CAN the real UB40 please stand up?

After 100 million record sales and more than 35 years playing together you would not have thought that the UK’s most successful reggae band would be having an identity crisis.

But that is the strange situation that UB40 have found themselves in after former lead singer Ali Campbell left in 2008.

Confusingly, UB40 continue to tour while 'UB40 Reunited', featuring Ali and original band members Astro and Mickey Virtue, also perform in their own right.

UB40 drummer Jimmy Brown said: "There wasn’t as much money coming in as there used to be and I think he decided that if he went solo he might possibly do better.

"That didn’t work out for him and so since then he’s advertised himself as UB40 which is why we’re in conflict with him.

"It’s really annoying because people are booking tickets and don’t really know what they’re seeing.

"We’re UB40. We’ve continued. I don’t think he expected that but we have and we’re quite happy where we are.

"But every so often fans will contact us and say: ‘Are you doing this show? Are you doing that show?’ They have to double check and that could hurt us when people aren’t sure.

"What we need is a clear separation between our ex singer and the band as it is now. This situation is muddying the water."

Jimmy admitted that the situation is not only frustrating but painful too because he has lost a friend in the process.

He added: "Our friendship with Ali goes back to school days but in the end you can only punish yourself with that for so long.

"I think it’s happened to everybody. Some mates you have for all your life and others drop by the wayside.

"It’s just something that happens in life but I’m more pleased that I’m still with the people that I’ve been with for 40 years."

Whatever happens between the Ali and his estranged bandmates one thing is for sure – the original UB40 are here to stay.

"I’m enjoying it more than ever because we feel really in control," Jimmy told Weekend.

"In the early days we got big really quick and went from rehearsing in a cellar with a few mates sitting around to playing in front of 4,000 or 5,000 people.

"It was a scary thing and I can see it in new bands now, especially at festivals. They’re on stage in front of 100,000 people and they may have only been going a year.

"We’ve had our whole working lifetime being paid for something we love doing which I think is miraculous.

"You’ve got to try hard not to feel smug about that because it’s so lucky to do that. Music is still our life really and we’re still trying to make that perfect record and play that perfect gig.

"You always want to do that bit better the next night. We’re no less enthusiastic than when we first started."

UB40's current tour, aptly named 'Getting Over The Storm', comes to Parr Hall on Friday, May 8.

Jimmy, who has had more than 40 top 40 hits with his band, said UB40 have deliberately avoided larger venues to maintain their connection with the crowd.

He added: "Times change and I think people place more value in seeing a live band now.

"I think that’s where we have an advantage because we’ve been playing together for such a long time and never stopped.

"We’ve been doing this for more than 30 years so I think that makes us a pretty good live band.

"The best way to see that is in a proper live venue rather than in some kind of antiseptic shed which hasn’t really got that old fashioned rock and roll, spit and sawdust feel to it.

"We’re not really a cabaret band. If you’re going to come and see us you’re going to get something that sounds pretty big and loud and you’re expected to dance and sing.

"You can’t get that atmosphere in arenas. You can’t even see the audience half the time.

"That said, we’re still getting to a fair amount of people. In 12 months we’ve had 50 shows."

Jimmy met his UB40 bandmates at Moseley School of Art in Birmingham.

He said: "The school that we went to was a specialist art school which was unusual. It was a bit of a hothouse for kids that had shown artistic ability and an early age and that’s how we all met.

"Reggae was all around us but at that time it was unthinkable that the white members of the band could consider playing it. The rest is history."

The band's name was a reference to the unemployment benefit form at the time – while the band's debut album continued in that vein with the title Signing Off.

Jimmy added: "I’ve always been a bit of anarchist and I think we were saying there was another way of doing it. You don’t have to sell your soul to a factory, to a boss.

"We wouldn’t be the first band to do that. All the hippies did that in the 60s. But I’m proud of our politics that we were coming out with in those days.

"I feel they have been vindicated by history. I think we’re in a mess now because of what was done in the Thatcher period and we were right to moan about it.

- UB40 play at Parr Hall on Friday, May 8. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345 for tickets

DAVID MORGAN