'We’re Not The Kind Of Band That Just Stands Around On Stage'

"We have Ranking Junior with us,” Ranking Roger, real name Roger Charlery, who co-fronted the original version of The Beat with singer and guitarist Dave Wakeling, announces proudly as he tucks into a cup of hot chocolate at home in London.

“He’s my son and he’s been to Australia before and performed with us I think with The Special Beat, and with The Beat as well. But it’s great that he’s still there and he really appeals to the younger generation as well as the older, but the younger generation come to see him. There’s another generation of ska fans and reggae fans and they’re all interested. It’s good to see, really good. Every year we’ve seen our crowds growing and growing.”

In the half dozen years to their breaking up in 1983, Birmingham band The Beat were, alongside The Specials, The Selector and Madness, one of the seminal 2-Tone ska-reggae bands and racked up a stack of Top Ten hits including a cover of Tears Of A Clown, Hands Off…She’s Mine, Mirror In The Bathroom and Can’t Get Used To Losing You, as well as releasing three seminal albums – 1980’s I Just Can’t Stop It, 1981’s Wha’ppen? and 1982’s Special Beat Service – repackaged, remastered, expanded and reissued in 2012 by Demon Records. For America, they were obliged to change their name to The English Beat because there was already a band called The Beat there, though they obligingly changed their name to Paul Collins’ Beat, while Australia saw their records released as by The British Beat. Wakeling and Roger went on to form General Public, while two other members formed Fine Young Cannibals, but today, after a reformation in 2003, Wakeling lives in Los Angeles and tours as The English Beat, and Roger of course looks after the London chapter.

In the intervening years Ranking Roger started a solo career that saw him release his third album, Pop Off The Head Top, which featured both Ranking Junior and his other kid, daughter Saffren Murphy. The injection of younger energy in The Beat has also meant they’re looking at recording new material.

"We are writing new tunes – we’ll have stuff out (later in 2015) – where you’ll hear the real side of Ranking Junior, what he has to say."

“Because Ranking Junior is around, he make me have to look at The Beat in a more modern way,” Ranking Senior admits. “I want people to hear the tunes like the records live, but I also want this new life in there as well, something that takes it into now, and he’s part of that. The songs are kind of arranged differently from the records sometimes and we’ll go into dub sections and things like that, but they’re always spontaneous. Nothing’s planned, really – it’s all spontaneous – and I love that. We don’t even have a set list. I haven’t had a set list in about five years. I look at the crowd and I know what tune to play next.

“We are writing new tunes – we’ll have stuff out (later in 2015) – where you’ll hear the real side of Ranking Junior, what he has to say. But it’s difficult because there’s so many tunes to go through, I mean so many classic Beat tunes, but to throw in a couple of Ranking Roger ones would be great, so I think there’s a chance that you’re gonna hear a couple in there. Certainly you’re gonna hear tunes in there that haven’t been released and that will be fresh for people.”

While The Beat came out of that late ‘70s early ‘80s northern English love affair with ska and reggae, they were always more diverse than, say, contemporaries like Buster Bloodvessel and his band Bad Manners.

“We have, like, a reggae tune, and then we have, like, a punkish tune, and we’ll ‘ave a disco-ish tune and a calypso-ish tune,” Roger points out. “So you can kind of look at the audience and see whether they need calmin’ down or whether they need pushing. It’s great – I’m thankful that we have that choice. It’s not like one kind of music and that’s all you’re getting. You’re getting different varieties, and that variety is what changes the mood.”

The message in The Beat’s music also remains all too relevant, allowing for Ranking Junior to relate easily to music written 30-odd years before. “Absolutely,” Roger Senior agrees with a chuckle. “Obviously he’s putting his own stuff in but he’s chanting the same kind of lyrics that I am. With the new tunes, I expect that there’ll be some corkers in there and you’ll be hearing the real side of Ranking Junior, what he has to say.”

So, what can Australian audiences expect from The Beat circa 2015? “We’re not the kind of band that just stands around on stage and, you know, looks at our audience. We get you moving baby, so you’d better bring an extra T-shirt. That’s my only word of warning!”