(2 of 2)
Though Balsall Heath is far from flash, the musicians still live there, within three miles of one another -- "in nice houses," as drummer Jimmy Brown puts it, "because we've earned the money." UB40 takes a strong hand in its own management and general direction, and the band is careful to keep tight ties with the old neighborhood. "I remember when everyone in this band wet themselves as kids," says Travers. "No one dares behave like a star. The ^ rest would just laugh. So we give ourselves away as being very plain. Like Bulgarian acrobats."
What set the UB40 boys apart, however, even in the early days, was their unblemished self-esteem. "We didn't think for a second that we weren't absolutely brilliant," Travers says. They would rehearse all day in a cellar, and sometimes paint the wall with their signatures, practicing autographs for the day they hit it big. They also lighted on what Travers calls a "master plan to conquer the world." They would play their hometown only once every six weeks. They told everyone they were too busy touring to appear more often, when, in fact, they were squirreled away in their rehearsal room, limbering up on their instruments and letting loose with the spray paint.
It wasn't until its first British chart success, King/Food for Thought in 1980, that the band's momentum started to keep pace with its self-propulsion. Now that UB40 is sweeping the colonies, it looks for all the world not only like a terrific band but also an eight-man self-fulfilling prophecy. The band, which still acts like an extended Birmingham family and is run like an informal commune, has only one strict rule: "Do what you do easiest." Brian Travers explains that it means "you can do it best if it comes from you." Finally, then, UB40 can rest easy.