A founding member of UB40 has hit out at the Tories, saying the country is in as bad a state now as it was in the late 1970s when the band was formed.
Guitarist and singer Robin Campbell, who has been with the smash reggae band since its inception, is angry that the UK has returned to impossible energy bills, surging inflation, strikes, spiralling pay and looming recession.
Robin, 68, said: “What a horrible thought that after 40-odd years it has gone full circle and we are back to where we were.
“You always tend to think that life is getting better, things are improving and people are getting smarter and less negative.
“It is so disappointing to find out that is not the case. Not a lot changes.”
The UK’s biggest-selling reggae act was born in Birmingham out of the 1978/9 winter of discontent, opting for the name UB40 – after the unemployment benefits form at the time, – because all eight members were out of work.
Early tunes One In Ten, Food For Thought and Madam Medusa ignited a country struggling with high unemployment, Tory policies and the rise of extremism and racism. Alongside tracks from The Specials, The Jam and The Clash, they became anthems of recession.
Band leader Robin said: “Our music is the soundtrack to our lives and we have never been shy about how we feel about things.
“The whole rise of the Thatcher era; we ran concurrently with that. And to be here now and have had Johnson, Truss and Trump and all of that lot is quite depressing. We have not come really far, have we? In fact it is a regression.”
Pointing the finger squarely at the Tories – and a Labour government “that was almost Conservative”, he said: “That is what has absolutely gone wrong with the country.
“The way things have gone and the way the country voted is disappointing beyond belief.
"We have got a desperate winter and it appears nobody gives a s*** about the old and poor people that are going to die as a result.
“Writing songs and singing about it doesn’t change things. People have to rise up.”
The musician also blames right-wing media for swaying opinion. He added: “It makes me very fearful for the future of the country.
Voices aren’t really heard, because of the effectiveness of the machine, which absolutely promotes the establishment view.”
Being vocal about politics now is as important as it was 40 years ago, he believes.
“People... are constantly telling me, ‘Why don’t you just leave politics out of the music and concentrate on making good records?’ As if we never had politics in the music.
"I am still a political writer now and still angry about the same things and will always say what I believe. I am not there to make people happy.
“My lyrics are to make me happy, and I have to be happy with what I say publicly.”
And, publicly, he is calling for cannabis to be made legal in the UK, following US states like California.
The long-term user, who believes the drug is no more dangerous or addictive than alcohol, but who has quit all forms of smoking, said: “If you decriminalise, you take the crime out of it, the criminal element out of it, the gang element out of it and all of a sudden you have a thriving industry that also gives a lot of tax.”
Such a tax could “make massive contributions to national health service,” he says – adding the NHS needs all the help it can get after years of a Tory government which “never wanted it anyway”.
Robin, who grew up in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, is in Australia and New Zealand on a sold-out world tour.
Speaking earlier from Sunset Station casino in Henderson, Nevada, he called out US singer-songwriter Neil Diamond for never thanking UB40 for making him rich with their 1983 hit Red Red Wine.
The reggae version of Diamond’s 1968 love ballad brought the Birmingham group global fame and a UK and US number one, and sold millions of copies.
Robin said: “He has never said thank you once. He earned a hell of a lot of money. It would have been nice to have heard some kind of acknowledgement.”
He is also angry with the 81-year-old for apparently mocking their top-selling version.
Robin said: “He does a kind of reggae version of it now.
"I heard the lyrics that he did and he said, ‘Red, Red Wine makes you feel so
good. Even if the words aren’t understood.’ That to me is a p*** take.”
Even after 40 years, the group aren’t tired of performing the song: “It takes on a whole different perspective with a live audience there singing it back to you. I love playing that song.”
But Robin still rates Neil Diamond: “I saw him perform not long at Glastonbury and he is still pretty good.”
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of UB40’s huge hit Can’t Help Falling In Love, which was number one for weeks and, Robin said, “changed everything for us in the States”.
In 2008, youngest brother and long-term lead singer Ali Campbell left UB40 due to a dispute with management and embarked on a solo career.
With the band’s 50th anniversary approaching, fans are hoping for a reunion of the original line-up. But Robin makes it clear that peace between the brothers is unlikely.
“Ali went off on his own 14 years ago and has done nothing but complain about us.
It is never to going happen. The stuff he has said has blown any bridges that might have been rebuilt. I have not spoken to my brother since he left.
“The person he has become is not the guy we knew. You can pick your friends, but can’t pick your family.” Robin’s other brother Duncan retired as singer after a stroke in August 2020 – leaving Robin the only Campbell in UB40.
Four of the original line-up are still in the band, while four others have been with them for more than 25 years and “new guy”, rapper Gilly, has been “putting in another flavour”.
Robin said: “I am going to keep doing it until I drop. The excitement of playing live shows is still with me. Once you are on stage the adrenaline courses through your veins and suddenly you are having a ball.
“It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how far you have travelled. We are there to have a party.”
He added: “We are garnering new members all the time, so there is no reason if I knocked it on the head the band could continue. I can honestly imagine UB40 going on for 100 years.”
For more on the UB40 world tour, visit ub40.global/tour
