UB40 Celebrates 45th Anniversary with Album and Tour
One of the most influential British groups of all time, UB40, has sold more than 100 million albums with global #1 hits 'Red Red Wine' and '(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You,' catapulting them to superstardom. The reggae/pop legends are celebrating their 45th Anniversary with a summer tour and a new album, UB45 , filled with new songs and reworked classics. We sat down with guitarist, vocalist, and band co-founder Robin Campbell and current lead singer, Matt Doyle, who joined the band in 2021, taking over for a retired Duncan Campbell, to hear all about it. This is a LifeMinute with UB40.
Transcript
00:00Hi I'm Robin Campbell and I'm Matt Doyle and we're from UB40 and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:10Reggae pop legends UB40 are celebrating their 45th anniversary with a summer tour and a new album
00:17UB45 filled with new songs and reworked classics. We sat down with the band's co-founder guitarist
00:25and vocalist Robin Campbell and lead singer Matt Doyle to hear all about it. This is a Life Minute
00:31with UB40. It's a celebration of 45 years of being UB40 which is I still kind of pinch myself on a
00:40regular basis because I can't quite believe this is the life I've had you know and I'm still living
00:44it. We play the classics you know the ones that the fans expect to hear the ones they've come to
00:49hear but we also try and introduce a few new tracks off the new album plus bring back a few
00:55maybe they haven't heard for a while basically just mix it up but always have a good time always
00:59have a party set so people are there to enjoy themselves and sing along and dance along. It's
01:05the same electrifying show that the guys have always put on now we've got. Electrifying. Yeah
01:10I like to use that word electrifying. Brand new songs off the new album that a lot of people might
01:16not have heard before if they haven't picked up the album yet so exciting so it's good to see
01:21people's reactions when they hear these songs. We are celebrating 45 years which is why it's
01:25called UB45. Part of that celebration is the album we wanted to do some new material with Matt
01:31our new vocalist who's only been with us for three years we've also got a new keyboard player
01:36my son Matt is singing backing vocals with the band now as well and we have rapper Gilly G with us
01:42it's great doing new material but we also wanted to show people how well Matt fits into our sound
01:49you know and how good he sends singing those old songs like Kingston Town and Red Red Wine
01:53the songs that he grew up on you know we thought it'd be a great idea to split the album in half
01:58and re-record some of those old classics there's that half of the album and the other half of
02:03brand new material which Matt has also contributed to with writing lyrics. My favourite track on the
02:10new album is a track called Home. You know I really enjoyed playing that so I can't wait to
02:22play that live. I'm really excited to play Home I've always loved singing Kingston Town even
02:27since I was a kid so every time I get to sing that one it brings back memories.
02:41Playing old classics like Kingston Town and Red Red Wine and those songs kind of come into their
02:47own in a live situation because the audience responds to them so well. Being in front of a
02:52crowd that size you know being on a stage with guys that have been doing it for 45 years you know
02:58it was pretty scary at first but now I feel like I'm growing in confidence more and more
03:04you know every time I step out on stage with the guys and it's that confidence that they've really
03:09kind of you know driven into me and nourished really. I had big shoes to fill but you know just
03:15from being on tour with the guys when they took me and my previous band out on tour
03:20I didn't realise I was learning for the future but you know watching what Duncan would do and
03:27and how he'd get the crowd involved and things like that and yeah I'm just glad that they kind
03:33of you know chose me to fill the shoes really. He's now known as Matt Hollywood Doyle because he
03:40came of age at the Hollywood Bowl the last time we came to America. We believe that he came of
03:44age on that show because he turned into a consummate performer, walked out into the audience and
03:51serenaded everybody. Yeah it was a major moment for him and for us of course. You know my earliest
03:57memories of music is UB40 and just being sat in the back of my parents car and just listening to
04:04a mixtape and that mum or my dad might have thrown together and 90% of it is UB40.
04:11He also comes from Birmingham. Yeah I come from Birmingham. You know he grew up in the same musical
04:16scene that we did. The original six guys that put the band together I've known all of them since
04:21they were 10, 11 years old and some of them even younger. So we grew up listening to the same music
04:26we grew up on the same streets. We talked about forming a band for years and then reggae happened
04:32and we you know that's all we ever talked about was forming a reggae band and then we saw Bob Marley
04:38play our hometown in Birmingham in 1978 and that was really the catalyst that was the thing that
04:45made us decide okay we're going to stop talking about it and do it you know and form a band
04:49and that was what we did.
04:56Well I think everybody now knows that Red Red Wine it's a Neil Diamond song. When we recorded it we
05:02had no idea it was a Neil Diamond song. So the two versions I knew were Jimmy James and Tony
05:07Tribe's version, an R&B version and a reggae version and those were the two that I knew and
05:13the two that we were covering as far as I was concerned but it wasn't until we'd finished the
05:18recording and for publishing reasons we found out that the owner of the song was Neil Diamond.
05:25That was the first time we knew about it so it's kind of interesting.
05:33We were asked to do that for a movie called
05:44Honeymoon in Vegas starring Nicolas Cage. The soundtrack of the movie is all Elvis tunes
05:50but in our usual style we took so long to do it that when we delivered it to them
05:56they said oh sorry we finished the film now and we've done the production
06:01and we've used somebody else's version and as it happened they'd also asked Bono to do a version
06:06and they used He's in the film. So the song then sat on the shelf for six months or so and then
06:13another film got in touch and said that they would love to use it in their movie
06:19and it was the Sharon Stone movie Sliver. It got released we put it on the next album
06:25and again that one went to number one all over the place including America you know so
06:30complete surprise to us. We did know that that was an Elvis tune obviously.
06:37I'm constantly amazed by how good the guys are in the band that I'm in. That constantly amazes me
06:43and constantly surprises me and infuses me all the time you know. I find what my band mates do
06:51inspiring. One of the songs on the new album Say Nothing.
07:01That was inspired by Gilly so it was written by Norman. Just one thing that he kept saying say
07:07nothing say nothing and then it sparked an idea in Norman's head and he's written this
07:12incredible tune that's you know in my eyes definitely one of the best on the album.
07:16So taking inspiration from you know the people around you, your band mates and
07:21just what's going on going on in the world really. Sometimes it's quite depressing but
07:25sometimes it's good as well you know there's lots of good stuff happening in the world as well.
07:28You know I create on my own. I write lyrics you know and I might have a melody but for me it's
07:35when you bring something to the band and everybody else gets involved and you have to you can't be
07:42too precious about what you've done. You have to be, you have to let it go and let the other guys
07:47do their thing with it you know and you have to trust in what they're going to do. The creative
07:52process is what makes the end result of your B40 tune you know. Everybody loves music but why and
08:02what they get from it is always different you know. Some people the lyrics are massively important,
08:07other people don't care what the lyrics are you know. Yeah some people some people delve into the
08:12lyrics and you know and some people just they just want to dance and either way it's great.
08:18You want songs to make you cry or make you laugh or if you just want to have a party. It's just
08:24the soundtrack to people's lives and you know as long as they're enjoying the music in the end when
08:30you come to a show it's about having a good time, it's about dancing and singing and enjoying
08:35yourself you know. Audiences are pretty much the same wherever they are especially for our music
08:41you know. We hate sit-down venues you know and if it is a sit-down venue we get people up.
08:47We pretty much have a singing dancing audience wherever we are and a loud audience that responds
08:52you know, a responsive loud singing audience. That's what we want everywhere we go and it's
08:57pretty much what we get. We don't intend to slow down or or stop you know. We tour constantly. We
09:08are a touring band and have been since we started in the 80s and every couple of years we make a
09:14record. So when we finish touring we get in the studio and we work on new material and as soon
09:19as we finish the album we're back out on the road again you know and that's kind of the cycle that
09:23we've been doing for 45 years. It's what we love you know. As I say we still pinch ourselves that
09:29we've got this life you know. It's an immensely privileged life that we lead. Not everybody gets
09:34to do what they love for a living and we still do you know. Yeah it just means everything to me
09:40you know. I'm living my dream now. It's really beautiful you know. Going to family parties and
09:45things like that and people just coming over and saying congratulations you know. We've seen
09:50how hard you've worked over the years and you know bouncing from job to job trying to make a
09:55career out of music while trying to you know pay rent and things like that. We will do it for as
10:01long as possible. Gathering new young talent, their enthusiasm rubs off on us and keeps us
10:09young or feeling young you know. It's something we love doing and we don't have any plans
10:15to slow down at all. Not immediately anyway. We intend to pop till we drop so to speak.
10:23To hear more of this interview visit our podcast Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast
10:29platforms.