UB40’s Matt Campbell on growing up around reggae legends
UB40. // photo courtesy the artist
British reggae act UB40 has been plying their electric and energetic brand of music for over 45 years at this point, and they show no signs of stopping. Best known for their covers of songs such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Red Red Wine,” along with original smashes such as their debut single, “Food for Thought,” UB40’s music is ubiquitous to this day.
The band hits the Uptown on Tuesday, September 16, and we hopped on Zoom with the band’s Matt Campbell who, in addition to his duties as backing vocalist and running the management company with which UB40 works, is the son of founding guitarist Robin Campbell. We talked about growing up with the band and his recent role as member, in addition to UB40’s enduring legacy.
The Pitch: What is it like being part of a band that has such a lengthy legacy at this point?
Matt Campbell: Well, obviously for me, I’m newer into the fold. I’ve obviously been around the band my whole life, being Robin’s son, part of the UB40 family. But the band, it’s 47 years now, even though we’re celebrating the 45th year with the album and the tour, et cetera. It’s just a testament to the band’s endurance and I suppose also the way that the band’s evolved with the lineup changes.
Obviously, we’ve had a few lead singers and then me coming into the fold. We’ve got Jared [Gordon] as well, our keyboard player. Things just keep moving. But I suppose, really, the band retains the essence of the original lineup. We’ve still got four out of five of the surviving founding members in the lineup. It’s basically the rhythm section and also the original lyricists.
How is it for you, getting to be in a band with your dad?
I didn’t grow up thinking, “Oh, I’m gonna join the band one day.” It was the last thing that I thought, to be honest and it’s lovely. It’s a real honor to share the stage with not only my dad, but everyone is–they’re like my uncles, you know? I also manage the guys, as well. I just love it, to be honest. I think I’m very, very lucky to be a part of it.
I was al already very lucky just being born into reggae royalty, really but yet, to be part of the band now, it’s a pinch me moment all the time. I think all everybody in the band does that. We realize that we’re very lucky to be able to do what we do. For the guys that have done it for 47 years, I don’t think they can quite believe that they’re still still doing that this long.
You and Jared are both very recent additions to the band, starting in 2023. How did the two of you end up becoming part of the band? As you said, it wasn’t something you ever really thought of or considered.
As management, we brought him in just because we had a change in personnel at that time. For myself, it actually happened when Matt Doyle was joining the lineup after Duncan Campbell, vocals, had a stroke during COVID. We were trying Matt out in that sense. We had a setup where we were going in and he was singing with Robin to backing tracks and all that.
There was one day he couldn’t make it and I said, “Oh, I’ll have a go at some songs with you, dad,” kind of thing. It just snowballed from there. My dad was like, “You’ve gotta record on the next album,” and you know, “Come on. I didn’t realize you enjoyed singing this much.”
The rest is history, really. It’s just snowballed. Everything that I’ve done with the band has kind of been like that. When I first got involved, 13, 14 years ago, properly with the band, I had a record label, and we used to do a lot of promotion through that, and because of that, the band asked me if I would look after all the socials and all that stuff. They hadn’t really got an online presence in a modern way. They had a website, et cetera. It just gave them an update and more of a presence, then over time things just snowballed, and I just got more and more involved until we took over management in 2019.
It’s absolutely wild to me that a chance thing happens and then all of a sudden, you’re part of the band and you’re recording with them on their 45th anniversary. That’s quite a jump into the deep end.
Yeah, it was and it still is, but it’s one of those things that, for me and my family–I dunno if you know, going back generations, my granddad was a famous folk singer, and generations before that, they were all folk singers. There’s a lot of vocalists in the family. It’s kind of like I was made to do it in a way, you know?
UB40 is the top-selling reggae band ever. 78 million albums or something like that. How is it for you growing up where reggae is just part of your life? Did you see it as a viable music form, is it just your dad’s music, did you come to it, or has it always just been like, “Oh, this is pretty great”?
Well, obviously, you know, when you start, it’s not the same thing with having a famous parent or whatever. You just grow up and that’s normality, isn’t it? So of course it just seems very normal. But, you know, I think that obviously, you get to a point and you realize how big the band is and you know how famous they are.
And I think for me, that was probably their most successful period, you know, with Promises and Lies in ’93. I was born in ’87, so I was very young at that point, but I can clearly remember all of that. Like I was saying, it’s just a testament to the guys because all of them are so down to earth. No-one gets above their station in that respect. They’re all very, very cool and laid-back guys.
It’s quite a contrast that they’ve been so successful and there’s obviously talent there with producing music, et cetera, but there’s also a little bit of luck there with everything. I think, you know, those guys as they would say themselves, they’re very, very lucky. That’s it.
Given the ubiquity of UB40’s music, you’ll be watching TV and hear a song used in an advertisement or movie trailer or something like that. I imagine now, being part of their management, that’s something that you’re very much involved in.
Yeah. So, there’s Birmingham City Football Club. Tom Brady is a minority owner, actually, in the club. We rewrote “Food for Thought” for them. They sing the brass line to food for thought every time they score a goal or they win a game. The fans chant it, and we rewrote that and that was the first lyric that I had involvement in and penned with my dad and Matt Doyle.
Now they play it every game when they win and it’s featured in the Amazon TV series [Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues], which is again–all of these things are pinch me moments, but it also–without sounding full of myself in that scene, it also doesn’t feel that alien. I’ve been around this kind of stuff all my life, so it feels natural in that way.
It’s something we’re very proud of, all of these things–again, in terms of managing the band and the achievements that we’ve had. We’ve had a top 10 album last year with UB45 which, in the UK charts was the first hit that the guys had had in the top three or four since Promises and Lies. It feels like we’ve made the right steps in many ways.
UB40 plays the Uptown Theater on Tuesday, September 16 with support by DJ Boss Hooligan Sound System. Details on that show here.
