ShareRobin Campbell, (seen here in the centre), guitarist and songwriter with English reggae band UB40 chats with Kevin Cooper about the possibility of recording with Stevie Wonder, his ideal Christmas, their latest album UB45 and their 2024 45th Anniversary Tour of the UK.
Robin Campbell is a guitarist and songwriter with English reggae Band UB40.
Formed in 1978 in Birmingham, the band has had more than fifty singles in the UK singles chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times. They have sold more than 70 million records worldwide.
The original band members were Ali Campbell, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer, Yomi Babayemi (who left in 1979), Norman Hassan, Brian Travers, and Jimmy Lynn (who also left in 1979). Robin Campbell was invited to join the band after buying a guitar, he joined them in their jamming sessions.
The eight musicians decided to form a band and they called themselves UB40, a reference to an attendance card issued to claimants of unemployment benefits from the UK government.
There were a few changes to the band line-up with the inclusion of Mickey Virtue and Astro, but in the main for thirty years the line-up was stable. However, in 2008 Ali Campbell left the band followed by Mickey Virtue soon after, and Astro also left in 2014.
New band members include Laurence Parry, Martin Meredith, Matt Doyle, Ian Thompson, Gilly G and Jahred Gordon.
Whilst busy touring Robin Campbell took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Hi Robin, how are you?
Hi Kevin, I’m alright thanks mate, how are you?
I’m very well thank you, and I am just proving to you that you can’t avoid me and that you can’t hide from me (laughter).
Believe me. I’m trying (laughter).
Before we move on, let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
It’s not a problem mate, you and I always have a great time whenever we get to do this.
We do but let’s try to stay on track today (laughter).
Okay point taken (laughter).
And I have to ask, just how is Duncan?
He’s fine, physically you would never know that he had had a stroke, you just wouldn’t know. He doesn’t walk funny, he doesn’t talk funny, there is no drop in his face, or anything; you would never really know. Having said that, he doesn’t have the confidence that he used to have, which is the reason why he decided to stop. He just didn’t want to let anybody down, bless him. He was struggling trying to remember the lines of the songs. I sat with Duncan in the studio for a few months going through songs and things, and I have to say that personally, I thought that he was up for the job. I thought that he was doing a great job.
We set up an autocue so that he could follow the lyrics, just like the rest of us had been doing for many years. Let’s be totally honest and say that people are always forgetting lyrics (laughter). We have had that literally for years as a tool, but Duncan just decided that he wasn’t up for it anymore. He’s fine, he is really well, he is just like the old Duncan, and he seems to spend a lot of time playing snooker (laughter).
We have to talk about the current tour. I understand that you are recently back from Australia and New Zealand, how did it go down there?
Brilliant, it really was brilliant. We literally got some of the best reviews that we have ever had which is testament to just how good the band is sounding at the moment. The new people that we have got on board have given us a new lease of life, as Duncan did when he came onboard, some sixteen years ago now. But I have to say that it is even more so now with Matt Doyle, who is brilliant, who just fits in beautifully, and who is now writing songs. We also have a new guy on keyboards, Jahred Gordon from Jamaica, who has played with all manner of people, and we nicked him from Maxi Priest’s band (laughter).
When Maxi played with us, we became mates, and as they say, the rest is history and Jahred bless him, offered himself up (laughter). And I have to say that he is a very talented boy. He really is making a big difference, especially live. He played on our last record but the difference that he makes playing live is amazing. Plus, we have Gilly G of course, who has taken over the job that Astro was doing. And we also have Matt, my son, who is now on-stage doing backing vocals. So, that’s four new guys as well as the four old guys. We have had the horn section for some thirty years, and I have to say that we currently appear to be firing on all cylinders. And as I said, we have received the greatest series of reviews that we have seen in a very long time.
On the 9th November you played the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham. I have to ask, just how special are the Birmingham shows?
I have to be totally honest with you and say that the Birmingham shows are always special. It’s our home gig isn’t it, it’s always special. Last summer we played a home coming show, in Moseley because we hadn’t played in Moseley for donkey’s years. We were asked by the people who put the Mosley Jazz Festival together if we would do a show in the same venue, in the same location, in Moseley Park which is a private park. You have to be a resident of Moseley in order to be allowed into the Park. So, by way of celebrating 45 years they asked us if we would play a gig for them in Moseley, which we did, and I have to say that it was brilliant.
It was packed of course, and I have to say that it is always great to back in Birmingham, it is always wonderful, but I do have to say that it is also loaded with pressure and stresses because it is all friends and family (laughter). I always get a hundred phones calls before we play in Birmingham, saying “can you get me on the guest list” simply because everybody is trying to get tickets for friends and family. It’s hard because tickets are always very limited. In fact, we always find ourselves buying tickets off the promoters so that we can get more people in (laughter). So yes, the Birmingham gigs are great, but it is stressful leading up to the actual gig. Having said that, it is always fantastic whenever we play in Birmingham because its home you know and we are treated like home-coming heroes every time.
I have personally seen you play at Rock City, the Royal Concert Hall and the Motorpoint Arena here in Nottingham, so I have to ask, do you enjoy your time spent here in our fair city?
Yes, I do, and here we are playing the arena once again. Most of my sightseeing was done back in the early days but I have to say that I have noticed just how much Nottingham has changed over the years. Generally, I see airports, the insides of buses, the inside of venues, and the inside of hotels (laughter). It is as cold as that really. That’s just what touring is. However, you do it for the gigs, not for a holiday. Its work but it doesn’t feel like it. I have to own up and say that I personally find the travelling to be exhausting, serious, and stressful of course. It is exhausting but you do it for the shows and it is the shows that make everything worthwhile. It’s the shows that make us keep doing it really.
You have briefly mentioned the last album UB45. Were you happy with the fan’s reaction to the album?
Absolutely, it gave us our first top five album for years. The album also contained a special track for our blues fans, the Birmingham City fans, out there, which went straight to number one in the download chart, and I have to say that the reaction to the album really was fantastic. The thing is that we have had Matt Doyle with us for the past three years and I have to say that the fan’s reaction to him has been absolutely brilliant. The thing that fans say whenever you meet them after a show is how good he sounds singing the old stuff, singing the classic UB40 tracks, the tracks that the fans come to hear. They just love how he sounds singing those tunes.
As you know, Matt is a raging UB40 fan; he grew up on the music, he has been singing those songs since he was a toddler, he just fits in so well and sounds so good, so for us that was half the idea with the album. We wanted to show everyone who hadn’t been to see us live, just how good he sounded singing those old tunes, the classic UB40 tunes of the 80s. That’s the reaction that the fans have given us; they have been overwhelmingly supportive of Matt as a singer. As you know, the other half of the album is new material, and a couple of those songs Matt Doyle wrote as well. So, as you can see, he is contributing in every way.
Plus, he also brings youthful good looks to the band (laughter).
(Laughter) absolutely.
I have to say that I loved what you did with Brenton Wood’s 1967 track Gimme Little Sign. I thought that was fantastic. It’s an old youth club favourite from back in the day.
Absolutely, I still have the 7” vinyl from, as you rightly say, 1967. I have always loved that tune, and ironically it has always been on my list of songs to do. I’m sure that I have told you before that the list that I compiled for the original Labour Of Love album, was about two hundred songs long, and basically they were all from my personal record collection (laughter). Having said that, we all had a shared memory of all of those songs. I had a list of songs that we have dipped into over the years, for the Labour Of Love series, but then occasionally we would do a couple of covers as well. Matt actually came to me and said, “I have heard this brilliant song on YouTube, its great and I think that we could do a brilliant version” (laughter).
When he told me what it was, I was totally dumbfounded because obviously it was recorded twenty odd years before he was born, and I was just shocked that he had picked that tune, and it was in my record collection (laughter). I told him that track had been on my list of songs to cover because I thought that we could do a brilliant version as well. He said, “that’s brilliant, can we do it then” (laughter). And that was it, it seemed like karma. So that became one of the songs that we were going to cover together with Bill Withers’ Hope She’ll Be Happier from 1971. The Bill Withers track was also a little weird as well because it is one of Jimmy Browns favourite tunes (laughter).
It is Jimmy’s favourite Bill Withers tune, and again Matt said, “do you know that one by Bill Withers, I’d love to cover that” (laughter). It was just really weird that his taste in music coincides so much with ours. These are obviously again, all songs that were recorded a long time before he was around so, it’s wonderful that Matt is finding these tunes and suggesting that we could cover them.
Whenever anyone comes to you with a potential cover, does that have to go to the committee or is it down to your good self?
(Laughter) you should know by now that we do everything by committee really (laughter). We are the most democratic band, that’s why everything takes too long; we discuss, then argue. I have in the past put together lists of songs for the Labour Of Love series, every time I always go back to my list, select tunes and say, “what do you think of these” and occasionally, if they don’t work, don’t get me wrong the band will always try them, but if we don’t think that it is working, or we are not doing it justice, then we will drop it. But I have to say that doesn’t happen very often. Generally, whatever is on my list, the guys do a good job covering it.
Just like when I am putting a set list together for tours they might have the odd comment or the odd suggestion, but basically, they leave me to it without much complaint because they know that I have been doing it for a long time and they trust me to do the job. It’s just like I don’t tell Jimmy how to drum, so its horses for courses. It makes life so much easier if we allow each other to do what we do, which allows us to get things done slightly quicker (laughter). But in answer to your question, yes, the committee is still involved and always will be.
Picking you up on what you said about set lists, just how hard is it for you to put a set list together for a tour?
It’s a bloody nightmare (laughter). When you have recorded three hundred songs or whatever it is, it really is difficult. Obviously, it is very easy to know what songs we have to play, because even the casual fans who come along that may have only bought one or two albums over the years, they have come to hear those songs, songs like Red, Red, Wine, Can’t Help Falling In Love, Kingston Town, and One In Ten; these are the tunes which you have to play. If you didn’t then they would get upset. I totally understand that, and I have to say that I totally agree with it. If I go and see an artist that I have been listening to for years, then I want to hear the songs that I love.
Even if they are going to be playing some new stuff, of course I want to hear the new stuff, but I want to hear the old stuff too. The rule which we have always stuck to is we insist on playing a few new tracks off the new album whatever it is. There will always be a few new numbers, and there will always be the songs that we are expected to play, and then you have to select tunes that you think will interest the fans, or bring back songs that you used to play that the fans love. I am constantly being asked to put numbers back into the set by fans who say, “you didn’t play my favourite” or “why don’t you do this one” (laughter).
So, I am always filing them in the back of my head, ‘so people want to hear Dream A Lie’ and then occasionally we will put them back into the set. In reality you have just got to mix it up, you mix and match, you try to keep everyone happy, which is an impossible job, but critically you must try to keep yourselves happy too (laughter).
In my opinion that is the most important part in all of this because if you don’t keep yourselves happy then it just becomes a job, doesn’t it?
Yes, it does, exactly. For us, it is all about the new stuff. Every time that we make a new album, that is what we are excited about and that is what we want to play to the fans. But, of course, we understand that they want to hear the classics too together with the hits. It’s those hits that got us to where we are, and it is those hits that keep us where we are so of course we are always going to play them. Even when you tire of songs such as Red, Red, Wine, which we do, we don’t rehearse it very often.
Whenever we are in rehearsals for a new set list or a new tour, then we don’t rehearse Red, Red, Wine much, but once we play it to an audience, what you get back from the audience when you play a tune like Red, Red, Wine, you have got thousands of people singing the song back to you, you can’t beat that, it really is just wonderful. And then, of course, once again you enjoy performing it. It brings it back to you why you love performing that tune and why they love it.
Is there currently any new material in the pipeline?
Yes, there is, constantly. We were actually talking about that last night. We had a zoom meeting last night and we were talking about material for the next album. Which I have to say I found hilarious because we are still touring this album and will be until way past Christmas (laughter). But yes, we are already talking about songs. Several members of the band have got ideas which they have already been working on with other members of the band. Different people have got different little projects, ideas in their heads that they are currently working on. It will all get bought to the band eventually, and it is at that point that we will all start working on it.
That’s how we do it, we jam together, as a band, because nobody writes anything musically, we just sit around in a studio, having just built another one. We will be sitting in there within a few weeks, jamming away, and working on the next album.
What would be Robin Campbell’s ideal Christmas?
A quiet one to be totally honest with you (laughter). I just love hosting Christmas with my wife having the family, kids and grandkids, that’s the only thing that I like about Christmas really. I hate the fact that it’s my birthday, in fact I hate the whole hypocrisy of Christmas (laughter). Having said that, I love celebrating it with my friends and family. I used to insist on going away on holiday for Christmas, getting away to somewhere hot, and not having to deal with it. But now that I have got grandchildren, I really enjoy the family get together, everybody round one table, all wearing stupid hats, pulling crackers, it’s nice but that is the only part of Christmas that I enjoy really.
And not watching the 1958 Andy Williams Christmas Special?
(Hysterical laughter) no (laughter).
It will be on TV somewhere if you have a look (laughter).
Thinking about it I might just watch the Big Fat Quiz Of The Year (laughter). I do quite like some of the stuff that you get on the TV at Christmas; all that general entertainment.
Out of all of the places that you have performed, which has given you the greatest sense of achievement?
That’s a hard one for me to answer. I hate picking out favourites because it’s like putting the other people down. We just get looked after so well wherever we go, the reaction that we get from audiences is unbelievable. We are so lucky that we can travel the world, go to any corner of the globe, the most remote parts of the world will still welcome us like royalty. We have played, and we are planning to do it again actually in 2026, but we have played all of the Southern hemisphere, all of the islands, Figi, Tonga, Bali, all of those islands and every island that we went to, a third of the island not only welcomed us in the streets, but also came to the shows.
It really was just fantastic and always has been. The Polynesian people that populate all of those islands, including Hawaii, love reggae and therefore love us. We have always been treated beautifully by all of those people. The Māori people of New Zealand really are just wonderful to us. The reception that we have just had in New Zealand really was fantastic. It’s like that pretty much everywhere we go. I personally think that New Zealand is a bit special because they did indict us into the Māori nation back in the 80s which was a fantastic experience and a great honour. So, we are all honouree Māori’s (laughter). So, we get treated more special over there, I guess.
Holland is another fantastic place for us to play because weirdly they also love reggae, but I think that might have something to do with the fact that they like marijuana too (laughter). We really do have a big audience over in Holland. We have probably had as many if not more hits in Holland than anywhere else, even more than the UK. I’m sure that we have had more number one’s in Holland than we have in the UK. We are playing the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks and that holds 17,000 people and that is already sold out. It’s always that way. We really do get treated beautifully almost everywhere we go.
Is there anywhere that you haven’t played that you would like to play?
That’s easy to answer really, we have never played mainland China, and I really would love to do that. We have previously played Hong Kong, Singapore, most of the Far East, the Philippines, and I would love to go back to all of those places, but I really would love to play mainland China simply for the experience. We have played Japan a few times now, but never China. Back in the 80s China was a bit more closed off when we were touring. It would have been so much harder for us to get to tour China back then. I don’t think that the promotion would have been there at that time.
Now that it has opened up, and people are going and touring there, playing shows there at least, I think that there is a chance before we give up the ghost so to speak (laughter). I think that there is half a chance that we may do it, and I would love to do that literally just to say that I’ve played in China (laughter).
When you were growing up, which album would you say changed your life?
Oh man, that’s hard, there really are so many; there are just so many.
Having previously spoken to you about the records that you bought back in the day I would have thought that you would have said 1000 Volts Of Holt by John Holt?
That album was most definitely one of the major albums of my life even though it was considered to be very commercial at the time because all of the strings and everything. I personally thought that it was genius. In fact, I was selling hi-fi and underneath the hi-fi shop there was a record shop, and it was in Handsworth in Birmingham which was, and still is, a predominately black area. I probably sold more copies of a 1000 Volts Of Holt than anybody else in Birmingham I would think to people who were buying hi-fi (laughter). I would use the album as a demo track, when people would be listening to speakers and stuff, and I would put the album on, and everyone would say “what’s this” because it was revolutionary at the time with all of the strings and everything on it.
People just hadn’t heard reggae like that before. They were always knocked out by it and they would always say. “Who is this” and “I’ve never bought a reggae album before, have you got one of those” (laughter). I was selling the album all of the time. People would come into the shop asking, “is there anything worth listening to” and I would say, “this one” (laughter). I literally sold God knows how many copies of that album so, yes, that was a major album for me at the time. I was about twenty when that album came out (laughter). That’s one of them but I mean there is also Where I’m Coming From by Stevie Wonder, which he recorded when he branched out from Tamla Motown and took control of his own music.
I just thought, ‘this boy is a genius’ which of course he was (laughter). He is one of the major recording artists of the 2Oth century as far as I am concerned. Where I’m Coming From followed by Talking Book and then Innervisions, he recorded a series of albums from the late 60s and early 70s and to me they were essential listening. I would play those albums repeatedly over and over again. I would make my little brothers listen to them as well (laughter). In my opinion, Stevie Wonder formed every bit of R&B that followed. But also, African Herbsman when they were still The Wailers, with Lee Perry producing and co-writing songs; that was the album that I bought home to my brothers and said, “this is the future of reggae, listen to these guys” (laughter).
That album really did blow me away. Otis Redding Live In Europe would have to be another one. I’m just plucking them out of the air now; all of these albums were just so special. All of these albums were influential in building my love of music, and I still listen to them now.
Is there anybody out there who you would like to work with who you haven’t had the opportunity yet?
Well obviously, Stevie Wonder. I would gladly chop a little finger off if I could get to work with Stevie. That would be fantastic. I have to say that that has always been one of my dreams. I have heard rumours that he would like to work with me as well. He positively responded through friends, mutual friends who knew him said that they mentioned the idea to him, and he said that he wouldn’t mind doing that. Wouldn’t that be great? More than anybody else, I think that it would be absolutely great to work with Stevie. Having said that, I am always prepared to work with anybody who is prepared to work with me.
If any reggae legend came to me and said, “I want to make a record” or “I want to do a track with you guys” then there is a strong chance that we would say, “okay go on then” (laughter). We all have heroes and if they approached us then yes. For me, The Fathers Of Reggae album that we did, where we approached various reggae gods and asked them to record a track of ours. As a response to the Labour Of Love series, we had been recording their songs, so we asked them if they would do ours, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life working with those guys.
Having those guys sing your lyrics, your melodies, on your backing tracks, really was the stuff of dreams. Working with Robert Palmer was fantastic as well. I have worked with a lot of fabulous people already so I’m not desperate but if anyone who I was in to approached me then I would say yes at the drop of a hat.
Which album do you think that everyone should have a copy of?
To be totally honest with you, any one of those that I have mentioned. They are the most influential artists of the 20th century in my opinion. For pop music people like (Bob) Marley, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles there are certain artists that have more influence than most people realise. Things that they did back then changed the face of music forever. So, I would say any of those artists that I have previously mentioned.
Getting political for a moment, how has Brexit affected you as a touring band?
Firstly, it has made absolutely everything that we do a lot more difficult. Everything now is Visas, applications, and permissions, whereas you used to be able to travel everywhere on one passport. You can still do the travelling but there is just so much more red tape involved, it is so much more difficult, and it is so much more expensive. So, as you can see, Brexit has had a major impact on the whole business really.
On the subject of expense, why are concert tickets now costing well over £100 when pre-Brexit the same tickets were costing £30 or £40?
I have to be totally honest with you and say that expenses across the board have gone up but nothing like that much. I think that some people are just taking the piss (laughter).
To me, it appears that a lot of artists are trying to recoup what they lost during lockdown all in one go, and that simply can’t be right can it?
I know exactly what you are saying, and I have to agree that can often be the case. The thing is, it’s not just the artist. If you remember a lot of promoters went to the wall during lockdown because they couldn’t make any money, and because of that a lot of them now are scared simply because it was such a struggle, and they don’t want to fail. You would think that they would make the ticket prices reasonable, but when they are onto a good thing, they make the prices ridiculous. That’s the one thing that they are guaranteed. If that’s the one show or the one tour that they are guaranteed for this year, if they have got the right artist then they can put the prices up, so they do. It is not necessarily the artists that are dictating the price.
Also, you have to take into consideration the costs; costs have skyrocketed in every way, shape and form. We recently came back from America, and I would say that our costs probably tripled over there. Every single thing, the hire of any equipment, buses, air fares have doubled, hotel rooms have doubled, everything is at least twice, and some things tripled. The costs are frightening, absolutely frightening. So, you have got to charge more; that simply has to happen. But as I said earlier, I really do think that some people are taking the piss. Just look at the price of some Oasis tickets (laughter).
Thinking about the current crop of artists and bands, is there anybody out there who you would pay to see?
(Hysterical laughter) probably, but I just can’t think of anyone at the moment (laughter). That’s terrible. I accept that I am in a very lucky position where generally I don’t have to pay for tickets simply because if they want to come and see me, they don’t have to. It’s a lucky position for me to be in.
On that note Robin, let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today. It’s been fantastic as usual. You take care and I will see you in Nottingham.
Oh, great stuff, are you going to be at the arena?
I am indeed; I will be shooting you as usual.
Well come along and have a glass of red with us after the show. Thanks Kevin, it’s always good talking to you. I will see you in Nottingham.
For tour details go to www.UB40.global
