Tim Hughes talks to Elan Atias, singer with Bob Marley’s legendary band The Wailers.

IF you know absolutely nothing about reggae – heck, even if you’re one of those rare souls who don’t even like Jamaican music – you still know The Wailers.

Since 1969, Bob Marley’s band have shifted a phenominal 250 million albums worldwide, and their iconic songs can be heard in every corner of the world.

And while charismatic Rasta frontman Marley, inset, may have gone upstairs to that great jam in the sky, his message and music lives on under the guidance of his former friends and bandmates.

Still led by original bassist and musical director Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, this legendary band have played to an estimated 24 million people across the planet. And despite decades of living the life of the ultimate reggae band – with all the excesses and hair-raising tales that entails – the band are still going strong. And on Monday they pitch up in Oxford’s Cowley Road.

Yes, we’ve said this before, but this really is an unmissable occasion – and one which may never be repeated, for, as a treat to both hardened reggae fans and casual admirers, the band will be performing the whole of their iconic 1977 album Exodus.

This stunning record – easily the best-known reggae album of all time, and declared by Time magazine as the best of the 20th century – spawned such huge hitters as Jamming, Waiting in Vain, Three Little Birds and One Love/ People Get Ready – itself named Song of the Millennium by the BBC.

The gig at the Oxford O2 Academy, will see the band, which still contains four original members, performing this seminal record all the way through.

“It is an amazing album,” says the band’s lead singer Elan Atias, who has the unenviable task of filling in for Bob.

“It touches on love, justice and spirituality; everything, in fact. I love every single song on it.

“Many people have named it their album of the century, which is incredible for a band that came from a small island of just a couple of million people.”

Elan, who describes himself as a “Jewish, Rasta Buddhist,” hails not from Jamaica, but Los Angeles, and is of English, Irish, Moroccan and Scandinavian stock.

He admits to being unsure of the wisdom of playing Exodus all the way through.

“At first I was hesitant,” he says in a clipped West Coast accent. “I didn’t know how it would go. But it works really well. Fans, like I was before I joined the band, want to hear it exactly like the record. And that’s pretty much what we do. It’s cool!”

Elan, is talking from his hotel in the Spanish city of Granada, where he is preparing for the latest gig on their European tour.

But, music aside, he admits the thing he is most excited about is a chance to see his beloved Chelsea in action against Arsenal tomorrow.

“It's going to be crazy to see a game at Wembley,” he says excitedly.

I admit to him, I didn’t expect the man tasked with keeping alive the spirit of Bob Marley to be a Chelsea fan. Let alone a Californian one.

Yet, Elan is a bit of an enigma. For a start, aged just 33, he is substantially younger than the elder statesmen of the band. And he admits fans who come along expecting to see “a bunch of white-haired rastas” might be suprised.

Though the audience remains a young one – as it has done since the early days.

"I think the music speaks to young people in a special way,” he says. “It helps you to find yourself. It certainly did for me when I was young – though I never knew I’d be the lead singer of The Wailers!

“I wanted to be a professional football or basketball player. However, The Wailers is an awesome band and it is an honour being with people like Family Man and all these other legends.

“This is the only band I’ve been in, and my years in The Wailers have been like my college years. The world has been my campus and the guys have been my professors.

“The Wailers is bigger than any one individual person, though. Bob made it as big as it is, but really the movement and the message is the most important thing.”

He is more than aware of the responsibility of stepping into Marley’s shoes, however.

“I'm not replacing him or trying to be him,” he insists.

“I am me, but I do feel a real connection with Bob, and believe in the message of the music. Bob was a great person who brought people together.

“More than anything, I have never wanted to let people down. I know from listening to the records as a kid, that every person in the audience knows these songs word for word. They are almost holy. So when people say I sound like Bob, it really makes me happy.”

He adds: “We’re called The Wailers because we wail out the voice of the people. We know how important it is and how special it is to be a part of history."”

The Wailers play the Oxford O2 Academy on Monday. Tickets are £17.50.