Terence “Astro” Wilson doesn’t like to think about what he and his bandmates call the “dark side.” But he’s clearly still angry about it.

The “dark side” would be the remnants of the original UB40, the British reggae band that trumpeter/vocalist Wilson, frontman Ali Campbell and keyboardist Mickey Virtue helped found in 1978. After three decades with the same eight members, UB40 imploded in early 2008 when first Campbell, then Virtue left the band over what they felt was mismanagement of the group’s money and business affairs. Wilson exited in 2013 for many of the same reasons (the band owed his wife, Dawn, money, he said), and the band’s decision to release the 2013 country album “Getting Over the Storm.”

“I joined this business to promote reggae music, not country music, and to me, I feel it was just a slap in the face to all our fans who had stood by us through thick and thin for over 30 years,” Wilson said from San Rafael, California, while on tour with Campbell, Virtue and their 11-piece band. The group, named, appropriately enough, UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey, will open up the Clear Summer Nights outdoor concert season at the Athletic Club of Bend on Tuesday.

The legal battle over the band’s name continues: Campbell was sued in British High Court by the six remaining members of UB40, including brothers Robin Campbell and Duncan Campbell (who replaced Ali in the band), and early last year lost a bid to block an injunction to stop him from using the name, according to the Birmingham Mail (hence the “featuring” bit). Most recently, UB40 bassist Earl Falconer, band accountant David Parker and financial assistant Lanval Storrod were banned from running companies over mismanagement of record company Reflex Recordings, according to the Daily Mail.

“I try not to even think about the dark side anymore. We’re happy as we are; we’re just doing what we know we have to do, and they can do whatever,” Wilson said. “Although, they just seem to be hell-bent on destroying the brand with really sub-standard shows — that’s all the reports that we’ve been getting, and all the stuff that we’ve been seeing on YouTube,” he said. “Other, better tribute bands — and I don’t mean that in a nasty way, or sour grapes or anything like that — it’s just a fact there are better UB40 tribute bands than the existing, original incarnation.”

It’s a lot of vitriol coming from a band best known for encouraging audiences to indulge in “Red, Red Wine” (quite literally in the last few months with the recent release of the band’s red wine).

But the musical present — and future — for Wilson, Campbell and Freeman looks as sunny as the band’s signature, pop-inflected reggae sound. Their new band has been touring almost nonstop since Wilson joined (“I think we’ve probably had about six weeks off in the last four years,” he said).

“It’s just a night of hit after hit after hit,” Wilson said of the band’s live show. “And that’s what people want. They don’t really want us to be self-indulgent, trying to sell them new products.”

Campbell was touring with Virtue when Wilson left UB40, and had released a handful of solo albums in that time period. Wilson reconnected with his once-and-future bandmates after some encouragement from his wife.

“My wife had remained in contact with Ali’s wife,” Wilson said. “She just says to me, ‘Why don’t you just give Ali a call? What have you got to lose? You need him like he needs you. What’s the worst that could happen?’ … So I made the call, went down to London to see him while he was recording. And we just had a chat, and it just seemed like time had stood still; nothing had happened; nothing had gone on. He was about to do a few dates around Britain in December, and just says, ‘Why don’t you come down and just come onstage, do a number, see how you feel and see if the chemistry’s still there?’”

That chemistry was forged in Birmingham, England, in the ’70s. The budding musicians in UB40 started out copying the reggae singles they grew up on with a punk-rock spirit of attitude over technical proficiency.

“When the band started, it was at the end of the punk era, but the punk era was brilliant in as much that kids realized that you didn’t have to be a brilliant musician, but if you have conviction, you could go for it,” Wilson said. “As unemployed kids in our neighborhood, we thought there was more chance of becoming pop stars than there was of actually getting a proper nine-to-five job. And if you’ve got self-belief, it does go a long way. We’re all self-taught. We just locked ourselves away in a cellar for six months — well, I’d say more a year — just learning how to play our instruments, because nobody had a clue. Whoever had the money to buy an instrument bought it.”

Though focused on delivering fan favorites in the live setting, Campbell, Virtue and Wilson’s UB40 has found time to record new material.

The group followed up its 2014 studio album “Silhouette,” which featured new songs and covers of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Chi-Lites and more, with last year’s “Unplugged,” a two-disc collection featuring acoustic versions of UB40 hits and favorites on one disc, and a reissue of the band’s greatest hits on the other disc. The album grew out of a number of stripped-down recording sessions the band did for the British Broadcasting Corporation

“None of the studios are big enough to house the whole band, and so they just suggested, ‘Is there any way of doing a stripped-back version of the songs?’” Wilson said.

He also teased two more albums coming out in the near future. He was tight-lipped about a follow-up to “Silhouette” due in February, but went into more detail about an upcoming dub project he and Campbell helped mix before leaving UB40.

“We’ve taken those backing tracks, and we’ve given them to a bunch of musicians on the West Coast, and some in Latin America who are reggaeton artists, and the same tracks to some artists in Europe and London, and we’re allowing them to do their own thing on top of these tracks,” Wilson said. “Then we’ll sit back, compile an album and then try and make a tour out of that and try and take that around the globe.”

“As unemployed kids in our neighborhood, we thought there was more chance of becoming pop stars than there was of actually getting a proper nine-to-five job. And if you’ve got self-belief, it does go a long way. We’re all self-taught. We just locked ourselves away in a cellar for six months — well, I’d say more a year — just learning how to play our instruments, because nobody had a clue.”Terence “Astro” Wilson, UB40 trumpeter/vocalist

What: UB40 Featuring Ali, 
Astro & Mickey, with Raging Fyah

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, doors open at 6 p.m.

Where: Athletic Club of Bend, 61615 Athletic Club Drive

Cost: $52 plus fees for general admission, $100 plus fees for dinner tickets

Contact: clearsummernights.com or 541-385-3062