Online edition of Sunday Observer

Feeling just the right degree of bizarre awe at seeing Ub40 on press and tabloid cuttings conveys simply nothing about the sensations which could be inspired when one confronts its members "live" and up close.

Ali Campbell, suave, a fairer shade of ruddy, making heavy observations with a casual resonance; and Astro Wilson, throaty, lapsing into quick laughter, very likely the anti-thesis of Ali and then again his complement - the perfect round-up for small talk. Small talk we made and the two helmsmen of the band, which detractors not too infrequently dubbed as "too old" and "same-set-up and same record" looked and acted very much "large as life" up front, as they do within the world scene escaping detours many greats had gone before them.

Listen to them and you will know why they are still around - which is precisely why we had them coming here, to sing reggae during the peace process.

Q: What does it mean to UB40 to be part of Sri Lanka's peace process? Have you been part of any other country's peace process before?

Ali: May be. We played in Belfast, Ireland, which had a civil war. Not that it has many similarities here. They are Irish people and it's a religious divide. It's also a colonial and a land problem. Not quite what I see happening here.

Ali: Not memories as such. But we are very pleased to be here and pleased to be invited.

Astro: Anything to do with fostering peace is something good to be involved in. But, at the end of the day, we are only musicians, not politicians. There is no way we are gonna change anything.

Ali: It's an awareness-thing, you know. As the Councillor (Minister Ravi Karunanayake) said at the press conference, let people know its alright to come here at the moment. That there is some sort of a tangible peace happening here at the moment. Which is good.

Astro: That's all we can really do as musicians. We can't play politics one way or the other. All we can do is to play reggae music and say, "Love Everybody!" That would be our way.

Astro: We are just friends who grew up in the same background, same neighbourhood and the same country.

Ali: Birmingham is very multi-cultural. If you say we are from Birmingham, it would sound like as if UB40 would be West Indians or Irish or a really big mix-up. We are a just a bunch of friends and not about how we look, HA! HA! Ha!

Astro: Not to us. But to everybody else. To them, we are a political statement in ourselves in the fact that we have got along very well and have been together for 21 years. To the rest of the world, we are a blue print.

Ali: Having the same crew for 21 years? We've been thinking, it's totally adhoc. That's because we didn't come together to join the band. We were together before the band. But it's difficult to tell that to the rest of the world.

Q: What is the place of reggae in the world music today? Is it going great places?

Ali: If reggae had not had the widest influence it had on music for the last 30 years, you wouldn't have had any of the contemporary music which you are listening to now - hip hop, garage and all that. None of that would have existed if not for "Dub" and "Dub" comes from reggae. As a music form, it is alive and kicking and throbbing like a sockful of grasshoppers.

Q: When UB40 first came to the reggae scene, you created a certain aura about you, politicising issues such as unemployment and youth in your songs.

Astro: All we were doing was writing about ourselves. When it comes to writing our own songs, it made a lot of sense to write about things which affected us and things we knew about. You can't project a false picture but have to remain true to yourself so that other people can rely on what you sing. Our first albums were basically about British problems as we had never been exposed beyond Britain. When we started going around the globe, our horizons broadened and so did our range of songs, still relating mainly to us. But other people can relate to them as well.

Ali: I think that when we first wrote our own lyrics, we set ourselves a standard. If you look at our recent song "Cover Up", it's just as political and just as cynical as the ones on the first album. But, now I think we are better writers and it's not so obvious. It's more ambiguous but still as political and issue-holic.

Ali: (decisively) Love songs! But, then, you've got to remember the reggae music. A lot of people instantly think of it as Rastas music and political music. Reggae music is Jamaican pop music adopted by the Rastas Movement as their music. Initially, it was Jamaican pop music and covers American R and B songs.

Q: It's said that UB40 doesn't like radical change but like to evolve, creating more refined songs. Comments?

Ali: We'll never change from plain reggae - old reggae based music. Because that's the mission we have run on when we started - to popularise reggae and our brand of reggae music, which is hard reggae.

Astro: What keeps us going is that we are still on our original mission which is to help popularise reggae music. There isn't enough reggae being played on the radio. Therefore, our mission is not completed. Listen to reggae music 24/7 round the globe and we are on our mission.

Ali: Kofi Anan phoned us after we had a record concert attendance in South Africa. We had 80,000 people in our concert. The UN wanted an international act to commit to AIDS. After being asked by Kofi Anan, we did a tour of South Africa, singing "Cover Up."

Ali: Brian. The UN asked us to write a song specifically about wearing condoms. And Brian also wrote about the "cover up" that is taking place - not talking openly about AIDS. The double-on tone.

Q: UB40 made a difference in AIDS-awareness in South Africa. Would UB40 make a difference in Sri Lanka's peace process by your presence here?

Ali: We will be very naive if we think that by singing songs and playing reggae, anything will change. Politics is what changes things. All we could do is to offer a bit of light relief from the situation. It's worth something if we can keep people dancing and smiling. It's better than fighting.

Q: UB-40 were named the most successful West Midlands Chart Act ever, having spent 331 weeks in the UK Singles Chart. How did you manage to be so popular?

Ali: Because we've been around for so long and have made so many records. What is it that Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Bee Gees have done more than us? We are fourth in the British Pop History and we are a reggae band.

Ali: We are not gonna be here long enough to see around. Only a couple of days. But that Baby Elephant is one.

Astro: I think it's going to be a good concert. We are sure to make a come back.