sang together and he was singing really great. You would never know that he had had a stroke; he was in fine voice and singing beautifully, but he would simply forget where he was. He would forget what part of the song he was on, or what verse. He couldn’t remember lyrics so we had an autocue for him. But even then, he would get involved in the song and not look at the autocue and he would lose where he was. I just kept saying to him, “just keep going, keep practicing and it will come back” and I have to say that he was improving. Everything seemed to be going all right, and I have to say that I was actually quite relieved, but then one day he just said to me: “I can’t do it, I’m going to have to stop.” More than anything, he was terrified of letting us down. He was terrified of blowing it while on stage and in front of an audience, letting us and the fans down. He was simply terrified of that happening. At that point Duncan said to me, “I’m sorry, I simply can’t continue” and I have to say that he was very upset about it. He came to that conclusion himself, telling me that he felt that he needed to take the time out, to step back, and work on himself and his recovery. That was obviously a decision that we all totally supported and fully understood and that left us with our Plan B.
On the subject of Plan B, once Duncan had taken the decision to step away, how difficult was it for you to find a new lead singer or did you already have Matt (Doyle) in mind?
Being totally honest with you, I already had Matt in mind. When we did the collaboration album back in 2020, we recorded a track with Matt as Kioko’s lead singer. He came into the studio and did a vocal over one of our backing tracks, and I have to say that I was very impressed with him.
We had already done about 40-odd shows with them in the UK and around Europe, and we had all become good friends anyway. When I worked with Matt in the studio, I just thought, “this boy can sing, he has a lot of talent and he shows a lot of promise” (laughter). I actually thought then that if Duncan ever decided that he didn’t want to continue, then this is the kid that I would go to. And that was before Duncan had the stroke.
Has Matt settled in as well as you would have expected?
Yes, he has, he is totally settled. There was absolutely no descent when I suggested bringing Matt into the group from any of the other members. Every one of them said “great idea”. We had at that point all heard him sing on the collaboration album, we had all heard him singing over our backing track. So, that was the new sound of UB40, if you like.
■■ UB40, supported by Don Letts, play Rock City tomorrow night. Tickets: £40 at rock-city.co.uk/gigs