Brian Travers of UB40 sure knows how to tell a story

Brian Travers is a founder member of reggae band UB40.
He's a Brummie with Irish roots. We exchange notes on road trips in Ireland, Galway, N11, the Sky Road, talking to farmers at random stops. "The Irish will talk to anybody," he says. "We'll talk till the cows come home." And he does.
As a kid, he says if you could draw a dinosaur better than anybody else, you got an opportunity to go to this wonderful school in central Birmingham in England - Mosely Road School of Arts. And that is where all the boys who would eventually become the band, first met. The area they lived in was multicultural - there were Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Irish and Jamaicans. The music they listened to was reggae.
Emerging from school at the ripe old age of 18, they discovered that nobody could get a job; UK and Europe were suffering from a terrible economic depression. Says Travers, "If you were unemployed in those days you were given a card so you got some money to live on. It was called Unemployment Benefits 40. Well, we thought: That's what we are - UB40s - and that's what we called ourselves. Instantly, we had a fan club of seven million, who understood what we were talking about. it was pure, pure luck." I protest at that. Not luck surely? The music was wonderful. He is quick to ascribe that to the band's combined effort. "I've written maybe 200 songs. We've got 50 Top 30 hits around the world, countless chart toppers."
Like any young band, they started out trying to emulate their heroes. Which at the time were Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Studio 1, Outfit, Gregory Isaacs. Their first record was called Food for Thought. It was about people who don't care too much for others who're starving. "They sometimes go to church and put a shilling on a plate and think they've done something for world hunger." That album was a hit and he says, "Music took us everywhere."
The band is just back from playing four cities in India. "Indian hospitality just blows my mind," says Travers. People who have nothing, are so willing to share. They were invited home to share a meal by someone they met on the street. "I was ashamed in a way because I can't imagine an English person or a European saying that to a guy who has come to his country. It touched me so deeply."
"I'm incredibly lucky - I feel like I've never worked a day in my life. When you do what you love, it's not work." He has always painted, and has had several shows around the world. That's how I met him - interior design firm XBD loves his work so much, they've decided to represent him in the region. He's flying to Marbella from here, to make sculptures. Of animal skeletons, strange as that may sound. "You know, glass is the concrete of the future. You can't hang a painting on glass, so I'm making sculptures now - somewhere you can put your car keys when you come through the front door. People are kind of digging them. I just like the natural architecture of animals."
He shares stories: "My grandfather, a Dublin man, joined the English army in the second World War. He went to India. He gave me what he called his bullet-proof vest." It is a little turquoise Ganesh (Hindu God of good beginnings) on a heavy metal chain that he wears around his neck. His grandfather told him he never had to shoot anybody, and nobody shot him. Travers says he himself is a scientific man, not really religious, but he loves the gift from his grandfather: "This little fella - he looks after me everywhere I go."
Travers once went to the Gangotri, the source of the river Ganga, a tough trek to 14,640 feet. "I walked up there; Man, that was tough," he says rolling his eyes and blowing a raspberry. Some big guys had to be rescued and brought down on ponies. "I'm only a li'l fella so it was easier. Man, it was cold."
Apart from walking across raging rivers, and drinking the pure water at the source of the river, which India experience stands out? "Around the ghats, in Rishikesh, next to the river Ganges, these young monks were singing of a night, and they waved me in to join them." That's where he played the tambourine with them, he says, setting up an acapella beat right where we are seated. He says his wife often tells him that he must have been an Indian in his last birth. 'You couldn't have been a good one,' she says, 'You came back as an Irishman!'
Travers used to draw all through the music years - life in hotel rooms can get lonesome - though he didn't sell the paintings then. People often asked for a signed record to be used for charity auctions, and he says he'd give them a painting instead. Now he's painting commercially. He paints from midnight to around 6am when it's quiet.
He paints people he finds inspiring like Pele, who turned "the beautiful game" football and inspired every little boy. You don't have to be rich to play; he's seen kids in Africa make a football out of plastic bags and string. "They can kick that ball and make it move," he gestures. "They can express themselves artistically through sport."
Like for many others, Muhammad Ali was his childhood hero. He speaks of an interview on TV where Ali was asked, 'Did you always know that you were going to be the greatest?' He said 'Yea, even if I was sweeping the street and collecting garbage, I'd be the greatest street sweeper in the world, the greatest garbage man you've ever seen.' And man, that just inspired me." You can hear the admiration in his voice.
"But people forget. in this media-savvy world, people are more interested in selfies. Ahhh, look at me." He shakes his head: "There are people standing in front of the Taj Mahal, taking a selfie. Maybe if I was younger, I'd have been the same. Thank God, these things weren't invented then."
I ask about meeting their idols. As expected, Travers has a string of stories. When they were about 20, Paul McCartney's wife Linda who was a photographer, called them to ask if she could take a couple of photos. The shoot was meant to cheer up their daughter Heather who was unwell. Linda wanted to do a typical parent thing of having the band (UB40) hold up a card saying, Get well soon."
Well, having UB40 hold a banner to cheer you up is not exactly 'typical,' but you get the drift. When they went across, she said Paul had invited them to "come over and have a listen to some records!" He was in AIR studios on Oxford Street with Beatles producer George Martin. "We were so excited, we were kids," his voice drops a register. I'm completely swept in the moment. They went there, all eight of them, quite nervous. Paul McCartney came over and shook their hands. "Complete professional, he knew all our names. And there was no internet then! Very cool fella."
"He was playing us songs, of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, That Girl is mine, Ebony and Ivory. These were mature men and they were looking over to see if we were digging the music, tapping our feet and such. I said, and I was being cheeky: 'Look Macca, they're okay for demos but when're you going to record the real thing? He said, 'Brian, Brian, I never make demos. Because if I can't remember the tune, how is anybody else supposed to be able to it?' That's it," Travers slapped the table. "I've never since that day recorded a demo after that. If I can write a song, complete the melody, and remember it the next day, maybe someone else will. Best music lesson I've had in my life."
He speaks of touring with David Bowie. "Beautiful man. He would stand there every night on the side of the stage and dance to every band that he was touring with. Then he'd go and get changed and do an incredible show."
He says their real idols were the Jamaicans. Says he, "You must have heard, 'Don't get too close to your idols. The stardust comes off.' Not true. It just stays on, and they even give you a little bit. They were the best musicians, with the best personalities. The young kids today, they get a bit nervous and they have all the bodyguards and stuff."
On the balance between the music and painting, he says "It's all about expression. Painting a picture is not too dissimilar to writing a song. You try to create an atmosphere in a song - a place, and a time and a feeling and an emotion. I'm trying to perfect that. When I want to relax, I go and paint. I feel so privileged to be able to do this - there are so many people who never find their potential, because of life's circumstances. I feel it's a privilege and I can't waste a moment, not a single day."
Perhaps I should meet all eight of the original band, and sift through their memories - see which ones are subsets and which ones coalesce into one beautiful image. The one from Brian Travers has the curved fangs of the sabre-toothed tiger. In gold.
Harveena likes that UB40 gets why she uses recycled printouts stapled together
harveena@khaleejtimes.com