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ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER : Your older brother Duncan is singing lead for the second version of UB40 . And you said that one day you just got tired of hearing him murdering your songs , right ?

Dark Side – but you can see ‘ em on YouTube , and it ’ s knuckle-bitingly embarrassing . It makes me angry , because everywhere that they go , we have to then go back again and give people the real deal . They ’ ve been going all over Holland recently , So I ’ m going to the Hague in a couple of days to do a big show there . But really , the fans have voted with their feet – we ’ re playing for 11,000 people at our shows , and they ’ re doing maybe 900 . So it ’ s a very long , slow death for them , while we ’ re enjoying a Renaissance , basically .

IE : Do you remember the moment when you finally had enough ? AC : Well , yes . It was when Astro decided

UB40 Circa 1981

ALI CAMPBELL : He was . Still is , I ’ m afraid . The Dark Side , as I call them , they ’ re still touring around the country . They follow us and do smaller shows , obviously . But yeah , they ’ re still murdering every song I ever did . And I ’ m still trying to save the legacy of the band , along with Astro and Mickey . And this is our fourth tour of America in the last two years coming up , so we ’ re happy to be back promoting the real deal , rather than people having to listen to what I can only describe as a bad karaoke band . And Robin ’ s not in my band – he ’ s with the

to join me and Mickey . Me and Mickey left nine years ago now , because we didn ’ t get on with our management . And then the guys that were left went on the side of the management , which I still don ’ t understand . Then when Astro came to join me and Mickey , we wanted to make it very , very clear , that this was Ali , Astro and Mickey ’ s UB40 . Because I truly believe that what my older brother Duncan is doing is destroying the legacy of the band , everywhere they go . It ’ s like a scorched earth policy .

IE : Christmas and family reunions must be a nightmare . AC : Ha ! It ’ s still all very acrimonious . And I haven ’ t talked to any of them since . Then I ’ ve got another older brother David who is also claiming that he ’ s the lead singer of the band , so they ’ re all out of their fucking minds , in my opinion . I don ’ t know what ’ s going on . They were taking us to court , but that hasn ’ t come to anything because they haven ’ t got a leg to stand on . So that ’ s sort of just dwindled . So we ’ re just carrying

on , basically . And we ’ ve got a great new album coming out on Universal next February , and it ’ s the best thing I ’ ve done in 25 years . I ’ m absolutely loving it . And I can also safely say that I ’ ve got the hottest reggae band on the road in the world at the moment .

IE : And you have a new “ Unplugged ” album out , with a “ Greatest Hits ” bonus disc ? AC : Oh , yeah ! And it ’ s good ! That was like