And The Beat goes on

It happened in May 1980, but I still recall very clearly the day I bought an LP called I Just Can’t Stop It by a British band called The Beat – the latest addition to my then still humble record collection.

Enclosed within its vibrant pink, black and white cover, this influential album would provide me with endless listening pleasure for years to come – music I still love and listen to regularly to this very day.

In my eyes The Beat, alongside bands like The Specials and The Selecter – all of them integral players in the Ska revival – are icons.

Thoughts of countless days listening to songs like Mirror in the Bathroom, Twist and Crawl or Hands Off…She’s Mine, float through my mind as I walk down Highgate Road in London’s Kentish Town, the melodies still as fresh as ever (also because I had just been listening to them on the way).

After a pit-stop at the popular Bull and Gate pub, I make my way to the HMV Forum where in a short while I will be interviewing Ranking Roger, one of The Beat’s original vocalists who, along with his son Ranking Jr, fronts the present-day line-up of the band.

Roger arrives just after I do and after a quick introduction, I follow him through the Forum’s maze of backstage rooms in a bid to find an available room for our interview.

After a few failed attempts, we enter a room occupied by Neville Staple (of The Specials) who will, alongside The Selecter’s Pauline Black, be performing before The Beat later tonight.

I can’t believe my luck, which gets better later when I also get to meet Black and The Beat’s drummer Everett Moreton – legends, all of them.

After a quick exchange of words (and photo obviously) with Staple and Roger, it’s time for our interview, which incidentally coincides with the 30th anniversary of the I Just Can’t Stop It album.

Three decades on, and the album’s appeal, as well as that of the band, seems to just have got stronger over the years. The Beat, as they say, goes on.

“Yes it does – from strength to strength and with some new additions too,” Roger says. “My son’s in the band, and he’s brought a different element to the band. We have all this young blood coming to our concerts, younger people and they’re loving it.

“We’ve also got Mickey Billingham, who was in General Public and Dexy’s Midnight Runners, who’s a great arranger, and of course, Everett still doing his thing on the drums. I’m the one holding the flag, trying to make sure we keep the essence of the original sound so people who hear it instantly know it’s The Beat.”

Ska music only enjoyed the briefest of boom periods – three explosive years between 1979 and 1981 – and yet, its influence has lasted ever since, prompting second- and third-wave revivals that have spawned Ska crossover bands all over the world. Isn’t it curious how Ska has survived in the face of so many other music trends?

Roger says he believes everything seems to go in cycles so every kind of music will get its turn, but every time it comes round, it’ll sound a bit different. Every time that happens, he says, the music will grow – new elements will merge with old elements and ‘new’ styles are born.

“As for Ska getting bigger and stronger again, I suppose that’s because it hadn’t reached its full potential back then, possibly due to the fast-changing trends at the time. It didn’t have time to grow.”

As Ska faded into the background, its protagonists branched out. Roger formed General Public (with fellow The Beat member Dave Wakeling), which did well for a while.

Later, besides collaborating with various artists, he went on to record two solo albums, Radical Departure and Inside My Head, which, more than anything, highlighted his interest in exploring different genres.

“Those solo albums were all recorded at home, so basically I just sat down and thought I’d make an album full of all the music I love to listen to, so there’s a mixture of styles – from pop to reggae to jungle and ambient, all on one album,” he says.

According to Roger, working as a solo artist was like a continuation of what The Beat was all about, because they used to experiment with different styles.

“I suppose we were just playing the kind of music we liked to hear on the bus when we went from gig to gig, but we added our own style to it. This is what I’ve always believed music is, so I’ve continued that in my solo work.”

The Beat split up in 1983, which seems a long time ago, yet incredibly, a one-off reunion concert (minus Andy Cox and David Steele) at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 2003 sold out completely.

Within weeks, people were walking up to them, telling them that even though they were gigging under the name of Twist and Crawl (Everett’s post-The Beat band that Roger eventually joined) to them they would always be The Beat. They thought about it and decided that if people wanted The Beat, that’s what they’d give them.

“It’s been slow getting here, but it’s made us stronger. Now, when people are going to our concert, they know they’re going to have a good time.”

The plans for The Beat from here on are not quite definite, it seems – apart from regular live gigs, that is. There’s actually a finished album that has remained unreleased since 2006 and an audience dying for new material.

“What we’ve done is to re-record that album, but I’m looking at different ways to release the new songs. I’m thinking of having special limited edition numbered EPs: collectors’ items that are deleted after the initial run has been sold out,” Roger says.

The idea is to create a buzz around the releases and perhaps later put out a proper album via a record label for the masses, but those initial batches will always have more value.

In this day and age of digital downloads, it’s important to think outside the box to stay in the game, and this is exactly what The Beat are doing, even in the way they connect with the crowd during their live performances, as I find out after the interview is over and I join the crowd singing along at the top of my voice to tune after classic tune.

Three decades after I first heard these songs and, as that milestone album’s title spelt out so clearly, I just can’t stop it.

www.thebeatofficial.com

bugeja.michael@gmail.com