They are the story of reggae-fuelled stardom. They are masters of turning classics into reggaefied earworms. They are examples of bad-blood brothers. They are a reflection of rock-and-roll living. For most, UB40 is the reggae-pop groove-athon that makes Sundays ooze laziness. Even now, when Red Red Wine or Kingstown Town is played, the result can be hypnotic. Though all has not been well lately, yet all the members of UB40 believe in their rich repertoire.

Formed in 1978 by a bunch of school friends who grew up around Birmingham, they were once the sound of working-class dissatisfaction. After all, they are named after a British unemployment benefits form called UB40. Their early albums were more a political statement than just pop nuggets. Yet, we can’t get that one song out of our heads — the vino drinker’s anthem, Red Red Wine. Not just the Neil Diamond original, they even made Elvis Presley go reggae with their rendition of Can’t Help Falling In Love and Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe (with Chrissie Hynde) sound groovy as well as languorous.

But somewhere down the line, the wine spilled and the UB40 family got broken, dividing them into two camps, one is simply called UB40 and the other is UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro. One has Ali Campbell and others while the other features Robin Campbell and Duncan Campbell, besides a few more.

Anyway, UB40 — with Robin Campbell (co-vocals/guitar), Brian Travers (saxophone/keyboards), Jimmy Brown (drums), Earl Falconer (bass/keyboards/vocals) and Norman Hassan (percussion/vocals), alongside longtime members Duncan Campbell (vocals), Martin Meredith (saxophone), Laurence Parry (trumpet) and Tony Mullings (keyboards) — has a new album coming up on June 25. Bigga Baggariddim, which comes more than three decades after Baggariddim, features collaborations with musicians from Jamaica, New Zealand, India and, of course, Birmingham. From India, General Zooz of Reggae Rajahs can be heard on Roots Rock Reggae.

Jimmy Brown walks us through the upcoming album as well as what makes the UB40 magic everlasting.

What can fans expect from Bigga Baggariddim?

There’s a real international flavour to this album. Friends that we have made on our travels were asked to do whatever they felt like doing over the backing tracks we supplied. And there have been contribution from around the globe from the US, the UK, New Zealand, Jamaica, and, of course, India, which has resulted in a diverse and unpredictable listening experience.

India has always treated you well. And the reggae movement here is ever-evolving with the likes of Reggae Rajahs. How was it collaborating with General Zooz?

The whole point of Bigga Baggaridim is that the guest artistes had complete freedom to do whatever they felt. There were no instructions from the band. So, no input from us apart from supplying the backing track.

What keeps UB40 going? Has the pandemic shifted direction for the band lyrically?

Even though it feels we can see some light at the end of a long tunnel, the Covid story is still unfolding. So I don’t think, for me, that the right time to tackle that subject is now.

Any realisation you had while sitting around at home for more than a year?

Yes… that the elites running most countries are not fit for purpose.

Switching from selling records to being at the mercy of playlists and dealing with streaming platforms, the change has been drastic….

Technology has had a devastating effect on the record business. Where records used to sell in their hundreds of thousands, just a couple of thousands sales can (now) be a top-10 hit. Pirating means that even a number-one record may not make enough to cover the cost of the marketing budget. But technology has also given millions of people access to the means to actually make a record, which is democratising record production. So there are good and bad aspects of the growth of digital technology.

As far as UB40 are concerned, we are first and foremost a live band. And technology hasn’t had the same devastating effect. Turning up in a town, setting up, playing a show for the locals, getting paid, then moving on to another town has been happening since there were musicians. 2019 was an incredibly busy for us.

When you were making reggae records in the UK of the 1970s, it was more like a niche… maybe even an underground movement. How did you get into it?

Where the band lived and were brought up, reggae wasn’t really underground at all. It was everywhere because there were so many people who had travelled from the Caribbean to inner city Birmingham in search of work. And the non-white members of the band were the first generation of black British, born in the UK. We all went to school together. So playing reggae seemed a natural choice.

And what about the coming together of political messages and simply making good music?

There may be a strong political message in some of our songs but we always try to make the music danceable and accessible. So people can listen to the political message, or they can just dance the night away and not worry about politics.

When the band was formed, how long were you expecting it to last?

I don’t think we really considered the timescale. We believed we would be successful, but nobody can plan to last over 40 years in the business. It’s a matter of extremely good luck.

Do you ever get bored playing UB40 classics, like Red, Red Wine, Kingston Town and Can’t Help Falling In Love?

Mostly we don’t bother rehearsing those big tunes, we’ve played them so often. But you never get bored of the response from the audience, who always go wild for those tunes.

Do you remember the time you first heard Neil Diamond’s Red, Red Wine and what did you think of it?

I’ve never actually heard Neil Diamond’s version. And I’m not much of a wine drinker. But the wine drinkers in the band love their Rioja.

Having been around for so long, there must have been several false stories about the band. Any memorable one?

That the band all met in the unemployment queue. We are actually childhood friends.