For those new to your music give us a little bio about who you are.
I’m James brown from UB40, we are a British reggae band that formed back in 1978 and we have been touring and making records ever since.
You recently released your latest album ‘For The Many, tell more about the meaning, making and writing.
Our latest album ‘For the Many’ uses the phrase of the UK socialist leader of the Labour party, we are supporters of his. But it also means that there are different styles of reggae music on the album, lover-rock, roots and dancehall, with political songs and love songs and protest songs that we hope will appeal to many different people. It took a couple of years to make because UB40 are constantly touring. It was an intention to go back to our roots for this album, reflecting the sort of reggae music that made us want to be in a band in the beginning, with lots of political songs and lots of dub too.
Describe each track in two words.
‘the keeper’, a love song.
‘broken man’, a militant song.
‘Gravy train’ a song about corruption.
‘I’m alright jack’ another political song.
‘moonlight lover’ dancing tune
‘What happened to UB40’ about the bands history.
‘Bulldozer’ about donald trump.
‘Poor fool’ about modern life.
‘ all we do is cry’ about refugees.
You also have a hometown show coming up, tell us where it is, what to expect and who will be supporting you?
We will be playing the Birmingham arena in December with j kioko and gold-dubs.
Will we see any new music at the live shows?
We are playing half of the new album live in the set -font
What else can we expect for the rest of the year?
We are just finishing one of the biggest years we’ve had for a couple of decades. And we still have a show in Mexico and our hometown Xmas to go. We are currently in norther Europe touring.
What can we expect in 2020 for UB40?
2020 hopefully will be more of the same.
What advice would you give to upcoming bands/artists?
My advice to any band is share things equally, that way the band has a better chance of staying together.
What are your socials so fans can keep up to date with you and where can tickets be bought for the show.
Across our socials its UB40OFFICIAL for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud etc. We also have a UB40 app available from any App Store on any device
