UB40 interview - Ireland: February 1982

Brian Travers and Jimmy Brown from UB40 talk about their influences, songwriting and the music business.

UB40 formed in Birmingham in 1978 with brothers Ali and Robin Campbell (guitars) and friends Jimmy Brown (drums), Earl Falconer (bass), Yomi Babayemi and Norman Hassan (percussion), Brian Travers (saxophone), and Jimmy Lynn (keyboards).

In Ireland for a six-date tour, UB40 recorded their latest single ‘I Won’t Close My Eyes’ at Windmill Lane Studios. Named after a United Kingdom unemployment benefit form, Brian Travers and Jimmy Lynn explain that the group took up their respective instruments relatively late for most musicians,

We decided to learn instruments after we decided to be a band.

A vibrant music scene meant that UB40 started out at the same time as bands such as The Specials, The Beat and Dexys Midnight Runners.

We played gigs together in pubs and small clubs.

UB40 have worked hard to get a balance between creating music and making a living from it. Their advice to bands who are offered contracts by record companies is to be actively involved in the process, as

They’re the ones that are being creative, and they’re the ones that should get the money for it.

There is no rule for writing songs however, and contributions from all band members are taken on board,

It’s very much all of us working on a new project which would be a song.

UB40 have helped bring reggae music into mainstream culture. Growing up in multiracial areas in Birmingham meant that reggae was all around them, and the dances organised by the West Indian community were the places to go.

Reggae’s what we’ve been brought up on.

This report for ‘Anything Goes’ was broadcast on 27 February 1982. The reporter is Dave Heffernan.

‘Anything Goes’ was a young people’s programme on RTÉ Television which went out on Saturday mornings. Presented by Aonghus McAnally, Kathy Parke, Dave Heffernan, Mary FitzGerald and Mary Frances Calayco, it was first broadcast on 4 October 1980 and continued for 6 years.