Jemma and Marina were thrilled when two of the original members of UB40 agreed to come on The Trawl Meets. After all, the group are one of the most commercially successful bands of all time, having sold more records than Oasis, over 100 million to be precise. Of course they are almost as known for their political leanings as they are for their wonderful music so it's a match made in Trawl heaven.

Even the band’s name is famously a reference to the unemployment benefit form, each had signed having left school without a job, so it was fascinating to chat politics, music and everything in between with drummer, Jimmy Brown and guitarist Robin Campbell.

They talked about how they began, what it was like to be discovered by Chrissie Hynde and why history comes full circle. They and other members of the band have always spoken out against racism and indeed, protested against the National Front decades ago. Yet here we are and Farage and Robinson et al are on the rise. Have we gone backwards?

The band supported Corbyn when he was Labour leader so how do they feel now and what do they make of Starmer? Are we all preaching to the converted or can art change minds? And what really happened when Robin's brother, Ali, left the band? Get the real lowdown, their no holds barred version and, it being The Trawl expect some giggles as well. Jemma's been making Max make UB40 inspired jingles.

Pudding is served by another reggae legend - the one and only Bob Marley.

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

https://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawl

Twitter

https://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcast

BlueSky

https://bsky.app/profile/thetrawl.bsky.social

Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Edited by Max Carrey