Just before their spectacular show that was to make the audience at Sala Razzmatazz sing along and dance to UB40 classics and new songs alike, we speak to the founding members of this legendary British Reggae band Earl Falconer and Jimmy Brown about a time spanning over no less than four decades and beyond.
(from left to right)
Both joke, happy and in good mood, Jimmy remembers how most of the members of the band met “when we started school [secondary education in the UK education system] together, we were 11 years old”. “Always in trouble”, Earl recalls and Jimmy clarifies “yeah we were, I think most of us got to know each other waiting outside the headmasters office”. Caught for smoking, the band members became friends in school aged 11 ’till 16.
“Then we worked at different jobs. And then, we were all unemployed at the same time. Back, 3 years later…”, Earl continues and Jimmy again clarifies, “and yeah, we all got back together and said ‘let’s start a band'”.
U(nemployment) B(enefit) 40 is born. Widely known where the band took its name from, the moment the founding member themselves share their memories with us and speak and recall those times is another dimension. And we want to find out more. Was it as easy to form a band as filling in a UB40?
“Yeah well it was the punk era as well and so we used to get to see bands all the time”, Earl portrays whilst Jimmy emphasizes ““[The] Specials and all those bands”, but Earl gets back to the initial question and explains “especially a lot of punk bands, obviously a lot of them were terrible, so we just thought ‘oh well, if they can have a go, we can have a go as well'”. Jimmy laughs out loud when Earl reveals “we used to do … like … punk, you know? Like .. a warm-up, we used to do a punk tune”.
But for the boys it was Reggae not Punk. Not Prog-Rock. Not Glam-Rock. And certainly no glitter, no glitter but ghetto: proper Birmingham inner city Reggae.
“We grew up with Reggae”, Earl reminisced, “you didn’t get it on the radio very often, you’d hear it coming out of people’s houses or out of their cars”, Jimmy illustrates. “Because in Birmingham, where we come from”, Earl describes, there were “lots of people from the Caribbean that came in the 50s and obviously the next generation, so they all wanted to put music up the soundsystems and there were a lot of Reggae bands and that was a big influence”.
But “it was never a mainstream thing”, he continues highlighting the “few Reggae tunes that used to break through … on the main charts [at that time] Top of the Pops [such as] Jimmy Cliff or Althea & Donna, Dave & Ansel Collins, like way back”.
And soon it was to be UB40 themselves on Top of the Pops: “Food for Thought” from their first album “Signing Off”, “One in Ten” of the second album “Present Arms”, “I Won’t Close My Eyes” from “UB44”. The British band delivered hit after hit after hit with their cover versions featuring on their “Labor of Love” albums of songs such “Red, Red Wine”, “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, “Kingston Town”, “Cherry Oh Baby”, “Here I Am Baby”. UB40 stormed the charts worldwide and their cassettes, vinyls, CDs and DVDs may still be found in every good household and spinned at parties and events.
Jimmy recounts “we’ve done 24 albums” and recalling their first album “Signing Off” in 1980 -when the band members were literally in a position to signing off their Unemployment Benefit 40 form- and talking about their version of Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” available on “Signing Off”, he underlines “that was very political … we have always been political. I have always been political. From the age of 15, I was interested in politics”. Earl draws the attention to their song “One in Ten” of “Present Arms” and summarises “you know, 80 per cent of the songs are political, which is our roots … our own stuff [excluding the Labour of Love cover versions] was always being political and moving forward to now our new album is basically very political. … That’s how we’re back to our roots and our passion”.
“You know, we live in interesting times”, Jimmy announces. True, for both: their new album “For The Many” -available for pre-order and due out February 2019- and with regards to the political views they’re about to share.
“Well, they say everything goes in a circle and the world is basically reverting back to where we was in the 70s”, Earl observes and Jimmy optimistically adds “but it is quite exciting … because what would be worse is that everything was the same, where we have a status quo … and we wouldn’t have any change” finding that now “the post Cold-war neoliberal right-wing laissez-faire capitalist consensus is falling apart, which is a great thing”.
Earl calls for an end of “smashing the planet to pieces because you are going to make a profit” whilst Jimmy answers with a call for a “universal basic income where everybody gets enough to live … everybody gets enough to pay their rents and buy food”.
He elaborates on Earl’s previous observation “politics comes in cycles but sometimes there are historic profound things happening and call big changes” and manifests the internet as “the big changer”. Firmly advocating social networking, he explains that “people are connecting in ways that they couldn’t before” … in a way also “building up survival systems for when things collapse” and through this empowerment of people to “finding information out online” he derives at the conclusion that “it’s a powerful democratic tool to use”.
A chance for change, for doors, hearts and minds being opened again towards ideals of equality and collaboration. Equal pay, equal say and running things as, thus being part of, a collective. Equality and collaboration “is what we believe in and it is the way we live our life and it is a message which we [also] try to put in the music”, Jimmy explains.
Back in Birmingham, UB40 is currently in the studio and their new album “For The Many” is due to be released in February 2019 and may be pre-ordered online. “There are different styles, different tracks”, Jimmy tells us, “there’s love songs on there, political songs” in addition to Reggae further to Dancehall-styled songs, which will have Earl on vocals.
Jimmy reveals “well, it’s a 3 album release [really]: the “For The Many” studio album, then we got a collaboration album” and Earl continues “which is versions of those which is on the main [studio] album … with guests from around the world”, “and” Jimmy completes “we’re doing a dub version as well which is just instrumental dub, so all that will be coming together”.
The first 3 track EP “Gravy Train” has already been released in this 3 step style. The single was the first release from the album “For The Many”. The version track for the collaboration album is by the Roots Reggae band from New Zealand “House of Shem” and the instrumental dub version is out too.
Not long before this interview also the official music video of “Moonlight Lover”, UB40’s latest single of the album “For The Many”, had been released.
We look forward to more.
(from left to right)
Special thanks to the UB40 crew
Interview and article by: Ilona “ilo” Kepic
