THE BEAT GOES ON
Singer Dave Wakeling on bringing back his version of 80s ska band and how he can’t wait to play for Scots crowds
Beat once tore into Thatcher with their song Stand Down Margaret.
But while they were scathing about the Iron Lady, singer Dave Wakeling doesn’t think current PM Theresa May is worth the ink.
He laughed: “She’d need to learn to stand up first. She’s unbelievable.
“But remember, we only ever get the government we deserve. It’s our fault she’s there, not hers.”
Birmingham’s The Beat were one of ska’s leaders, with top 10 hits Mirror in the Bathroom, Can’t Get Used to Losing You, Too Nice to Talk To and Tears of a Clown.
They quit in 1982 after three albums and split into rival Beats.
Toaster Ranking Roger now fronts The Beat feat Ranking Roger, while singer and main songwriter Dave moved to the US and went by The English Beat starring Dave Wakeling.
For the UK, he’s The Beat starring Dave Wakeling and will tomorrow join the line-up at Scone Palace for BBC Music’s The Biggest Weekend alongside Noel Gallagher, Emeli Sande and Simple Minds.
Roger released an album Bounce two years ago and today, Dave releases Here We Go Love, his first album under The Beat name after releases in new band General Public (which included Roger) and his own solo album. It all gets a bit confusing. “There are awkwa rd moments,” admitted Dave about the two Beats currently touring.
“But Roger’s fine, I invited him to sing on this record – and it nearly happened.”
Roger was 16 when the Beat formed, while the band’s sax player was nearly 50. Lionel Martin, better known as Saxa, was a key part of the group but died last year aged 87.
Dave has used a melody of his for one of the new album’s songs, If Killing Worked.
He said: “I wanted a New York Johnny or Southside Jazz feel and he added a kind of Knick Knack Paddy Whack slant and it worked. I wanted him to play on it but he had tendon problems so all he could do was hum it.”
Beat guitarist Andy Cox and bassist David Steele went on to form Fine Young Cannibals and Dave is still friendly with them.
They are talking about a Beat “Best of ” album to be released by BMG later in the year.
They also are fine with Dave using the Beat name. He added: “Well, I thought of the name, wrote most of the lyrics and a third of the music. The rest of the band approve.
“Now I’m going out as The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling. I always thought my name should be in lights.
“But I can’t see the original Beat getting back together.”
For fans, Dave’s Beat band are the closest we’ll get. He’s coming over for a tour which includes a Glasgow gig on Thursday.
The singer has fond memories of playing Scotland.
He said: “I always love doing Can’t Get Used To Losing You – the crowd sing so loud you can’t hear your own voice.
“Once a teenage skinhead in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow got me to sign his arm.
“The next year I saw him again and he rolled up his sleeve to display a tattoo of a clearly very drunken signature. Not my best.
“Another year, friends who had lost someone dear came to celebrate his life and we got gloriously drunk and ate haggis and chips on the bus with them.
“People in Scotland like The Beat and The Beat like playing to them because they’re open and willing to go mad.”
More excitingly for old Beat fans like me, Dave’s new album is a rightful follow-up to the original Beat’s 80s albums, I Just Can’t Stop It, Wha’ppen? and Special Beat Service.
But he admitted Here We Go Love was made by accident.
He said: “I had some new songs and started playing them live. People then started asking to buy them, so we ended up recording them as Here We Go Love.”
The multi-cultural band sang of politics and social upheaval and a new Beat album seems right for these dark times.
Dave agreed: “There are startling similarities with the late 70s, early 80s and it does feel like the perfect time to be back.
“Many of the songs are about what’s been brewing and is only now becoming more obvious. We are on the edge again.”
The One and The Only is about Donald Trump.
Dave said: “It examines the Trump in all of us. Like it or not, the vast majority of white men in America voted for him.
“I’m scared for all of us when we find ourselves stuck in a corner.”
The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling’s album Here We Go Love is out today. They play Glasgow O2 ABC on Thursday.