Reggae survivors UB40

28 June 2008

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The band have now released their 25th album, 'Twentyfourseven' and BANG Showbiz caught up with guitarist Robin Campbell to find out how family relationships are healing, what the band think of Paris Hilton and what they consider the secret of their success?

Q. How's it working out with Duncan as singer?

R. Fabulous. Everything I could possibly have hoped for really. When Ali decided to go it left a bit of a hole, a massive gap to fill, but luckily I had another one hidden in the cupboard, so I got Duncan involved. It's been really smooth actually, he's fitted in really easily, because he sounds a lot like Ali, so we didn't have to change our style or anything, which we really didn't want to do, he's done the job so perfectly and the reaction to the live shows has been brilliant.

Did you consider anyone else apart from Duncan?

He was always the first choice. We did actually consider other people, but that was only if Duncan said no, and when I asked him - which was almost immediately after Ali left - he jumped at the chance. He was actually asked to join the band when we first started but he thought nothing would come of it [laughs]. He thought we'd never get anywhere and he wasn't really interested so I think he's been kicking himself for 30 years.

How did the decision affect Ali and the rest of your family?

I don't think Ali was very happy about it but he hasn't spoken to me since he left. I'm sure it's put the rest of the family in a very awkward position because he hasn't spoken to Duncan either. But we've got a very supportive family, they're supportive of both parties and won't take sides.

Did you know Ali was planning to leave?

We knew he'd been thinking about it for quite a while, but it was still a shock because of the timing of it all. We'd just completed an album which we were really happy with, one which - I thought - has some of the best songs we've done in years. So in that sense, yeah, it was a surprise but he had been making noises for a while but when he actually did it, it just seemed like a bit of an odd time.

Is it weird promoting your new album, 'Twentyfourseven', with Ali on it now he's left?

No, not really. It's a new album and we're just promoting it as normal. The fact that Ali's not here is disappointing, but it's just business as usual.

Was there ever a point where you considered calling it a day?

No. Not at all. Obviously we were all a bit bereft but the only thing we ever considered was, 'How do we continue?' We do what we do because we love doing it so we never gave that a thought.

What new music are you into?

I don't listen to a lot of new music to be honest. My last acquisition was a Curtis Mayfield CD, that's the sort of music I'm into.

Paris Hilton was sued by the copyright holders, Sparta Florida Music Group, for allegedly copying 'Kingston Town' on her hit 'Stars Are Blind'. Do you think she copied it?

That was hilarious. She'd actually been to some of our shows before she did it, she came to a couple when we were in Los Angeles and it just seemed fairly obvious to us that she must have got the idea from there. And, as you know, it's not our song so I don't know exactly what went down but she was sued and quite rightly so I think. It was plagiarism. I think when she decided to make her record she probably said she wanted to sound something like us and then when it came out, it sounded like that.

Would you duet with her if she asked?

Probably not, she's not a great singer is she? She should stick to something else.

You're mainly famous for your cover versions. How do you select the songs to cover?

With the 'Labour of Love' series, they were all just great reggae songs, things that we grew up on and inspired us in the first place. Sometimes you get asked to do things. The Elvis Presley tune, 'Can't Help Falling In Love', we were asked to do that for a film, it wasn't that we were really wanting to do an Elvis Presley song, but then the film people actually decided they didn't want it any more but it then got used in another movie, 'Sliver', and we used it on another album and it just took off.

That's just the way it works, we did the Sonny and Cher song with Chrissie Hynde, 'I Got You Babe' because it was something Chrissie wanted to do, so it varies why you do things.

Is there anything you'd like to cover but haven't yet?

Yeah there's loads, but I wouldn't say, because then someone else will do it. That's happened to us a couple of times. We're going to do another 'Labour of Love' album, which will be all covers, but I won't say anything that we're thinking of for that.

Have you any plans to bring your musical, 'Promises and Lies' to the West End?

No, well it wasn't really our musical. It wasn't written by us and we didn't really have any involvement, it was just done by someone else using our music, which was great, but we don't have any control over it, we gave them some new songs for it - we've actually used 'Lost and Found' on our new album - but that was about it.

What did you think of it?

I've never seen it, we were away on tour. I saw a run through of it before we went on the road but not the finished article. Musicals aren't really my favourite things, I find it a bit strange that someone can be talking and then they'll just break into song.

Why do you think you've stayed so successful?

Because we have a really good sound I think, we play things that people like, we're hard working, we tour a lot - every time we release an album we do a tour. We also have a very strong fan base who come and see us every time, which is a very good place to be because record sales have plummeted across the board, so we rely on our live performances more than ever and we can still go out and sell out wherever we go.

Have you kept the same fan base throughout your career?

We've still got many of the fans that we had when we started who've got older with us, but their kids come along, and their kids, which I think is great. You get three generations coming along to one show. We get a lot of younger people coming along and I always think, 'Where the hell did they hear us?' because it probably isn't on the radio.

What's left for you to achieve?

It's a bit difficult really. We're just happy to keep on doing what we're doing. We'd like to do something in China because it's a part of the world we've never been to. Watch this space!

UB40's new album 'Twentyfourseven' was released on June 16.

by Viki Waters