On this edition of INTERVUE, I recently sat down with vocalist/trumpeter/percussionist Astro from the legendary 80’s band, UB40. Astro, along with Ali Campbell and Mickey Virtue are bringing their smash hits like “Red, Red Wine”, “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You” and more to the Music Center at Strathmore this Friday for ONE NIGHT ONLY!
It’s amazing to talk to you because UB40 is one of my favorite bands growing up.
Why thank you!
How did you become part of UB40?
Well, I was the last person to join the original line-up. How it came about was I ran into Mickey Virtue, one of the people who played in the original band. Me and him used to go to the same school. In fact, he and I were in the same class. I have known him since I was eleven years of age.
Once we left school, most of us were unemployed but while we were at school, we were talking about forming a band. For us kids at the time, it was just talk. Once we left school and realized that a few of us were unemployed, he said “well, now is a perfect time that we do it. We should become a band.” We rehearsed from nine in the morning to five at night and we would try to copy as many records as we could. Once we understood how the drums worked with the bass, the keyboards and the guitars; we started writing our own. “Signing Off” which is our first album had thirteen songs and that was all that we knew. We weren’t in a position to pick and choose the stronger tracks. So, thirteen songs were recorded.
Then on the next album, we recorded another thirteen songs. So, we had twenty-six songs in our repertoire. So practically, we learned to play in public.
You suddenly became one of the most popular reggae bands not only in the UK but all over the world. One of my favorite songs of UB40 is “Red, Red Wine”. I was listening to it right before the interview and I still can’t believe that I am talking to the man with the toasted verse of “Red, Red Wine. You make me feel so fine.” I would like to know how did you come up with that particular verse.
We knew the song “Red, Red Wine” from when we were kids. Back in the 80’s there’s loads of 12-inch mixes being done on all your favorite tracks. I mean everybody was bringing in 12-inch dub mixes. So, the radio edit they knew that but not the three minutes of music added on to it. So, just to figure out those three minutes, I decided to stick some words together and the rest was history.
You’re right about that especially since Neil Diamond, who wrote the original song, is a big fan of the cover and now performs it at his concerts. To know this, must be pretty amazing.
It is, yes I believe you could have knocked us down with a feather when we found out that it was a Neil Diamond song. We thought it was a Jamaican artist like Neville Diamond or a Nevis Diamond. It’s a beautiful song. You know, it really didn’t matter who wrote it. It’s all about the music isn’t it.
Absolutely! Speaking of music, since this will be my very first UB40 concert, what can your DC fans expect in this upcoming concert?
Us as being as tenacious as we been and refusing to go away, we now got a repertoire of over forty hits with a back catalogue of over five hundred songs. What we try to do is a bit of everything. There are certain songs that we could never come out to the US and not play like (I Can’t Help) Falling in Love, Kingston Town, Red Red Wine, Rat in the Kitchen. We will play all of those.
Awesome!
All the classics and we got a current album at the moment called Silhouettes. So, we will be playing a few tracks off of that for people to know what we’re up to at the moment. We’ll also play a few old favorites in order to have a sing-a-long. We’re coming to the US to party and we just want the US to party with us! I can’t wait for Washington, I really can’t.
Astro, is this your first time in the DC area?
No, we been coming to the states since 1982. We took an eight-year hiatus but we’re back now. We just want to cover as much of the states as we possibly can. This is our second tour of the states in two years. We been away too long and we’re on a mission.
You’re definitely on a mission to bring your style of music back to the states. It’s been so influential over the past thirty years. How do you personally about UB40’s influence on today’s artists?
I cannot help but to feel proud to be told that you influence somebody. I don’t feel think about it that much but it’s nice enough to listen to your contemporaries and hear what they do. Then you might be able to pick some stuff that you played an influential part in some of their material. It’s all about the music at the end of the day. Well, it’s great to be relevant after forty years. We just keep doing what we’re doing.
Can you tell us a little more about Silhouettes?
Silhouettes has been out for two years now. It features seven covers and seven original songs. It was recorded just before I joined up with Ali and Mickey. So, they pushed back to release date so I can go into the studio and do my thing. It was received very well everywhere we been and we played certain tracks off the album. We got some newer material due to come out this year. We got an acoustic album and a live album that’s just ready to drop.
Thank you Astro for this amazing interview!
Check out UB40’s social media pages
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ub40official/
- Twitter: UB40OFFICIAL
- Instagram: ub40official
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