THE BEAT – A PROFILE
March 22nd, 2005 by rui
One of Britain’s premier ska bands, The Beat enjoyed huge success in the 1980s, with 2-Tone hits like ‘Tears of Clown’, ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’ and ‘Stand Down Margaret’.
The multiracial band carved a distinct sound through the use of alternating lead vocals by guitarist Dave Wakeling and punk-toaster/rapper Ranking Roger, supported by a tight band consisting of Andy Cox (guitar), Dave Steel (bass), and Everett Moreton (drums). The addition of 50-year-old saxophonist Saxa, who originally played with Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker, gave the band credibility and fleshed out its sound.
Their history since the 80s has been complex.
After the split of 80′s ska band], Everett, Saxa and Ranking Roger worked on many other projects. Ranking Roger and Saxa along with original Beat singer Dave Wakeling formed General Public with former Dexy’s Midnight Runners keyboardist Micky Billingham. Blockhead joined up with Birmingham vocialist Allan Watson to form Two Nations. They enjoyed some success in the mid 80′s with an album and 5 singles released on Arista Records. General Public split in 1986 and 1988 saw the release of the solo album Radical Departure by Ranking Roger. He then went on to form another ska outfit, Special Beat.
In 1988 Everett and Saxa became part of the International Beat along with Neil Deathridge and regular guest appearances by Ranking Roger and Micky Billingham. The International Beat enjoyed success both in the UK and in the USA. After the split of the International Beat in 1992, Neil met songwriter Tony O’Donnell and they performed together at many venues throughout the UK.
Finally in 2001, Ranking Roger, Everett, Saxa and Neil got together again along with Tony O’Donnell and Andy Pearson who had previously worked with Roger. At the beginning of 2003, the band were joined by Dave “Blockhead” Wright on keyboards and The Beat reunion gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall was a great success. In May 2003, after the depature of Tony O’Donnell, Twist and Crawl were joined by Matt aka “Ranking Junior” on vocals and Mark Hamilton aka “Chico” (son of Jazz musician Andy Hamilton) on sax.
In a way though, the precise history of the comings and goings of the individual members is not really the point. The important thing is that they play a riotous set of upbeat UK ska.
Bring the ska – The Beat is back.
