Official T Shirt The Beat Ska Band Album I Just Can't Stop It

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Many people’s memory of “Wha’ppen?” will be the hit single it gave you in to form of “Too Nice To Talk To”– what is your favourite memory of the album? Touring with the police was exceptional too, it showed me the top line of being a big pop star in the music industry, I used to get up and DJ with them onstage every night. I was only 17-18 while they were well into their 20′s so maybe because I was so young, I got away with it. Or maybe it was my smile. But it was difficult because we had to come up with tunes, so what we were doing on tour was we had a notepad each and we’d keep them for two or three days and then pass them on to the next person. Everybody would write onto somebody else’s thing and a lot of the lyrics from the second album and the third album came in that way. It was a great way to get stuff together and say well that’s a band effort. Cause even like the smallest line from the drummer could get into the song. We used a lot of bits from headlines and stuff like that. It all came together and made sense. So that took a while to record and get right but when it did come out in England it was met with mixed reactions. A lot of people were like well it’s not Ska is it? You’ve done like The Specials and mellowed out or whatever it is. But in California all of a sudden all the surfers and beach bums, the mods out there, we’d go out there and they’d be lapping it up. That’s when I realised how brilliant this band was at merging in such a subtle, sophisticated way and not in a pushing it in your face way. Then me and Dave Wakeling spoke and he said we’d like you to do more with us. At the time I was living in a hostel, believe it or not. He’s says right you’re not staying there any more, you can come and stay at my flat. So I stayed at his place for the best part of five months, we got on and I joined the band.

We’re here to discuss the release of The Beat’s wonderfully titled second album Wha’appen? on heavyweight vinyl by Demon Records ( demonrecords.co.uk). Originally released in 1981 and featuring the hits Doors of your Heart, All Out to Get You and Drowning it marked a departure of sorts from their debut release. RR: Well, I had to re-learn them, it’d been years since I’d sung them but he already knew them all. Whether he liked it or not, it was drummed in, partially in the soul. It must be in his blood. I think the fact that people recognise that if bands like The Beat and The Specials and The Selecter – bands like that – if we weren’t about – and bands like The Clash and the Pistols and people like that – the racism in this country is getting out of hand – again, and it’s not necessarily out of hand yet – but we all know that there are more people in this country that are against racism, than there are for racism, and I think what those bands did, The Beat, The Specials, The Selecter and Madness, we united a generation of kids and taught them not to fight, to try and get on no matter who you are. I was hoping that would be reflected in their kids, but it still needs to get through to their kids and the younger ones too – they need to know that you mustn’t look at people’s colour, you must look at what they did and what they put out. M: So were you listening to a lot of punk? Along with The Police, a lot of those punk bands had a reggae-influenced phase; The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, The Ruts, Costello… all had at least one reggae song.It seems you spent a lot of time touring around 81-82 with artists including The Clash, The Specials and even Bowie. Which gigs stand out in your memory today?

So we took some time off after touring with The Pretenders and starting jamming again. Within it all we’d been reading our fan club letters and we got this one from a lady in America saying I’ve tried to use your music for my keep fit lessons and it’s too fast. It was a lovely written letter so we decided to tone it down a bit in the way that The Beat became what we call ‘one-drop’, where the rim shot and the snare hits at the same time and that’s the main emphasis. So we did Doors of your Heart and Monkey Murders and along with a few others and that was the kind of style for that album in the end. But, amidst all of this upheaval and social change there was the music. Out of the devastation of the heart of the country came bands like Dexys, The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat. It was loud, proud and carried a message, so much so that at times these bands were derided for their stance. Taken as a political one they were shunned by the BBC (quite ironic really given current circumstances) and banished to the lower reaches of the charts. RR: Well first I must reveal to you that Everett and I are no longer working together, Everett’s retired. However, any member of The Beat is entitled to use the name, it belongs to all of us. We have a partnership from 30 years ago, ‘The Beat Brothers Ltd’, so we’ve never had any qualms over the name. The only qualm would be if we wanted to go over to America to play or Dave Wakeling intended to come over here. What do we call it? Do we rename it?The thing with The Beat is we were very experimental without realising what we actually were. We were these six guys who got together and basically jammed and these tunes came up or these grooves as I call them came. And for me it was all about the groove. RR: I did want to put something out as The Beat but me and my son, Ranking Junior, who sings on stage with me, want to launch another project called Return Of The Dread-I. Yes, I’ve lots of projects going on. The first one is an album with my son this year. It’s solo from ‘The Beat’ and it’s going to be called ‘Return Of The Dread I’. We’ve some tunes already for it and we’ve some collaborations going on too. It won’t be a ska album, but it will definitely be reggae influenced, with some roots in there. We’re going to release that this year under new management. When I can – or when the weather’s good – I try to do loads of inline skating, that’s my love, second to music – getting on my skates and getting out there. But I haven’t been on the streets for a long time – I skate around the park a lot. I used to be on the street racing the buses – but now I’m like – heeeeeey – this is a dangerous thing to do. I used to be a bit of an expert, I still am, I teach people, I love doing that. And I love video games – I do loads of video gaming – that’s when I’m not writing or building a rhythm – but sometimes it’s good to get away from all that, and get away from who everyone thinks you are – and be yourself. That’s important too.

RR: Well, what the punks were saying was along similar lines to what the reggae artists were saying in Jamaica. The same sort of political issues were being sung about; inequality, rights, people having a say, so there was a connection. The Skids, The Members, people like that were trying reggae too and although The Beat came after that, we were influenced by that punk/reggae sound and took it to another level, without realising. At the moment I’ve got an album coming out on pledge.com and that’s going to contain some of my first solo album and my second solo album, and some collaborations with people like Pato Banton, Death in Vegas – people like that. That’s happening now so people can go out there and pledge now. Then later this year or early next year I want to do a new project with my son called “Return Of The Dread-I” and that will run along side with The Beat. It’s going to be an interesting time to be prolific and be inventive and try and bring new music out – with all the rubbish that’s out there. It’s that I’ve got my own design studio at home now. It’s just finished – it’s where all my future albums (incl. collaborations) will come from. It’s designed like a spaceship! So far, for me, that’s the dream realised. As a DJ when you’re spinning discs, that in itself is an art. You have to be good with rhythm and timing and with the flow of what goes with that tune. Not every tune works together.I touched on the new project – The Dread-I thing. It’s not the end of The Beat – I’ll still do that, and people should know that, but I’d like to try another project where I can be more dynamic and me and Ranking Junior can control it – different styles, different audience that kind of thing. It’s all part of the challenge. Saxa had played with some huge names. Is it true he had played with first-wave ska legends such as Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker – and even The Beatles?